Discusses the parenting practices of the largest ethnic groups in the United States. Study participants were 52 European American, 33 African American, 31 Hispanic, 43 Asian American, and 23 Asian Indian mothers who had children between the ages of 3 and 5 attending preschools in the southern and western parts of the U.S. The Hispanic, Asian American, and Asian Indian mothers had immigrated to the U.S. within 3 years prior to data collection. The mothers’ parenting attitudes were measured using the Adolescent-Adult Parenting Inventory (AAPI), which addresses family roles, empathy, developmental expectations, and corporal punishment. Among the key findings were that European American mothers seemed to understand what to expect of their children at each developmental level and empathized with their children’s needs; unlike either the European American or the Hispanic mothers, Asian American, Asian Indian, and African American mothers had lower empathetic awareness of their children’s needs, possiblybecause they lived in multigenerational homes in which others also cared for their children; and Asian American and African American mothers supported the use of corporal punishment more than their Hispanic or European American peers.
