Mother-Child Verbal Interactions in New Zealand and Malaysia: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

The thesis examined the cultural belief systems of mothers related to early mother-child interactions in New Zealand and Malaysia and within the Malaysian multicultural subgroups. The overall aim was to examine reported and observed interaction patterns of these cultural groups and to determine the relationship between specific measures of mothers’ verbal productivity and interaction behaviours with children’s verbal productivity. Two studies with different methodologies were designed. The first study used a survey to examine the reported beliefs and practices related to mother-child interactions of New Zealand and Malaysian mothers. A total of 284 mothers with children between 2- and 4-years old completed a written questionnaire on aspects related to talking with children, family and child-rearing values, and teaching and learning patterns in young children. Chi-square analyses revealed New Zealand and Malaysian mothers differed significantly (p