Formation of Independence in an Early Age Child: Cross-Cultural Aspects

Abstract

The article points out the need to record new childhood phenomena as well as to study the influence of parents and significant adults, their communication with the child in the process of interaction on the development of children’s independence in modern reality. Cross-cultural aspects of the formation of child independence in Russia and Vietnam are considered. Also presented are the main results of one assessment from the study on the dynamics of the formation of child independence at the age of 2 years in the process of interaction with the subject and in communication with an adult. Forty-three dyads (mother and child) from Russia and Vietnam took part in the study. The purpose of the study was as follows: to determine the stage of child independence formation by the age of 2 in the process of interaction with the subject and in communication with an adult; to determine the level of social, emotional and adaptive development of children in Russia and Vietnam. The methodological basis of the study is the approach of M.I. Lisina. The study of the child’s communicative signals was carried out in the process of a fifteen-minute parent-child interaction (spontaneous play) using video recording, followed by analysis in the program “The Observer XT-16”. Research methods: 1) assessment of child-parent interaction on the scale “Communicative signals of the child” of the technique “Evaluation of child-parent interaction” [ECPI-II]; 2) assessment of the social and emotional development of the child was carried out according to the Bayley Development Scales-III (BSID-III). The results showed that the level of independence in children from the Russian sample is generally higher than that from the Vietnamese sample. Statistically significant differences were revealed on the scales: “Functions of the pre-learning period” and “Self-care” of the Bailey scale (BSID-III). Children from the Russian sample are in the middle of transition between the second and third stages of the dynamics of child independence development in the process of interaction with the subject and the adult, whereas children from the Vietnamese sample demonstrated a more pronounced repertoire of indicators related to stage 2. Also, in the Russian sample the duration of manifestation of the following indicators significantly dominates: “Sensitivity to the influence of an adult ‘+’” and “Sensitivity to the influence of an adult ‘-’”.