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Patterns of Social Expectations among Black and Mexican‐American Children
Author(s) -
RotheramBorus Mary Jane,
Phinney Jean S.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02799.x
Subject(s) - psychology , ethnic group , mexican americans , developmental psychology , social psychology , peer group , african american , social relation , sociology , anthropology , ethnology , history
In 2 studies, a total of 213 black and Mexican‐American third‐ and sixth‐grade children were asked to respond to 8 videotaped scenes of everyday social encounters with same‐ethnic, unfamiliar peers at school. Mexican‐American children reported expectations for sharing and relying on authority figures significantly more often, and apologizing, getting angry, and initiating action significantly less often than their black peers. Emotional responses decreased and socially desirable responses increased with grade for both groups. In addition, ethnic differences were greater at the sixth‐grade than at the third‐grade level for both groups. Girls apologized and sought help from teachers more often than boys, and social expectations varied by sex for each ethnic group. Individual children varied in the degree of similarity to their group, with some children giving responses highly typical of their group across all 8 scenes and others giving responses not typical of their group. High self‐esteem was significantly correlated to being similar to one's own group.