Cross-Cultural Interactions in an American Day Care Setting.
Author(s):
Noppe, Illene C.; Ray, Melissa
Format:
Report
Publisher:
1990.
Language:
English
Abstract:
A total of 23 American and Hmong-American preschool children from 2 day care center classrooms were observed during free play in an effort to determine the proportion of positive, negative, and neutral initiations made to peers as a function of sex and cultural background. A series of weighted, two-way analyses of variance were performed on positive and negative initiations among the Americans and Hmong-Americans. Results revealed significant main effects for culture on positive and negative initiations to Americans, and significant main effects for culture on positive initiations to Hmong-Americans, males, and females. Significant main effects for sex were found for positive initiations made to Hmong-Americans, Americans, and males. Evidence demonstrating that young children's peer interactions are often segregated on the basis of culture and sex was found. Overall, frequency of initiations was greater within culture and sex than across culture and sex. The failure to find significant effects of culture or sex on negative initiations suggests that the lack of cross-cultural peer interactions is not motivated by hostile intentions. The lack of cross-cultural interactions is discussed in terms of peer familiarity and communication skills. (Author/RH)