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South Asian Parents' Constructions of Praising Their Children

Community Child & Adolescent Mental Health Team, London, UK, nupurdp{at}gmail.com

While praise is considered an important element in moulding children's behaviour and is central to parent-training advice in the UK today, the literature from nonwestern cultures suggests that some communities do not view praise as positive. There is currently a dearth of systematic knowledge about how minority ethnic parents in Britain view praise. This qualitative study used thematic analysis to explore the childrearing beliefs of immigrant parents from South Asian backgrounds living in inner-city London, with a focus on their constructions of praising their preschool children. The emerging themes suggest that participants see young children's behaviour as instinctual and view instruction as the main parenting strategy required. Demonstrations of physical warmth and tangible rewards were widely used. While verbal praise was used to encourage compliance, these parents advised caution, saying that praising children risked the development of psychological attributes that were culturally judged as dysfunctional. There was relatively little emphasis on the individual child's ability but more on its effect on others in the hierarchy. These themes have some fundamental implications for the practice of clinical psychology in multicultural communities.

Key Words: childrearing • cultural competence • parent training • praise

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