Child Behavior in Mexican American/Chicano Families: Maternal Teaching and Child-Rearing Practices

When mother-child dyads in a Mexican American/Chicano sample are observed during a structured teaching task, children respond differently to permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian child-rearing practices. Analysis of family ecosystem variables show that despite their 10th-grade mean education level, these lower socioeconomic status mothers are well acculturated since most were third or fourth generation, speak English fluently, and live in predominantly white neighborhoods in the Midwest. Suggestions are made to teachers and family life educators for serving Chicano families without violating the essential role that their ethnicity plays in developing and maintaining a strong and fulfilling family life.