Childhood independence: views of Cuban and Haitian immigrant mothers

Failure of nurses and other health care providers to recognize the influence of culture on child development may lead to inappropriate expectations and mislabeling of children as developmentally slow. The effect of cultural influences on parental expectations of children was evident in a study of child-rearing beliefs of 30 Cuban and 30 Haitian immigrant mothers in South Florida. Both Cuban and Haitian children would be considered lagging developmentally when compared with measurements on the personal-social dimension of the Denver II and expectations of American society. Culture-specific implications for transcultural nursing care based on the concept of culture brokerage are discussed.