Ecocultural Effects on Early Infant

Care: A Study in Cameroon, India,

and Germany
HEIDI KELLER
MONIKA ABELS
BETTINA LAMM
RELINDIS D. YOVSI
SUSANNE VOELKER
ARUNA LAKHANI

ABSTRACT In this study, the early social experiences of infants

from two agricultural societies, Indian Rajput and Cameroonian
Nso are compared to each other and to German urban middle-
class families. Using spot observations, infants social experi-
ences were assessed when they were between 2.5 and 3 months.
The parenting styles in the three communities are distinctly dif-
ferent from each other. However, the Nso and the Rajputs share
a parenting pattern that can be regarded as supporting the de-
velopment of communion. Differences between the two agrarian
communities are related to different emotional expressivity and
different health and nutritional status. The German caregiving
pattern can be regarded as oriented towards the development
of agency. In the discussion the question of the cultural inter-
pretation of parenting behaviors is raised, emphasizing that the
analysis of both shared practices as well as shared ideas is im-
portant in order to understand the dynamics of parenting in
cultural context. [parenting, farming communities, urban middle-
class families, infancy]

ETHOS, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 512541, ISSN 0091-2131, electronic ISSN 1548-1352.
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 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 513

T
he integration of two modalities of human existence, agency
and communion (Bakan 1966) can be conceived of as central to
self conceptions across cultural environments. Agency refers
to an individuals self assertion, competence, and autonomy.
Communion refers to an individuals striving to relate to oth-
ers and focus on cooperation and relational harmony. Kagitiba si (1994)
proposed that agency and communion are two separate dimensions which
are interrelated empirically rather than logically. These orientations are
expressed in individuals perceptions, memory and cognition, moral rea-
soning, and social relationships (Markus and Kitayama 1991). They are
co-constructed within cultural environments and thus central to socializa-
tion processes. Through their parenting strategies, parents try to prepare
their children for the balance between agency and communion that may
be adaptive for their future environment.
Cultures differ substantially with respect to the emphasis that they
put on the development of agency and communion even in the develop-
mental phase of infancy (Keller 2003). A special emphasis on agency has
been ascribed to Western middle-class societies (e.g., Kagitiba si 1996).
At least as conceptualized by these researchers, the prototypical social-
ization setting for the small child is a nuclear family with no or few sib-
lings. The mother is the primary caregiver and spends most of her time
alone with the infant. Her attention alternates between exclusive interac-
tions with the baby and her daily chores (Rogoff et al. 1993; Verhoef and
Morelli 2004). She communicates with the baby as a quasi-equal interac-
tional partner whose needs, wishes, preferences, and desires are important
(Keller, Hentschel et al. 2004). Face-to-face interaction and object play
are the favorite parenting activities (Keller, Lohaus et al. 2004). Through
contingent responsiveness, the baby experiences causality from early on
(Voelker et al. 1999). This distal parenting style can be conceived of as
supporting agency (Keller, Borke et al. 2005). Moreover, orienting the baby
to toys and objects from the beginning supports separateness and accus-
toms the baby to spent time on his or her own (Keller, Hentschel et al.
2004).
A special emphasis on communion has been ascribed to rural farm-
ing communities, for example in Africa or Asia (Kagitiba si 1996). The
socialization scenario for infants in those communities can be described
as extended family with multiple caregiving arrangements. Yet the mother
also plays a special role during the first months of life, since breastfeeding
is regarded as a crucial aspect of good maternal care (Morelli and Tronick
1991; Yovsi and Keller 2003). Maternal attention is often divided or co-
occurring when monitoring the infant while doing household chores or
farm work (Keller 2000; Verhoef and Morelli 2004). Caregivers attention
514 ETHOS

focuses primarily on infants negative and distress signals (LeVine et al.

1994; Rothbaum et al. 2000; Yovsi 2003). Bodily proximity during day
and night (Bakeman et al. 1990; Richman et al. 1992) supports the per-
ception of synchrony between the infant and the caretaker. An emphasis
on body stimulation has especially been reported from sub-Saharan com-
munities (Keller, Yovsi, and Voelker 2002; Super 1976). This proximal
socialization strategy orients the baby to his or her assigned place within
the family (Rabain-Jamin and Sabeau-Jouannet 1997). Stressing the moral
implications of relational networks can be regarded as supporting the de-
velopment of communion (Kagitiba si 1996; Keller, Voelker, and Yovsi
2005).
These strategies (distal versus proximal) are not uniform across cul-
tures, social groups and individuals. With respect to the Western mind
Harkness, Super, and van Tijen (2000) have demonstrated that there are
remarkable differences between Dutch and U.S.-American middle-class
parents ideas about child rearing that can both be considered as empha-
sizing agency. Social class has also been identified as influencing parents
ideas and strategies of childrearing (e.g., Holden and Miller 1999).
Likewise, different views concerning parental strategies in traditional
agrarian families have been presented. On the one hand, parenting in this
context has been characterized as following a production strategy with
many children and relatively harsh and unresponsive caregiving (Jones
1993; Draper and Harpending 1988). Hewlett and collaborators (Hewlett
and Lamb 2003; Hewlett et al. 1998) reported that maternal sensitiv-
ity toward negative infant signals was lower in central African Ngandu
farmers than in a middle-class U.S.-American sample. Based on his obser-
vations with the Gusii, LeVine (1974, 1989) summarized this parenting
strategy as pediatric in focusing on survival, health, and physical devel-
opment of the children. On the other hand, parenting of farming villagers
has been characterized as nurturant and affectionate, for example that
of the Cameroonian Nso (Yovsi and Keller 2003). Likewise, Lese farmers
children living in the Ituri forest of Northeastern Zaire experience not
only care but also playful interactions with mothers and siblings to pre-
pare them for a family-based social ecology (Morelli and Tronick 1991).
Thus, there are differences in parenting behavior although these cultural
communities experience similar socio-economic conditions.
This study focuses on parenting strategies with infants in two different
farming village societies: the Cameroonian Nso and the Indian Gujarati
Rajputs. In order to better understand similarities and differences between
them, we compare them further to Northern German middle-class fam-
ilies. Cameroonian Nso and Indian Rajputs from the Nandesari area in
Gujarat both represent traditional, small scale agricultural societies since
industrial production and wage labor are minimal (Hewlett et al. 1998).
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 515

Both societies have been characterized as emphasizing communion more

than agency (Abels, Keller et al. 2003; Yovsi and Keller 2003). They have
similar types of subsistence in similar ecological conditions with joint
families or relatives close by. Infant mortality in both groups is high with
about 95 per 1,000 live births in Cameroon and 69 in India. The fertility
rates are higher than those in Western countries (Cameroon total fertility
rate is 4.9 and India 3.2). Both groups have some access to formal school-
ing and the outside world via radio and TV and transportation facilities to
nearby cities, which, however are hardly used. The lives of women and
men are quite separated in both cultural communities, due to marked
gender and intergenerational inequalities. Childcare and household tasks
are womens responsibilities. The mother is the primary caregiver of the
infant during the first months of life, especially with respect to breastfeed-
ing, although female relatives form multiple caregiving arrangements. The
economic situation in both societies is comparable, with women pursuing
farming and/or animal husbandry and men contributing occasionally to
the family budget through paid labor.
Childcare has been linked to the maintenance systems or modes of
production of a society (LeVine 1974; Whiting and Edwards 1988). Thus,
similar strategies might be expected for the Cameroonian Nso and the
Gujarati Rajputs. But, although the socialization goals between the two
societies are comparable, the social format of the motherchild relation-
ship follows different sociocultural scripts. Although both socialization
strategies can be assumed to emphasize communion, the Nso socializa-
tion strategy with small babies is clearly more indulgent than that of the
Gujarati Rajputs.

THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE CAMEROONIAN NSO VILLAGERS

Rural Nso society is basically rooted in the past and guided by its
ancient values, norms, customs and conventions. These conceptions are
based in the traditional religion, which often combines with other religious
belief systems, such as Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam (Banadzem
1996). The Nso of our sample live in Kikaikelaki in Bui division of the
North West province of Cameroon. Kikaikelaki village consists of seden-
tary communities of about 3001,000 inhabitants. The village size is about
20 square kilometers. The eastern part of the village is located along a ring
road (highway) where vehicles pass every 1020 minutes. But the heart of
the village where the health center is found is accessible only by clando
(an old broken car which carries an overload) very irregularly. There is
a Catholic church at Waingoylum, a Protestant church at Tsenla, and a
Mosque at the Muslim quarter. Most women deliver their babies at the local
516 ETHOS

health center with the help of a nurse or a traditional birth attendant, and
some go to the Banso Baptist Hospital (BBH), a large U.S.-American run
hospital located a few miles from the village. Villagers who cannot afford to
pay for modern health services go to practitioners of traditional medicine.
Some illnesses are believed to have supernatural causes, and seen as the
severing of the link with the ancestors. In this case, sacrifices are offered
at family altars.
Although rural Cameroon is a disease-prone area, the general health
of the Nso women and children is good. Pipe borne potable water is ac-
cessible in the village, and Kikaikelaki Nso women do not show signs of
malnutrition.
Most households are monogamous apart from ranked persons with
traditional titles, for example Fon, the lineage head, who by traditional
law is supposed to be polygamous. Some Muslim families are also polyg-
amous because the Koran permits a man up to four wives. There is close
contact with relatives and neighbors living in the same lineage or fam-
ily land. Farmlands are usually distant from the village, but people still
have small farms outside their houses. Subsistence is a combination of
communal efforts and endeavors by family members, with farming be-
ing the main responsibility of women. Men bring home the harvest from
the more distant farms, and some do handicrafts like weaving, carving
and fabrication of furniture from local bamboo as well as tapping palm
wine.
For the Nso, the aim of childrearing is to inculcate the moral values of
obedience, respect for authority and conformity to the group. The child
is regarded as the reincarnation of a deceased ancestor and a gift from
God. Ancestors send messages to the living through infants expressive
behaviors (e.g., giggling or body movements). Childrens socialization is
considered to be an instrument of the society; accepting social respon-
sibility, commitment, and involvement for the communal good such as
harmony and group stability and is embedded in a highly expressive in-
teractional exchange. The attainment of the moral values of the society
constitutes Nsoness (Yovsi 2003).
Mothers have primary responsibility for child care, and the mother
does not leave young infants except with female relatives or elder siblings.
However, other caregivers such as female relatives or the childs elder
siblings carry or hold the child as the mother goes about her work routines.
This shared care enables the mother to perform her household chores:
preparing food, washing dishes and clothes, carrying water, and sweeping
the compound. Women do not have to return to work on the farm until the
baby is about three months of age. Then they take their infants with them
and leave them in a bowl at the edge of the field or with a young caregiver
usually an elder sibling or cousin of the infant. The child is always within
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 517

view or at least within hearing distance of the mother, who is able to react
immediately to the infants crying and to breastfeed on demand.

THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE GUJARATI RAIPUT VILLAGERS

The Gujarati Rajputs originate from a high caste in Hindu religion with
traditional occupations as warriors and advisors to the rulers. Yet, since
their migration from Saurashtra to Vadodara District, they have occupied a
low socioeconomic status. The Rajputs of our sample live in the Nandesari
area about 20 kilometers north of Vadodara in Gujarat. Village size varies
between 1,000 and 10,000 inhabitants. The villages of the Nandesari area
can be reached by train from Vadodara, a 1.5 million city, within an hour.
Some villages are also connected to Vadodara by buses which run rather
irregularly at least twice a day or by auto-rickshaw. Womens health care
is provided by different sources. In every village there are traditional birth
attendants (dai) who care for pregnant women and who deliver the
children and visit the mother and child daily after the birth for some time.
Some of them are government trained, some of them are trained by a local
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Deepak Charitable Trust/Deepak
Medical Foundation (DCT/DMF) which is partly funded by one of the
petrochemical companies in the area. In Nandesari there is also a small
emergency hospital run by the Deepak Medical Foundation. Villagers also
turn to traditional healers (bhuva) for help with many of their health
problems. Some diseases are believed to be caused by curses or the evil
eye, and spiritual remedies are sought. Temples are virtually everywhere,
and moreover every family has their own worship place at home. In a
survey about reproductive health and child health status in the villages of
the Nandesari area, Lakhani and colleagues (1997) reported that during
the assessment year (1996) many women were undernourished, and a
major health problem of the women was anemia.
Families in Nandesari are either nuclear (about 64 percent) or joint
families (about 36 percent). Even if a family lives as a nuclear family there
is usually very close contact to relatives living in the same compound or
in neighboring houses. The womens daily chores in the patrilocal house-
holds include fetching water, caring for the cattle (if any), preparing meals,
washing clothes, and cleaning the house. The youngest daughter-in-law of
the family is usually severely burdened with work, which is assigned to
her by her mother-in-law and elder sisters-in-law. For her first delivery
(and in some cases also the consequent deliveries), a woman returns to
her family of origin where she is taken care of by her mother and free from
most household obligations, even after the traditional phase of impurity
up to the 40th day after giving birth.
518 ETHOS

Working in the fields, which is usually also the womens responsibility

to a large extent, is avoided by mothers of small, breastfed children if
possible. During the daily routines, especially when she has to travel long
distances to fetch water and the like, the mother either leaves the child
in somebodys care or takes the child to the field where a cloth cradle is
put up for the child in the shade.
The Hindu way of life implies substantial intergenerational distance
between parents and children. There is a strong belief in fate, horoscope,
and destiny (Chaudhary 2004). The ideal for the socialization of chil-
dren is the joint family system that is deeply embedded in patriarchy
(Roopnarine et al. 1989). Social values and beliefs concerning the Hindu
family in India are exemplified in old Sanskrit texts and are still relevant
today (Chaudhary 2004). A markedly andocentric and authoritarian ide-
ology (Dhruvarajan 1990) prescribes absolute moral authority of parents
over their children, with complete conformity and obedience to the par-
ents as the foremost duty of children (Kakar 1978). Respect to the elder
members of the family, compliance and dutifulness are the explicit social-
izatory instructions. As a consequence of the intergenerational distance,
emotionally charged interactions are more frequent with the group than
between the child and mother (Kurtz 1992:80). There is a clear hesita-
tion on part of the mother to be too indulgent in the presence of others
and outside the feeding situation. The mothers love for her child is not for
public display and may remain invisible to outsiders (Chaudhary 2004).
The presence of an infant is taken for granted and a new baby is not the
center of attention. Too much attention should not be paid to the infant,
because it would spoil the child (Roopnarine et al. 1989). The differences
in emotional expressivity in mothers from rural Gujarat as compared to
mothers from rural Nso can be inferred from Figures 1 and 2.

THE CONTEXT OF A NORTHERN GERMAN CITY

Our sample of Northern Germans lives in the city of Osnabrueck in
the state of lower Saxony. Osnabrueck is a commercial center for the
area and a university city with about 150,000 inhabitants. Typically both
parents have a higher education and pursue independent careers before
children are born. After childbirth, women have a paid two-month mater-
nity leave, and most of them extend the leave to one year on an unpaid
basis. Very few fathers (1.6 percent) take the paternity leave. Fathers work
outside the home to earn money to ensure the family income; the practical
chores of childcare are done by the mothers. Healthcare is fully covered
by statewide social security system. Women have regular checkups during
pregnancy, which are covered by health insurance. Infant mortality is low
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 519

with 5 per 1,000 live births; fertility is also among the lowest in the world
with a total of only 1.3 children per woman. Infants are expected to spend
time alone or entertain themselves with toys from early on in order to
give the mother some free time for herself. There are hardly any other
caregivers available because relatives usually do not live in the neighbor-
hood and other babysitters have to be paid. Independence from the parent
is thus the major socialization goal of infancy. This is not related to the
religious orientation of the parents, which may be Catholic, Protestant,
or, more often among more highly-educated Germans, atheistic.
In this study we focus on the early developmental phase of infancy.
The age of about three months is characterized by a sociobehavioral shift
in diverse cultures. Indian Hindu culture celebrates special ceremonies
at about this age, in which the baby is exposed to the sun and the moon
for the first time (Saraswathi and Pai 1997). For the Nso, the first three
months of life are part of the Wan phase, covering the first six months.
At about three months, the motherinfant seclusion ends and the mother
returns to her farm work (Yovsi 2003).
In German middle-class families, three months of age represents a fo-
cal developmental phase. Parentinfant interactions are characterized by
a peak in mutual eye contact (Keller et al. 1985), which can be interpreted
as an early outcome in relational development. Infants are expected to
have developed the first steps of autonomy at this time, including sleeping
through the night and the establishment of a mature circadian rhythm.
In longitudinal research it has been demonstrated that interactional
patterns between mothers and three-month-old infants are predictive of
infants later behavioral styles and competencies (Bornstein and Tamis-
LeMonda 1990; Keller, Borke et al. 2005). This may be rooted in the
fact that experiences provided by parents tend to be stable during in-
fancy, as research on behavioral stability by Holden and Miller (1999) has
demonstrated.

CONCLUSIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS

Based on the cultural and contextual portraits of our study com-
munities, we expect similarities between the caregiving patterns of the
Cameroonian Nso and the Gujarati Rajputs with respect to behaviors that
can be assumed to support communion, especially a multiple caregiving
arrangement, body contact, and nursing in response to crying. On the
other hand we expect differences between the Nso and the Rajputs based
on different cultural conceptions of emotional expressivity and health and
nutritional status. We expect an agency supporting caregiving pattern to be
displayed by the Northern Germans, with an emphasis on exclusive care
520 ETHOS

arrangements, object stimulation, and face-to-face interaction. Although

characteristic cultural childrearing patterns have already been described
by ethnologists, our study focuses on the actual frequency and consistency
of such behavioral patterns. We formulated the following hypotheses:
1. We expect both, Cameroonian Nso and Indian Gujarati infants
to experience multiple care arrangements in comparison to the
German babies, who are expected to be exclusive with their moth-
ers and spend more time alone.
2. We expect Cameroonian Nso and Indian Gujarati infants to ex-
perience a similarly high amount of body contact and nursing as
response to crying in comparison to the Northern German infants
who experience less body contact.
3. We expect Cameroonian Nso and Indian Gujarati infants to experi-
ence similarly scarce object stimulation and face-to-face dialogue
in comparison to the German infants who experience more object
stimulation and face-to-face dialogue.
4. Due to differences in emotional expressivity between the
Cameroonian Nso and the Gujarati Rajputs, we expect more ca-
ressing displayed by the Nso caregivers than by the Rajput care-
givers. German caregivers are expected to occupy a middle po-
sition between the Nso and the Rajputs, since the display of
emotional expressivity towards a child is culturally expected, yet
in moderate doses.
5. Due to differences in health and nutritional status, we expect the
Nso women to perform higher energy body stimulation patterns
than the Rajput women, who on the other hand are expected to
perform low energy body stimulation. However, we expect low inci-
dences of both forms of body stimulation in German mother-infant
interactions.
Finally we explore differences in infants states that may influence
interactional patterns.

METHOD
Participants
24 Rajput families, 22 Nso families, and 20 German families partic-
ipated in this study. In all but one of the Gujarati families both parents
were Rajputs; in the remaining family one parent was Rajput. The religious
orientation of the Nso was 40.9 percent Catholics, 36.4 percent Protes-
tants, and 22.7 percent Muslims.The 20 German families all belonged to
Christian religions (Roman Catholic and Protestant), although only few
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 521

actively practiced. The demographic characteristics of the participating

families are indicated in Table 1.
The socioeconomic situations of the Indian Rajput and the Nso sample
are comparable, with a low level of education and basic living conditions.
The Rajput mothers were younger than the mothers of the Nso sample
but the age of the mothers at the birth of their first child did not differ.
The difference concerning years of mothers school attendance between
the Nso and Rajput results from the fact that 20.8 percent of the Indian
Rajput mothers had no formal education at all whereas all Nso mothers
had attended primary school at least for a few years and 81.8 percent had
finished primary school. The socioeconomic situation of the German sam-
ple represents a middle-class environment. The families of the German
sample lived in significantly smaller households than the other two sam-
ples. Compared to the two rural samples the German mothers completed
a significantly higher level of education.
The Indian Rajputs form families at an earlier age than Cameroonian
Nso which may be related to the lower educational level. The Germans
formed families relatively late and not all of the German couples in the
sample were married. Instead two German mothers were cohabiting with
the father of the child (Table 2). All Rajput mothers and 16 of the Nso
mothers were married and 6 Nso mothers were single.
Gender and birth position of the infants are indicated in Table 3. In the
Nso and the Gujarati samples, there were substantially more families with
later born infants. The German participants were selected from a larger
sample (cf. Keller and Zach 2002) to match the proportions of first and
later born children in the other two samples. A Chi-square test displayed
no significant differences between the three cultural samples concerning
the proportion of first and later born children, 2 (2, N = 66) = .18, p =
.91. There were approximately equal numbers of boys and girls in all
three samples which was confirmed in a chi-square test as well, 2 (2,
N = 66) = .35, p = .84.

PROCEDURE
The Rural Samples
One of the authors and three German students who had been trained
in Germany, together with local interpreters collected the data in rural
Gujarat between March and October 1999. The Nso assessments were
conducted by one of the authors who is a native Nso, and by another author
with a local Nso guide who were supported by the local health center.
The fieldworkers in both places got lists of babies that had been born
two months previously. A traditional birth attendant or kindergartener
Table 1. Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Participating Nso, Rajput, and German Families.
522 ETHOS

Nso Rajput German

(n = 22) (n = 24) (n = 20)
F-statistics,
M SD Range M SD Range M SD Range df = 2, 63a
Age of mother 25.5 6.8 1646 22.4 3.2 1829 26.6 3.0 2033 4.65 (G > R)
Age of father 38 12.1 25.7 3.8 1934 30.9 3.7 2440 14.29 (N > R, N > G)
Years of mothers school 7.3 1.4 511 4.3 3.0 010 11.7 2.3 917 51.73 (N < G, R < G, R < N)
attendance
Number of household 7.5 3.9 220 6.7 2.6 313 3.8 0.6 35 9.85 (N > G, R > G)
members
Mothers age at marriage/ 20.5 3.5 1628 16.0 1.8 1221 21.9 1.9 1925 32.16 (R < G, R < N)
cohabitationb
Fathers age at marriage/ 28.7 12.7 1532 19.4 2.9 1428 26.0 3.2 2135 8.42 (R < G, R < N)
cohabitationb
Mothers age at birth of 20.2 3.2 1629 18.4 2.3 1322 24.7 2.1 2028 32.15 (N < G, R < G)
first child
Duration of marriage/ 6.9 7.9 128 6.6 4.25 119.5 5.0 3.0 0,19 0.69
cohabitationb at time of
assessment
Note. p < .05, p < .01.
a
Significant pair comparisons are in parentheses. R = Rajput, N = Nso, G = German.
b
Marriage in case of the Nso and the Rajput sample, cohabitation in case of the German sample.
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 523

Table 2. Civil Status of Participating Nso, Gujarati, and German Mothers as Percentages
of Cultural Groups.

Civil Nso Rajput German

status (n = 22) (n = 24) (n = 20)
Mother single 27.3 0 0
Mother cohabiting 0 0 10
Mother married 72.7 100 90

Table 3. Infant Characteristics as Percentages of Cultural Groups.

Nso Rajput German

(n = 22) (n = 24) (n = 20)

First- Later- First- Later- First- Later-

Gender born born Total born born Total born born Total
Male 9.1 31.8 40.9 25 25 50 15 35 50
Female 27.3 31.8 59.1 4.2 45.8 50 20 30 50
Total 36.4 63.6 100 29.2 70.8 100 35 65 100

introduced the fieldworkers to the families and stayed with them during
the complete first visit when the study was explained to the family. It was
stressed that we are interested in the normal daily routines. The family
was then asked for their consent, when it would be convenient for them
to be visited for the spot observations. Most of the families replied any
time. All of the contacted families agreed to participate. Finally socio-
demographic information about the members of the family was assessed.
The assessment took place when the infants were between 2.5 and
3 months old. The spot observations usually started on one of the days
following the first contact and were continued until 20 observations were
completed. The whole observation was completed within one week for
each family. One researcher (with an interpreter) visited the families to
do the observations. Due to their enormous workload, families were not
able to deviate from their usual schedule. If the researchers were not able
to find a family they came back later to do the observation.

German Sample
The 20 German families were selected for this study from a larger
sample of 60 families. They were chosen to match the Nso and Rajput
samples as closely as possible with regard to the infants gender and birth
rank and the mothers age. Ten weeks after delivery home visits were
524 ETHOS

scheduled. The spot observation procedure is not applicable in an urban

German environment, where mothers have a different attitude towards
privacy than the traditional villagers. We therefore videotaped the families
when the infant was between 11 and 13 weeks of age on five consecutive
days during different times of the day for two hours each (Keller and Zach
2002). These videotapes served as the raw material for the same procedure
that had been administered during the spot observations: that is, four 15-
minute slots were randomly chosen from each two hour video segment
and analyzed to match the procedure described below. The coding was
done by two of the authors who had also collected data in rural Gujarat
or rural Cameroon.

Spot Observations
Spot observations as described by Rogoff (1978) are a modified time
sampling method of observation in which the observer is relatively un-
obtrusive, taking a mental snapshot of the activity that is going on at
the moment when he or she enters the observation site (cf. Draper 1975;
LeVine et al. 1994; Munroe and Munroe 1971; for a summary see Gross
1984). Spot observations must be done over an extended period during
different times of the day, and days of the week to ensure that differences
reflect variations between populations and not merely random fluctuation
due to the variability in peoples activities. In the present study, we con-
ductes 20 spot observations spread evenly between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. over
a period of one week. We restricted the observations to one week due to
the fast developmental progress of infants at that age.
Since spot observations do not provide information about the dura-
tion of situations, we complemented the spot observations with brief time
sampling observation periods of 15 minutes. During the 15 minutes, de-
fined behavioral codes were assessed within ten second intervals with a
recording time of 20 seconds. A total of five minutes of actual observation
resulted from each unit. For the 20 home visits, the net observation time
per family equaled 100 minutes. One team of observer and guide (Nso) or
interpreter (Gujarat) visited one family for all of the 20 observational units.
For the German sample the method was adapted for the coding of
video sequences. 20 sequences of 15 minutes duration each (for a total of
five hours) were randomly selected from the ten hour video recording for
coding before the video taped material was viewed by the coders.

Measures
The infants experiences within the three cultural contexts were as-
sessed by coding each present persons caregiving behaviors concurrently
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 525

with the infants state. The analysis of the state of the infant was es-
sential since the infants state creates the context of the interaction
(Schoelmerich and Weels 1998). Although certain caretaking customs
and practices are culturally recognized and have been ethnographically
documented, the question how frequently and consistently distinct behav-
iors can be observed remained to be addressed. We were therefore espe-
cially interested in caregiving behaviors that can be assumed to promote
communion (nursing, body contact, and body stimulation) as compared to
those promoting agency (object stimulation, face-to-face- or eye-contact).
Any code was applied only when the corresponding behavior lasted for at
least five seconds during the interval. The codes include the following:
Infant States
Sleep. The infant is sleeping or is about to fall asleep. Signs for falling
asleep are yawning, closed/closing eyes, and relaxed muscle tone.
Attentive. All signs of sleep and sleepiness are absent and the infant
does not fuss or cry.
Fuss/Cry. The infant is awake and cries or manifests signs of being
upset by moaning, whining, or whimpering
Persons presence
Each individual person with the infant
a) within reach (straight arm-length or closer), or
b) within viewing distance (the person can see the infant, but the infant
does not necessarily have to be able to see the person) was coded sep-
arately. Parenting behaviors were coded for each person as the category
applied, usually with the infant being within reach.
Responses to Crying
Nursing. The caregiver (usually mother) nurses the infant.
Body Contact
Body contact comprises more contact between caregiver and infant
than just caregivers hands touching infants body. The baby is carried or
held on caregivers arms, hip, or back, or the baby is held on caregivers
lap or legs. Caregiver and baby may also lie close to each other on a
bed or the caregiver may be sitting in body contact with a baby who is
lying.
Caressing
The caregiver caresses the infant with her/his own face or parts of the
face (mouth, nose).
Body Stimulation
Holding. The baby is held with hands in front of the caregiver without
body contact. The baby can also stand on caregivers upper legs.
Vestibular stimulation. The infant is rocked with the whole body or
upper trunk. The infant can have body contact or can be lying in a cradle.
526 ETHOS

We combined codings of body contact and body stimulation in order

to get categories that indicate more or less energetic investment accord-
ing to the following rational: If the infant is a) held in front of the body
(body stimulation: holding) and simultaneously stimulated vestibularly
(body stimulation: vestibular) or if the infant is b) close to the body (body
contact) and simultaneously stimulated vestibularly (body stimulation:
vestibular) we consider the stimulation as highly energetic because the
caregiver supports the infants whole weight. We consider the stimulation
as low energetic if the infant is a) kept standing on the caregivers lap or
the floor (body stimulation: holding and body stimulation: no vestibular)
or rocked in a swing or cradle (body contact: no and body stimulation:
vestibular).
Object Stimulation
The caregiver introduces an object or toy into the interaction and
tries to direct the infants attention to the object.
Face-to-Face
Infant and caregiver have a bodily position to each other that allows
them to look into each others faces. The occurrence of eye-contact during
the 10 s interval is recorded separately if it occurs.
Inter-rater Agreement
The coding of spot observations was taught with the help of video-
tapes before the fieldwork started. We used tapes of Nso, Gujarati, and
German mothers daily routines that were recorded for other studies con-
ducted by Keller and Zach (2002), Keller, Lohaus et al. (2004) and Yovsi
(2003). We calculated Cohens Kappa for the assessment of 8 different
20 min tapes from Nso, Rajput, and German families for each pair of
coders. Coders were considered reliable as soon as they reached Kappa
values for all coding categories above .70. Additionally, the first 5 homevis-
its in India were done by pairs of coders to confirm inter-rater agree-
ment during fieldwork. Kappa values remained above .70 for all coded
categories.

Data Analysis
Both the total amount and the special kind of caregiving behaviors
an infant experiences may depend on the infants state. Beyond that, the
same parenting behavior may express different meanings depending on
the infants state. Therefore all scores for parenting categories were cal-
culated as percentages of specific infant states. Percentages were used
instead of contingent codes because these infant states last for some time
rather than being discrete events. Furthermore, behaviors were calcu-
lated for mothers and aggregated for all other persons involved with the
infants. Aggregation was necessary because in none of the three cultures
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 527

did any person (father, grandmother, siblings etc.) besides the mother
spend more than 10 percent of the observation time with the infant in
reach; for most of them it was even less than 5 percent. Any further
differentiation according to person was therefore deemed insignificant.
Thus, we were able to compare the state-related parenting behaviors that
Nso, Rajput, and German infants experienced by the mother and other
persons.
As the first step of analysis (analysis 1), we computed a MANOVA
of cultural group (Rajput, Nso, German) for the following dependent
variables: 1) percentage of observation intervals the infant spent within
mothers reach, others reach and within reach of mother and other to-
gether during a) sleeping, b) attentive, and c) crying states, 2) percentage
of the total number of observation intervals the infant was alone without
anybody in view, 3) percentage of crying intervals the infant was nursed,
4) percentage of the total number of observation intervals the infant was
in a sleeping state, and 5) percentage of the infants waking state intervals
spent with crying.
Mothers age and years of school attendance were controlled as co-
variates because these variables potentially influence parenting behavior
(Keller, Lohaus et al. 2004).
As a second step of data analysis (analysis 2), a cultural group
(Rajput, Nso, German) x person (mother, other) MANOVA with repeated
measures for the factor person was calculated for the following dependent
variables:
body contact during a) sleeping, b) attentive, and c) crying states;
object presentation, face-to-face situation, caressing, and the categories
of body stimulation during attentive states.
The mothers age and years of maternal school attendance were again
controlled as covariates.

Results
The results of analysis 1 revealed a significant multivariate effect of
cultural group, F (26, 98) = 6.90, p < .001, and no significant effects of
covariates (see Table 4).
Analysis 2 yielded significant main effects of cultural group, F (24,
98) = 8.94, p < .001, person, F (12, 48) = 2.47, p < .05, and a significant
cultural group x person interaction, F (24, 98) = 4.54, p < .001. Further,
mothers age as a covariate was significant, F (12, 48) = 2.15, p < .05.
Univariate age effects were found for care during crying states, F (1, 59) =
6.54, p < .05, body contact during sleeping, F (1, 59) = 11.33, p < .001,
and attentive states, F (1, 59) = 8.18, p < .05. Older mothers infants ex-
perienced more care and less body contact (see Table 5).
Table 4. Differences between the Cultural Groups with Respect to Basic Descriptive Parameters: Mean Percentages of Observed Time Intervals
and Standard Deviations (corrected for covariate) Together with Summary Statistics for Univariate Analyses of Variance.
528 ETHOS

Rajput Nso German F-statistics, df = 2, 60a

Infant in reach of mother exclusively
Infant sleeps 12.02 (13.53) 35.62 (18.59) 8.67 (17.03) 17.71 (N > R, N > G)
Infant attentive 35.34 (14.26) 51.04 (12.73) 59.52 (13.62) 11.35 (G > R, G > N, N > R)
Infant cries 31.20 (16.27) 39.66 (23.66) 42.77 (20.81)
Infant in reach of other exclusively
Infant sleeps 13.48 (12.86) 15.05 (16.65) 1.11 (4.31) 5.88 (G < R, G < N)
Infant attentive 27.89 (16.01) 36.75 (22.12) 7.95 (8.19) 12.16 (G < R, G < N)
Infant cries 29.81 (21.11) 39.23 (20.90) 7.51 (9.65) 10.51 (G < R, G < N)
Infant in reach of mother and other together
Infant sleeps 4.05 (5.34) 4.03 (8.00) 0.28 (0.92)
Infant attentive 13.75 (9.98) 9.67 (7.67) 2.96 (2.62) 3.33 (G < R, G < N)
Infant cries 9.11 (10.06) 7.22 (8.74) 0.82 (1.51) 3.71 (G < R, G < N)
Infant without anybody in view 9.47 (7.25) 7.57 (11.19) 40.36 (14.03) 24.29 (G > R, G > N)
Crying Infant nursed 5.89 (5.89) 10.26 (11.85) 2.25 (3.37) 3.91 (N > G)
Infant sleepy/sleeping (percentage of total time) 38.51 (8.00) 29.35 (10.48) 25.39 (14.83) 3.28 (R > N, R > G)
Infant cries (percentage of waking time) 11.11 (6.78) 8.44 (4.81) 13.43 (7.56)
Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses.
a
Significant pair comparisons are in parentheses. R = Rajput, N = Nso, G = German.

p < .05 p < .01 p < .001.

Table 5. Mean Percentages of Time Intervals Rajput, Nso, and German Caregivers Invested into Different Caregiving
Activities (corrected for covariate) and Summary Statistics for Univariate Measures of Cultural Group X Person.

F-statistics
Cultural
Rajput Nso German
Cultural Groupa Person Group x Person
Mother Others Mother Others Mother Others df = 2, 59 df = 1, 59 df = 2, 59
Body Contact
Infant sleeps 0.00 1.65 39.53 15.11 12.79 2.18 89.73 13.09 16.12
(15.91) (12.87) (11.36) (9.18) (16.78) (13.57) (N > R, N > G, G > R)
Infant attentive 26.82 11.73 53.02 30.62 43.40 4.40 66.87
(18.21) (14.87) (13.00) (10.62) (19.21) (15.69) (N > R, N > G)
Infant cries 20.78 11.49 44.04 39.27 19.20 4.24 61.58
(25.58) (23.42) (18.26) (16.72) (26.99) (24.71) (N > R, N > G)
Object presentation
Infant attentive 0.07 0.40 0.83 0.54 2.33 0.22 3.17
(2.57) (1.19) (1.83) (0.85) (2.71) (1.25)
Face-to-face
Infant attentive 5.87 9.51 21.34 9.08 25.70 1.82 10.68 5.24 18.18
(10.43) (6.95) (7.44) (4.96) (11.00) (7.33) (R < N, R < G)
Caressing
Infant attentive 0.00 1.41 1.88 1.11 1.08 0.00 11.37 6.54 9.80
(1.74) (1.19) (1.24) (0.85) (1.83) (1.25) (N > R, N > G)
High energy body stimulation Infant attentive
Holding 0.15 0.42 0.17 0.19 0.06 0.13
vestibular (0.48) (0.61) (0.34) (0.44) (0.50) (0.65)
Body contact 0.91 1.67 3.57 14.78 2.22 3.72 16.36 6.91
vestibular (2.85) (13.48) (2.03) (9.62) (3.00) (14.22) (N > R, N > G)
Low energy body stimulation Infant attentive
Holding 6.86 5.67 2.20 0.66 4.27 0.00 13.70
no vestibular (4.85) (5.08) (3.46) (3.63) (5.12) (5.36) (R > N, R > G)
Cradling 3.42 4.84 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.00 22.45
(3.43) (3.26) (2.45) (2.33) (3.62) (3.44) (R > N, R > G)
Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses.
Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 529

a
Significant pair comparisons are in parentheses. R = Rajput, N = Nso, G = German. p < .05 p < .01 p < .001.
530 ETHOS

Differences in Infants Multiple Care Experiences

The results concerning the assumption that young infants in tra-
ditional farming communities experience multiple care arrangement as
compared to exclusive care arrangement of the Western middle-class in-
fants are presented in Table 4. When crying, Rajput and Nso infants spent
comparable, high amounts of time within their mothers reach, within an-
others reach or within reach of mother and other together. When attentive
or sleeping, Nso infants were more often within their mothers reach than
the Rajput infants. There were no differences between the Rajput and
Nso samples during attentive or sleeping states concerning other persons
within reach.
In contrast, the German infants were more often within their mothers
reach than the infants of the rural samples when attentive. During all infant
states German infants spent less time than Rajput and Nso infants within
other persons reach. If the total time an infant spent all alone without a
person in viewing distance is considered, German infants exceeded Nso
and Rajput infants by far: They spent 40 percent of all observation intervals
without a person in viewing distance while this figure was only 9 percent
and 8 percent for the Rajput and Nso infants, respectively.
Thus, with respect to the infants multiple care experiences, the data
confirm our assumption. The data also confirm that the mothers are the
most significant caregivers for small infants in all three cultural commu-
nities, since the percentage of time infants were within reach of their
mothers was higher than that for all other persons together.

Differences in Infants Experiences of Body Contact and Nursing in

Response to Crying
As expected, Rajput and Nso infants experienced comparable high
amounts of nursing as response to crying (Table 4). Compared to German
infants the infants from the rural samples were nursed more often when
crying, but only the difference between German and Nso infants was sta-
tistically significant.
The results concerning body contact only partially support our hy-
pothesis (Table 5). Nso infants experienced more body contact than Rajput
infants when sleeping, attentive and crying. In comparison to the German
infants, the Nso infants also experienced more body contact regardless
of their state; but there were no significant differences between German
and Rajput infants during attentive and crying states. Because the cul-
tural group x person interaction was significant for body contact during
sleeping states, Scheffe tests were calculated post hoc to explore the cell
mean differences of body contact. The results revealed that during sleep-
ing states Nso mothers provided significantly more body contact than all
other groups, p < .001, and German mothers provided more body contact
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 531

than Rajput mothers, p < .05. Thus, in comparing the body contact expe-
riences of Rajput and German infants, we found no differences in crying
and attentive states, but German infants experienced more than Rajput
infants in sleeping states.

Differences in Infants Experiences of Object Presentation and

Face-to-Face Interaction
The results of analysis 2 (Table 5) concerning face-to-face interaction
and object presentation confirm our expectations only partially. Because
for both variables the cultural group x person interaction was significant
(F (2, 59) = 3.17, p < .05, F (2, 59) = 18.18, p < .001 respectively), Scheffe
tests were calculated to compare cell means. Significant differences be-
tween cultural groups were found with respect to maternal behaviors but
not to other persons behaviors. Rajput and Nso infants were stimulated
by their mothers with objects similarly seldom, but Rajput infants experi-
enced significantly less face-to-face situations than Nso infants ( p < .001).
Compared to German infants, Rajput infants were significantly less
stimulated with objects by their mothers ( p < .05), and they experienced
less face-to-face situations than German infants ( p < .001). There were
no significant differences with respect to object presentations and face-to-
face situations between German and Nso infants. Our expectations thus
can only be confirmed for the differences between the Rajput and the
German infants.

Differences in Infants Experiences of Emotional

Expressivity (Caressing)
We expected the Nso caregivers to display more caressing than Ra-
jput caregivers. Nso infants experienced most and Rajput infants least
maternal caressing with a significant cell mean difference between these
two groups ( p < .01). However, caressing experienced from persons other
than the mother did not differ for Nso and Rajput infants. German babies
experienced less caressing from other person compared to Nso infants
( p < .05), and also compared to Rajput infants ( p < .01). Thus, our expec-
tation that Nso infants would be caressed more than Indian Rajput infants
was supported regarding their mothers but not other caregivers. German
infants experienced intermediate frequencies of caressing by their moth-
ers and as expected, almost no caressing at all by other persons.

Differences in Infants Experiences of Body Stimulation

With respect to body stimulation, our results reveal that different
modes of body stimulation are prevalent in the two rural communities
(cf. Table 5). Nso infants experienced more vestibular stimulation when
532 ETHOS

they had body contact with their caregivers than Rajput infants. As Scheffe
tests reveal, this difference is based on stimulation by others, not the
mother ( p < .01). Rajput infants were held more in front of the body with-
out vestibular stimulation than Nso infants, and they were also cradled
more. German infants experienced less vestibular stimulation when they
had body contact with their caregivers compared to Nso infants ( p < .05),
and were cradled or held in front of the body without vestibular stimula-
tion less often than Rajput infants.
Our assumption that body stimulation is related to the health and
nutritional status of the mother is only partially supported by our data.
Even though the behaviors that are implemented for body stimulation
differ between the Nso and the Gujarati Rajputs, the high energy body
stimulations of the Nso were mainly performed by caregivers other than
the mother. On the other hand, low energy body stimulation was done by
all Rajput caregivers, not only the mothers.

Differences in Infants States

The results of the exploratory analysis of differences in infants states
are presented in Table 4. Rajput infants spent more time in a sleepy or
sleeping state than Nso and German infants. However infants of all three
cultural groups did not differ with respect to the amount of crying during
observation intervals when they were awake.

DISCUSSION
The goal of this study was to contribute to the understanding of early
socialization contexts in traditional farming communities as compared
to parenting in Western middle-class families, with a special emphasis
on parenting strategies that can be assumed to promote communion as
compared to those promoting agency. Moreover, we hoped to shed some
light on existing controversies about the caregiving style of subsistence
farmers, which has been characterized as harsh and unresponsive on the
one hand and warm and indulgent on the other. We found similarities
between Nso and Rajput caregivers as compared to German caregivers
in providing infants with multiple care experiences. The Nso and Rajput
infants of our study were hardly ever out of their caregivers view, and they
were taken care of by different persons for considerably higher amounts of
time than German infants. German infants spend a considerable amount
of time alone. When they were not alone, the German infants were nearly
always exclusively within their mothers reach. Thus, our data confirm
that with respect to the social matrix of the infants, both Nso and Rajput
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 533

Table 6. Parenting Behaviors Emphasized by Nso, Rajput, and German Caregivers.

Rajput Nso German

Parenting behavior fostering communion
Multiple care Infant in Infant in Infant all alone,
experience caregivers caregivers Infant without
reach reach experiences of
persons other
than mother
Responsiveness to Nursing Primary care
negative signals independent
from infant
state
Body contact Body contact
with mother
(especially
during sleeping
states) and
other
Body stimulation Body stimulation Body stimulation
with low with high
energetic energetic
investment by investment by
mother and others
others
Parenting behavior fostering interdependent socialization goals
Object presentation Object
presentation by
mother
Face-to-face Face-to-face Face-to-face
dialogue dialogue with dialogue with
mother mother

caregivers put assumedly more emphasis on communion than German

caregivers.
The traditional caregivers of our study also had similar frequencies
of object presentation, but, contrary to our expectations, they did not
resemble each other very much with respect to nursing in response to
infant crying, body contact, and face-to-face behavior. The Nso infants
experienced more nursing and more body contact than the Rajput and the
German infants. However, they also experienced more face-to-face contact
than the Rajput infants and did not differ from the German infants in this
respect. Moreover, German and Rajput infants did not differ much with
respect to body contact experiences. Thus, the data confirm a presumed
534 ETHOS

orientation towards communion only for the Nso with respect to nursing
in response to crying and body contact. The high amount of face-to-face
experiences of the Nso babies was unexpected. We will come back to that
point later in discussion.
Nevertheless, the parenting pattern of the Gujarati Rajputs can also
be described as emphasizing the development of communion more than
the development of agency in some ways. Extensive multiple care ex-
periences support the infants growing into the hierarchically organized
social network. Face-to-face interaction and object stimulation as parent-
ing strategies to foster agency are uncommon. However, body contact is
also unexpectedly low.
With respect to infants experiences of emotional expressivity, we
could confirm the assumption that Nso mothers display more caressing
than Rajput mothers. Concerning other caregivers, there was no difference
between Nso and Rajputs. This highly significant interaction between cul-
ture and person reflects a characteristic of the Rajput culture, where it
is not deemed appropriate for a young mother to demonstrate too much
affection for her child openly, whereas other persons may do so.
With respect to body stimulation, we could confirm our assumptions.
Nso caregivers, particularly persons other than the mother, provided in-
fants with substantial amounts of body stimulation; also Rajput caregivers
emphasize this parenting system. Yet, there were marked differences in
the modulation of these practices. Rajput caregivers stimulated infants
by putting them on their feet. This was practiced for washing, but also
occasionally throughout the day. As a possible result of this practice three
months old Rajput babies were able to stand with only slight support of
the upper trunk (cf. Figure 1).
Another prominent means of Rajput body stimulation was cradling:
Rajput infants were put into a cloth swing which was moved by whoever
passed by. Nso infants were mainly stimulated vestibularly with a special

Figure 1. Gujarati Rajput infants standing with slight support.

 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 535

Figure 2. Nso high-energy body stimulation.

technique of moving the infant up and down in a vertical position (cf.

Figure 2).
This technique is considered as an essential part of caregiving that
stimulates growth and development and constitutes a major experience in
developing Nsoness (Keller, Yovsi, and Voelker 2002). Although extensive
body stimulation is often regarded as a particular Sub-Saharan strategy,
body stimulation also plays a significant role in rural villagers socialization
strategies. In an interview study assessing parental ethnotheories, Nso
mothers and grandmothers as well as Rajput mothers and grandmothers
emphasized that babies get stronger and healthier and learn to walk earlier
by their respective practices of body stimulation.
Part of the differences between the Nso and the Rajput caregiving
strategies may be related to the differences in the physical conditions.
Inadequately nourished mothers have less energy for cost intensive par-
enting and for responding to infant signals (Wachs 2000). With maternal
nutritional problems, infants nutritional status is also affected. Poorly
nourished infants are less active and thus, less able to elicit maternal
stimulation (Super et al. 1981). This may be reflected in the fact that the
Rajput infants of our study spend considerably more time sleeping than
the Nso and the German infants. Especially, nursing as a response to cry-
ing (and to some extent the amount of body contact, see below) might
be affected by the nutritional status of mothers. The result that Nso ba-
bies were nursed nearly twice as often as Rajput babies when they cried
might rather be a consequence of maternal malnutrition than of a differ-
ent feeding attitude. This interpretation is supported by the result that
Gujarati mothers mean rate of nursing as a response to crying is still two
times higher than German mothers rate although the difference is not
significant. One might argue that some Nso patterns of providing infants
with body contact are more energy consuming than what Rajput care-
givers are able to perform, for example: carrying the infant on the back or
536 ETHOS

hip; however, others are not, for example: sitting or lying with close body
contact. However, Gujarati mothers cannot afford to sit and lie down very
much during the day due to their household and farming responsibilities.
In line with an emphasis on communion, they nevertheless express the
importance of body contact, for example when they describe the cloth
swing which is a usual requisite for infant care in the Nandesari villages,
as tightly surrounding the baby and giving it support and security, just
like body contact.
The Nso caregivers unexpected emphasis on face-to-face exchange,
akin to the Germans, however, cannot be explained within this frame-
work. In order to understand the socialization context of the early face-
to-face setting better, the emphasis within this parenting system needs
to be further specified. We observed that German caregivers often placed
babies on their legs or on the floor, and mixed object presentations and
mimic-verbal exchanges within this setting. Nso caregivers held infants in
an upright face-to-face position and mixed mimic-verbal exchange with
motor stimulation. The argument that we have put forward leads us to
speculate that the face-to-face systems may serve different functions for
the Nso than for the Germans. Whereas the Germans concentrate on
eye-to-eye contact, the Nso may be more oriented toward the display
of affectivity. This speculation is supported by the analysis of parental
ethnotheories among the Nso and Germans that revealed that eye-to-eye
contact is barely mentioned as important by the Nso (Keller, Voelker, and
Yovsi 2005). Further research needs to focus on the cultural significance
of similar and different parenting strategies.
What are the implications of these results for the understanding of in-
fants socialization experiences in traditional farming communities? The
Cameroonian Nso and the Indian Gujarati infants lives are similarly char-
acterized by multiple care and social cohesiveness within the family net-
work. It can be assumed that these similar social network experiences
foster the awareness of being part of a social group rather than being a
unique and separated individual. In contrast, physical separateness as a
predominant early context of German infants can be understood as em-
phasizing the development of separateness. However, multiple care may
also be a practical necessity of traditional farming life in order to allow
mothers to continue participating in subsistence activities.
Generally, our data confirm that there is not one parenting style char-
acterizing farming communities. Sociocultural and contextual parameters
further specify parenting strategies. There are similarities and differences
among all three samples. The Nso and Gujarati strategies can both be
regarded as supporting communion. Moreover, the Nso strategy can be
described as an indulgent parenting pattern. The Rajput strategy is cer-
tainly less indulgent. Further studies are needed to understand whether it
 Ecocultural Effects on Infant Care 537

represents the harsh production strategy. The German middle-class strat-

egy is mainly oriented toward supporting more agency and less commu-
nion. The characterization of these parenting strategies confirms the re-
sults of earlier videobased studies of shorter observation units (Keller,
Lohaus et al. 2004; Yovsi and Keller 2003). Although many questions re-
main open, our results stress the importance of understanding develop-
ment in its eco-cultural and symbolic context. Our data suggest that there
are qualitative and quantitative differences among all the cultural groups
we studied. More studies comparing agriculturalists parenting patterns,
parenting ideas and socialization goals are needed. Additionally, longitu-
dinal studies would be important to be able to understand the transmis-
sion of cultural values as expressed in caregiving environments, and to
identify the immediate and long-term consequences of early caregiving
experiences.

HEIDI KELLER is a professor of psychology and the head of the Department of Culture and Development at the University
of Osnabrueck, Germany.
MONIKA ABELS is a research assistant and doctorate candidate in the Department of Culture and Development at the
University of Osnabrueck, Germany.
BETTINA LAMM is a research assistant and doctorate candidate in the Department of Culture and Development at the
University of Osnabrueck.
RELINDIS DZEAYE YOVSI, PhD, is a research associate at the University of Osnabrueck, in the Department of Culture
and Development.
SUSANNE VOELKER is a PhD associated with the Department of Human Sciences, University of Osnabrueck, Germany.
ARUNA LAKHANI is the director of Deepak Foundation, an organization dedicated to the livelihood needs of women
(including self development), womens health, infant and maternal mortality and gender issues.

NOTES
Acknowledgments. This study was supported by grants of the VW foundation, the
German Research Council, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Carl
Duisberg Society, and the University of Osnabrueck. We would like to express our gratitude
to all the participating families who supported our work with their friendliness and
patience. We are gratefully indebted to the staff of Deepak Charitable Trust/Deepak Medical
Foundation who introduced us to the Nandesari villages and resource persons who helped
us to get into touch with families with infants. We thank our Gujarati interpreters Tinaben,
Deepaben, Nayanaben and Shilpaben for their valuable contributions as interpreters during
the home visits and Romy Kreher, Birgit Meineke, and Sabine Diehl for their help in the
fieldwork in the Nandesari villages. We thank Emma Fai and Josephine L. Ngum for the help
in data collection in the Nso villages in Cameroon. This article was completed when the first
author was a fellow in residence at the NIAS, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in
the Humanities and Social Sciences. Corresponding author: Heidi Keller, University of Os-
nabrueck, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department Culture and Development, Seminarstr.
20, 49069 Osnabrueck, Germany; tel.: +49-541-9694393; e-mail: hkeller@uos.de.
1. We are not dealing here with combinations, as proposed by Kagitiba si (1996, cf. also
Keller et al., under review).
538 ETHOS

2. We want to emphasize that we understand both orientations as adaptations without

evaluating them with respect to one scale.
3. The fact that German students made the assessments with local interpreters is due
to particularities of the Hindu caste system, where a strong caste (and class) segregation
is lived, which made it impossible to find female research assistants willing to visit village
families on their own. The second author speaks Gujarati.

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