We Are Different & We Are Similar: Universals, Commonality, Diversity and Variation in Parenting and Child Development

Andrew Grogan-Kaylor

2025-12-08

How To Navigate This Presentation

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The Scope of the Issue

• UNICEF considers children globally to be in crisis: political violence; climate change; poverty.
• In this time of crisis, parenting is one crucial area of focus.
• According to UNICEF data, \(\frac{1}{3}\) of children are subject to physical punishment; \(\frac{2}{3}\) to some form of violent punishment.
• In a review of 50 years of literature on physical punishment, Gershoff and Grogan-Kaylor (2016) connect physical punishment to poor mental health outcomes, and other poor outcomes over the life course.

“Ella-gguq allamek yuituq”

“Ella-gguq allamek yuituq / They say the world contains no others, only persons” Yup’ik Proverb as reported in Fienup-Riordan (2017).

Both Universals and Variation Are Important

“Despite the incredible diversity existing among and within human cultures, there are many phenomena that occur regularly in all known societies. These commonalities, or universals, while deriving in part from human nature, may also have specific social, cultural, and systemic sources. We need to develop a working understanding of these universals so that we might advance legitimate, empirically based human science set on creating knowledge that is politically relevant to fostering real solutions to the problems that complicate human co-existence in the Age of the Anthropocene.” (Antweiler 2016)

Universals and Variation (2)

“Hanel, Maio, and Manstead (2019) cite research suggesting that ‘highlighting similarities between groups improves interpersonal and intergroup attitudes.’ Others have argued that ‘build[ing] bonds of commonality across our differences’ might be an impetus for social transformation (Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor 2024).”

Data

MICS data collected by UNICEF from Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) around the world. \(N = 224,647 \text{ families}; N_{countries} = 60\)

Countries in UNICEF MICS Data

Parenting Behaviors Vary Somewhat

Verbal reasoning (78%) and shouting (64%) are the most common parental discipline behaviors toward young children.

Equation for Outcomes

annotated multilevel logistic regression

Theoretical Possibilities

theoretically possible odds ratios for aggression

Observed Results

Odds Ratios From Multilevel Logistic Regression

--------------------------
               aggression 
--------------------------
d_psych_shout     1.177 **
d_psych_names     1.238 **
d_phys_shook      1.167 **
d_phys_spank      1.144 **
d_phys_hitslap    1.127 **
d_phys_hitobject  1.196 **
d_phys_hitface    1.145 **
d_phys_beathard   1.118 **
d_nvd_privileges  1.030 **
d_nvd_explained   0.931 * 
d_nvd_gave        0.999   
_cons             0.387 **
_cons            -1.720   
_cons            -1.627   
_cons            -0.603   
N                224647   
--------------------------
** p<.01, * p<.05

We Are Similar

observed odds ratios by country for aggression

Spanking Is Consistently Bad; Explaining Is Consistently Good

No negative coefficient for spanking is significant. No positive coefficient for explaining is significant.

Consistency (Universals?)

There is a great amount of consistency in the association of parenting with child development across countries.

Implications

“My conception of the universal is that of a universal enriched by all that is particular, a universal enriched by every particular: the deepening and coexistence of all particulars.” (Césaire 1956)

Associations of parental discipline with child outcomes are very consistent across countries. This may be helpful to international organizations (e.g. UNICEF, WHO) that are developing programs or interventions that are to be applied in multiple cultural settings. While cultural tailoring will always be necessary to some degree; child development research can inform the foundations of widely applicable interventions.

Quantitative Measures of Similarity

What could quantitative measures of similarity look like?

1. ICC (Intraclass correlation coefficient)
   1. \(\frac{\text{var}(u_0)}{\text{var}(u_0) + \text{var}(e_{ij})}\)
   2. \(1-\text{ICC}\) could therefore be seen as a measure of what is not explainable by country.
2. \(r_j\)
   1. correlation of discipline and aggression in country j.
   2. \(\text{range}(r_j)\)
   3. \(\text{sd}(r_j)\)

Quantitative Measures of Similarity 2

3. \(\beta_j\)
   1. regression coefficient for aggression on discipline in country j.
   2. \(\text{range}(\beta_j)\)
   3. \(\text{sd}(\beta_j)\)

Questions?

My questions for you:

1. How best to visualize data on universals and commonalities vs. diversity and variation?
2. Good readings or references on universals and commonalities vs. diversity and variation?
3. Statistically, there are not good measures of commonality. Only of variation. Thoughts?

Your questions for me???

References

Antweiler, Christoph. 2016. Our Common Denominator: Human Universals Revisited. Berghahn.

Césaire, Aimé. 1956. “Letter to Maurice Thorez.” Présence Africaine.

Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2017. “"Ella-Gguq Allamek Yuituq / They Say the World Contains No Others, Only Persons".” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 7 (September): 133–37. https://doi.org/10.14318/hau7.2.016.

Gershoff, Elizabeth T., and Andrew Grogan-Kaylor. 2016. “Spanking and Child Outcomes: Old Controversies and New Meta-Analyses.” Journal of Family Psychology 30: 453–69. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000191.

Hanel, Paul H P, Gregory R Maio, and Antony S R Manstead. 2019. “A New Way to Look at the Data: Similarities Between Groups of People Are Large and Important.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 116 (April): 541–62. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000154.

Hunt-Hendrix, Leah, and Astra Taylor. 2024. Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea. Pantheon Books,.