ABSTRACT
Darcia Narvaez1, Lijuan Wang1, Tracy Gleason2, Ying Cheng1, Jennifer Lefever1, and Lifang Deng3 1Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA 2Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA 3Institute of Psychology, Beihang University, Beijing, China
Although parenting practices vary widely among cultures, the extent to which a child becomes a well-adjusted member of society depends significantly on socialization within a culture (Harkness & Super, 2006). However, some
caregiving practices, such as those rooted in our evolutionary heritage, might be beneficial to all children. One practice, maternal responsivity, has perhaps the clearest ties to sociomoral outcomes like secure attachment (e.g., Kochanska, 2002), empathy (Zahn-Waxler & Radke-Yarrow, 1990), self-regulation (Weinfield, Sroufe, Egeland, & Carlson, 2008), and development of conscience (Kochanska, 1994). We were curious whether other caregiving practices, such as breastfeeding and co-sleeping, might be equally critical for fostering positive sociomoral outcomes.
