Childrearing: A Comparative Analysis

This cultural area study compared how parents balance being both friends and authority figures towards their children in Austria and Ireland. Parents in Austria and Ireland generally want their children to see them as both friends and authority figures. In both Austria and Ireland, parents and children enjoy spending time with each other outside of the home. In Austria and Ireland, parents enjoy taking their children to playgrounds, amusement parks, shopping, hiking, and vacationing. These similarities may be due to the fact that both Austrians and the Irish value spending time with people. During my interview with Juli, I learned that Austrians tend to work only as many hours as they need in order to live sustainably. While studying Ireland, I learned that business meetings often take place at pubs rather than solely in the office because Irish people want to genuinely get to know each other as people rather than simply business partners (Passport to Trade 2.0, 2014). For those reasons, Irish and Austrian parents likely would want to spend time having fun with their children rather than only allowing their children to see them as disciplinarians.

While Austrian and Irish parents generally do want to have fun as friends with their children, they also want their children to view them as authority figures. In neither Austria nor Ireland did parents reward their children for good behavior. Good behavior was simply expected. However, the methods in which parents disciplined their children varied across Austria and Ireland. While Juli mentioned that she and her brother were fairly well behaved as children, she also mentioned that when her brother threw temper tantrums, her mother would simply wait until he had calmed down rather than providing immediate discipline. While Juli did not discuss how she and her brother were disciplined as children, she did mention that grounding was not a traditional punishment in Austria or Germany. In fact, Juli mentioned that the term “grounding” does not even technically exist in German because the word translates to “house arrest” in English. In Ireland, on the other hand, parents do discipline their children through grounding. In addition to grounding, Pam mentioned limiting the time her children could spend using their electronic devices otherwise known as limiting “screen time.” One reason why the Irish may be perceived as punishing their children more harshly is because Ireland is a lower context culture (Hofstede, 2017). In lower context cultures the content of message itself is separate from both the sender and receiver (Lane, 2002). Therefore, when parents punish their children more harshly both the parents and the children understand that the behavior was objectionable rather than the child’s character.

In order to facilitate desirable behaviors, both Austrian and Irish parents work to instill values into their children as they grow. While both Irish and Austrian parents wanted to instill values such as kindness and loyalty into their children, Irish parents in particular wanted to foster independence. Pam was very eager for her children to move out of the house and support themselves. She said she would not be distraught if her children had to move further away for a job, marriage, or some other life-changing circumstance. Juli’s mother, on the other hand, truly wanted her daughter to move back to Germany in order to be close to her. Irish parents may have a stronger desire to raise independent children because they have higher level of individualism than does Austria. Individualistic societies contain people who are primarily concerned about caring for themselves and their immediate families (Hofstede, 2017). Because she lives in an individualistic society, Pam would not necessarily expect that her children remain loyal and her and her husbands’ needs as a larger family before their own needs as individuals.

By synthesizing the previous information, the overall parenting styles in Austria and Ireland can be determined. For Irish parents, there was a clear relationship between the parenting tactics discovered in this study and the authoritative parenting style. According to Segrin et al. (2012), authoritative parents strive to foster independence and self-reliance by allowing their children to solve their own problems. Pam was eager for her children to move away and become independent. Moving away would require her children to pay their own bills, buy their own groceries, and determine their own modes of transportation among other needs that would have to be met only by her children themselves. In addition, while authoritative parents do value autonomy and independence, they are also willing to punish their children when necessary in an effort to discourage poor behavior (Baumrind, 1966). Pam was willing to administer punishment through grounding and limited screen time when necessary. Authoritative parents also set lofty goals for their children (Baumrind, 1971). Stephen and David Flynn set high goals for their children by raising them to get up early and appreciate nature as well as eat healthy foods through encouraging a vegan lifestyle. The parents who brought their children to Hillside Evangelical Church also set high standards for their children by introducing them to faith from a young age.

Austrian parenting strategies also showed a relatively strong relationship to the authoritative parenting style. Although the school trip leaders disciplining the boy at Stadtpark were not actually the boy’s parents, the leaders still used disciplinarian tactics that were characteristic of the authoritative parenting style. They spoke to him firmly but without yelling. Authoritative parents tend to encourage conversation with their children regarding parental requests (Baurind, 1971). Parents and other authority figures are likely more approachable for conversation when they are speaking rather than yelling at their children. In addition, while Juli’s mother seemed to have an authoritative parenting style overall through her willingness to scold Juli for poor behavior, she did show a small level of the permissive parenting style. Permissive parents usually do not disallow children from behaving inappropriately unless the behavior physically harms them (Baumrind, 1971). When Juli’s brother would throw temper tantrums, she simply waited for him to become calm rather than administering immediate discipline.

While both Austrian and Irish parenting strategies are largely representative of the authoritative parenting style, Austrian parents also show a small level of the permissive parenting style. One reason for this small difference in parenting styles is Austria’s lower power distance than Ireland (Austria: score of 11; Ireland: score of 28). Because of its incredibly low power distance, Austrians possess the character of “being independent, hierarchy for convenience only, equal rights, superiors accessible, coaching leader, management facilitates and empowers” (Hofstede, 2017). Austria’s desire to minimize status inequalities may contribute to parents showing a small level of the permissive parenting style. According to Baumrind (1971), permissive parents tend to give their children a high level of autonomy. Giving children a high level of independence would indicate that parents see their children as being able to think for themselves. When parents believe that their children can think for themselves, they are elevating their children’s intellect closer to the level of their own intellect, creating a lower parent-child power distance.
Even while taking this small distinction in parenting styles into account, both Austrian and Irish parents largely show the authoritative parenting style in their parenting tactics. Previous research indicated that the authoritarian parenting style is the least desirable among the three parenting styles. Fortunately, neither Austrian parents nor Irish parents possessed any disciplinary qualities characteristic of the authoritarian parenting style.

 
References
Baumrind, D. (1966). Effects of authoritative control on child behavior. Child Development, 37, 887–907.
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current Patterns of Parental Authority. Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4(1, Part 2).
Hofstede Insights. (2017). What about Austria? Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/austria/
Hofstede Insights. (2017). What about Ireland? Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/ireland/
Lane, P. (2002). Where are we? The importance of context. A beginner’s guide to crossing cultures: Making friends in a multicultural world (pp. 47-60). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Passport to Trade 2.0. (2014). Meeting etiquette. Retrieved from http://businessculture.org/northern-europe/ireland/meeting-etiquette/
Segrin, C., Woszidlo, A., Givertz, M., Dauer, A., & Murphy, M. T. (2012). The association
between overparenting, parent-child communication, and entitlement and adaptive traits
in adult children. Family Relations, 61, 237–252. doi:10.1111=j.1741-3729.2011.00689.x