Cultural Differences in the Meaning of Parental Practices Among Southern-Italian and Congolese Mothers

The aim of this study was to compare two groups of mothers – italian and congolese ones - belonging to different cultural systems analyzing some differences in the meaning of some practices, such as punishment, protective behaviours, encouragement of independence and to be successful. Semi-structured interviews designed to explore the constructs under examination were conducted with 30 sicilian middle-class mothers (Mean=38,7; SD=4,7) and 30 congolese ones (Mean=30,3; SD=5,1) having a child of 4-5 years (M=31; F=19). The interviews were analysed using an observational instrument, T-Lab (Lancia, 2002; 2003), in which the meaning of each single word is known only through its relationships with the contexts, that is to say through the distribution of its occurrences (how many times each lexical unit is present in one context unit) and its co-occurrences (simultaneous presence of two lexical units in the text or in its parties) within context units. As the theoretical foundation, this instrument goes back to the hypothesis stressed by Keller et al. (2004; 2006) according to which cultural concepts are also objectified in linguistic terms and the differences between cultural and social behaviours determine the different ways of using words and language. Results of the main statistical analyses – word associations (table 1.a; 1.b), co-word mapping and thematic analysis of elementary context (table 2.) – seem to show that both south-italian and congolese mothers feel obliged to punish their children because it would be the only way to teach and discipline them, but south- italian ones are inclined to “set off” punitive behaviours externalizing love to their children by kisses and/or hugs immediately afterwards. Results also suggest that south-italian mothers view their primary role as a protector, with the intent of providing an appropriate environment for their children; differently the congolese ones think about protectiveness as ensuring survival to their children.