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Religio-cultural variation in childbearing practices.


 A sample of 300 mothers aged 20-35 years from Bihar city in Bhagalpur, India, was drawn to reflect similar ages, education, family income, number of children, and residence for each religious group: Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. The hypothesis was that childbearing mothers would differ significantly in their child rearing methods and attitudes toward their children. The Child Care Schedule asked questions about methods of feeding, weaning, toilet training, and bed habit training. The Parent Attitude Schedule measures mother's attitudes: restrictive-permissive, loving-rejecting, and protecting-neglecting. The results indicated that 78% of Christian mothers breast fed compared to 75% of Muslim mothers and 58% of Hindu mothers. There were significant differences between groups in feeding practices (x2= 11.18, df=2, p.01). 77.3% of Christian mothers practiced a 3-hour feeding schedule, compared to 52% of Muslim mothers and 50% of Hindu mothers; 49.5% of Hindu mothers preferred a 4-hour feeding schedule. These differences were also significant. 54% of HIndu mothers wean before 12 months, and only 33% of Muslim and 35% of Christian mothers did. A greater proportion of Muslim mothers (58%) wean between 13 and 24 months. Differences again were significant. 66% or more of the mothers in each group practiced gradual weaning rather than forced or casual weaning. There were significant differences in toilet training habits and training in washing and bathing among the 3 groups of women. All 3 groups believed in moderate training in bathing. There were insignificant differences in bed habit training and the age at which training began. About 75% of all mothers followed moderate approaches to bed habit training. There were significant differences in child rearing attitudes between Hindus and Muslims. Hindu mothers were the least restrictive, and Christian mothers were the most restrictive. The same pattern applied to loving-rejecting and protecting-neglecting. Christian mothers were the most loving, and Muslim mothers were the least loving. Christian mothers were the most protective and Muslim mothers the least protective. In Hindu families with early weaning and toilet training, the joint family system helps to dissipate frustration caused by early practices. Further research on cultural differences in personality and cultural variations in child rearing is needed.
