ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews literature on Latino and Latin American parenting and child outcomes, using cultural ecological and social information processing theories as frameworks. Cultural change and social information processing (SIP) theory are linked by their premise that goals motivating parental behaviors are context and hence culturally dependent. The chapter reviews of the literature reveals the importance of examining sociocultural and psychological processes involved in parenting children such as those related to cultural values, socioeconomic factors, and emotional contexts. The cultural ecological framework and SIP explain that cultural values motivate parental beliefs and childrearing practices. Research has found positive developmental benefits for both Latino and American cultural orientations of parents. Latino parenting researchers have examined sources of acculturative stress. Parent-child cultural gaps may lead parents to self-evaluate their parenting efficacy and their ability to instill cultural values in their children. Parental warmth may also serve as a protective factor between parenting and adolescent development.
