The Role of Motor Stimulation in Parental Ethnotheories

Abstract

This article focuses on conceptions of motor stimulation in ethnotheoretical accounts of good parenting. Sociodemographically diverse samples of 35 German and 39 West African Nso women commented on 10 Nso and 10 German videotaped mother-infant interactional sequences. Data were collected in group sessions. The comments were classified into a coding system specifying motor handling and interactive and developmental goals. As expected, the Nso women focused significantly more on motor handling than German women. German women emphasize the general well-being of infants and their mothers. Quantitative analyses are combined with the qualitative elaboration of the Nso motor ethnotheory. The results are discussed as specifying two diverse conceptions of sensitivity in parenting that serve different contextual demands.