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Autonomy and Interdependence: Beliefs of Brazilian Mothers from State Capitals and Small Towns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Mauro Luis Vieira ,
Maria Lucia Seidl-de-Moura ,
Samira Mafioletti Macarini ,
Gabriela Dal Forno Martins ,
Eulina da Rocha Lordelo ,
Rosana Suemi Tokumaru  and
Ângela Donato Oliva
Mauro Luis Vieira*
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brazil)
Maria Lucia Seidl-de-Moura
Affiliation:
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Samira Mafioletti Macarini
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brazil)
Gabriela Dal Forno Martins
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brazil)
Eulina da Rocha Lordelo
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal da Bahia (Brazil)
Rosana Suemi Tokumaru
Affiliation:
Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Brazil)
Ângela Donato Oliva
Affiliation:
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mauro Luís Vieira. Departamento de Psicologia. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Universitário, Trindade. 88040-900 Florianópolis, SC. (Brazil). Phone: +55-4837218606. Fax: +55483721 9984. E-mail: maurolvieira@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate characteristics of Brazilian mothers' beliefs system, in the dimensions of autonomy and interdependence. A group of 600 women, half from state capitals and half from small towns, participated in the study. They were individually interviewed with Scales of Allocentrism, Beliefs about Parental Practices and Socialization Goals. Paired and Independent samples t tests and Multivariate GLM were performed. The results indicate that although mothers from both contexts value autonomy, mothers inhabiting small towns considered the relational dimension as the most important; whereas mothers inhabiting capitals valued equally both dimensions, either in their beliefs about practices or in the socialization goals for their children. Mothers from small towns have a higher mean score for allocentrism than mothers living in capitals. Thus, place of residence proved to be a relevant variable in the modulation of maternal beliefs. Educational level was not a significant factor in the variables considered and with this group of mothers. The study results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the complex relationship between dimensions of autonomy and interdependence in mothers' beliefs system.

El propósito de esta investigación fue investigar las características del sistema de creencias de las madres brasileñas en las dimensiones de autonomía e interdependencia. Participaron en el estudio un grupo de 600 mujeres, la mitad proveniente de la capital y la otra mitad de pequeñas ciudades. Las mujeres fueron individualmente evaluadas en una Escala de Alocentrismo, creencias acerca de prácticas parentales y metas de socialización. Los datos se analizaron en función de pruebas t emparejadas e independientes, y análisis multivariado MLG. Los resultados mostraron que aunque las madres de ambos contextos valoraban la autonomía, las madres de ciudades más pequeñas consideraron más importante la dimensión relacional; mientras que las madres provenientes de capitales valoraban por igual las dimensiones relativas a su sistema de creencias parentales y las metas de socialización. Por otra parte, las madres de ciudades más pequeñas obtuvieron mayores puntuaciones en alocentrismo que las madres de las capitales. Asimismo, el lugar de residencia se consideró como un factor relevante en la modulación del sistema de creencias maternas. El nivel educativo no fue un factor significativo en las variables evaluadas ni con la muestra utilizada. En general, los resultados del estudio se discuten en términos de su contribución para la compresión de las complejas relaciones entre las dimensiones de autonomía e interdependencia en el sistema de creencias de las madres.

Keywords

autonomyinterdependenceparents' belief systemsocialization goalsautonomíainterdependenciasistema de creencias parentalesmetas de socialización
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 2010 , pp. 818 - 826
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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