PROJECT TITLE:
Culture and Child Development in One American Indian Tribe
FUNDING SOURCE:
ACYF (Early Head Start)
DATES OF FUNDING:
1998-2001
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S):
Christina Mitchell, Ph.D.
CENTER STAFF INVOLVED:
Marjorie Bezdek, Cecelia Big Crow, Calvin Croy, Amy Dethlefsen, Robert Emde, Christina Mitchell, Angela Sam, Michelle Sarche, and Paul Spicer
SPECIFIC AIMS/RESEARCH GOALS:
The purpose of this study is to answer the following 3 questions:
- What is normative infant and toddler development within this tribal culture;
- What are the culture-specific values and parenting practices that help shape the developmental pathways and developmental competencies of infants and toddlers in the tribal culture; and
- What are the culture-specific values and teaching practices that help shape developmental competencies in the tribe.
RESEARCH DESIGN:
Standardized interviews and developmental assessments for 120 families of 2-year-old children;
Ethnographic interviews and home visits with 30 of these same families;
Participant-observation in child care centers
PARTICIPANTS:
Participants include the families of 2-year-old children from the tribe.
MEASURES:
- The Bayley Scales of Infant Development II.
- The Infant and Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment.
- Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment.
- Health and safety practices.
- Household composition.
- Routines.
- The Parenting Stress Index.
- Parent-child interaction.
- Education, income, and marital/relationship status.
- Stressful life events.
- Mental health and substance abuse.
- Open-ended ethnographic interviews with families.
- Participant-observation in child care centers.
PUBLICATIONS:
None at this time.