Document Type : Research Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of psychology, Faculty of Ethic and Education, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
The engagement of children in daily tasks and activities can play a major role in their cognitive development. Mothers can guide children in this process through parental scaffolding. Cognitive parental scaffolding has a cultural nature and may lead to different outcomes in children from different cultures. Nevertheless, we haven’t an exact understanding of this concept among Iranian mothers; something which was addressed in this study.
 
Method 
The research was conducted with a qualitative approach and ethnography method. A sample of 23 mothers with children aged 3-4 years was selected based on purposive snowball sampling. The required data were collected through non-participant observation. For this purpose, the mothers were asked to help their children solve a puzzle according to the pattern, and the mother-child interaction was video recorded without the observer’s intervention. The study setting was the home of the parents. To access the dominant maternal scaffolding pattern, the task was performed only once, with the mother being unaware of the task’s context before this single performance. The video files were transcribed and the content was analyzed in MAXQDA.
 
Results
Careful observations of 23 videos of mother-child interactions while completing a puzzle led to the identification of 3,517 scaffolding-related behaviors. After duplicates were removed, there remained 1,462 instances of which 90 primary codes, 14 level-2 sub-themes, six level-1 sub-themes, and three main themes were extracted. The results showed that dimensions of cognitive scaffolding in Iranian mothers included direct support (verbal and physical), expanded support (question and instructional), and emotional support (encouragement and approval). Based on the results, direct verbal and physical assistance (direct support), non-instructional questions (expended support), and repeated verbal praise (emotional support) during the tasks are the main styles of cognitive scaffolding in Iranian mothers.
 
Conclusion
The general pattern of the parent-child relationship in Iranian families, the emphasis of Iranian parents on excessive responsibility towards their children, their expectation of children to obey them, and excessive control over the learning processing of children can well explain the findings of this study. Also, the use of direct support as a dominant pattern of scaffolding in Iranian mothers can be attributed to historical events and what has happened to Iranian society. Iran has experienced much political and economic instability in its historical life and Iranian parents always have been concerned about their children in these historical instabilities. Therefore, in such a context, the direct support of the mother is justified. The use of direct support by Iranian mothers can also be attributed to structural changes in the Iranian postmodern family. Now the average family size in Iran is three, including a father, a mother, and one child. It seems that living in single-child families, can affect parental support and facilitate direct cognitive scaffolding. The results of this study can be used in cognitive development programs for Iranian children. The task dependence of parental cognitive scaffolding is a consideration that must be taken into account when interpreting the results of this study. What was described and interpreted in this study was the maternal scaffolding during the completion of an intellectual puzzle. Future research should investigate whether or not comparable results can be obtained when performing a task other than a jigsaw puzzle.

Keywords

Bates, A. B. (2005). Maternal scaffolding duting children’s attempts at solving quantity comparision problems in a game context. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education. University of California.
Bazargan, A. (2019). An introduction to qualitative and mixed methods research. Tehran: Didar. [Persian]
Bibok, M. B., Carpendale, J. I. M., & Muller, U. (2009). Parental scaffolding and the development of executive function. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 123, 17-34.
Clausell, A. R. (2016). Maternal scaffolding and first graders’s near and far transfer on problem solving tasks. A Thesis. Presented to the Faculty of California State University, San Bernardino. Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Child Development. Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations.
Cooper, E. R. (2018). The nature of scaffolding interaction: mother and child contribution across time and culture. Canterbury Christ Church University.
Ferasatkhah, M. (2019). We Iranians: A historical and Social Contetualizing of Iranian Ethos. Tehran: Ney Publisher. [Persian]
Javadi Yeganeh, M (2017). The third wave of surveying the values and attitude of Iranians. Social Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Interior. [Persian]
Hammond, S. I., & Carpendale, J. I. M. (2015). Helping children help: The relation between maternal scaffolding and children’s early help. Review of Social Development, 24(2), 367-383.
Hellisaz, M., Mazaheru, M., Panaghi, L., & Hassani, F. (2015). Values of child-raising among mothers of three five years old children: A phenomenological study. Sterategy for Culture, 29, 121-148.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (Revised and Expanded 3rd Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hughes, C. H., & Ensor, R. A. (2009). How do families help or hinder the emergence of early executive function? New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 123, 35-50.
Ismail, N., Ismail, K., & Aun, N, S, M. (2019). The effect of maternal scaffolding on problem solving skills during early childhood. The Journal of Behavioural Science, 14(3), 76-89.
Kartner, J., Crafa, D., Chaudhary, N., & Keller, H. (2016). Reactions to receiving a gift maternal scaffolding and cultural learning in Berlin and Delhi. Child Development, 87(3), 712-722.
Kermani, H., & Vald ez-Menchaca, M. (1995, April). Maternal st ructuring of support and transference of responsibili ty around a teachi ng task: A cross cultural comparison. Pap er pre sented at th e Americ an Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA
Kermani, H., & Brenner, M. E. (2000). Maternal scaffolding in the ZPD across tasks: cross cultural perspectives. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15(1), 30-51.
Lee, M. K., Baker, S., & Whitebread, D. (2018). Culture specific links between maternal exexutive function, parenting and preschool children’s executive function in South Korea. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(2), 216-235.
Liu, X., & Jiang, Q. (2021). Who benefits from being an only child? A study of parent-child relationship among Chinese junior high school students. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 608995.
Leerkes, E. M., Blankson, A. N., O’Brien, M., Calkins, S. D., & Marcovitch, S. (2011). The relation of maternal emotional and cognitive support during problem solving to pre academic skills in preschoolers. Infant and Child Development, 20(6), 353-370.
Lowe, J. R., Hund, L. Rodriguez, D. E., Qamruddin, A., Leeman, L., Stephen, J. M., & Bakhireva, L. N. (2021). Maternal verbal scaffolding association with higher language skills for 20 month old children with parental poly substance exposure. Early Human Development, 160, 105423.
Mermelshtine, R. (2017). Parent child learning interactions: a review of the literature on scaffolding. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(2), 241-254.
Neitzel, C., & Stright, A. D. (2003). Mothers’ scaffolding of children’s problem solving: establishing a foundation of academic self regulatory competence. Journal of Family Psychology: Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association, 17(1), 147-159. 
Neitzel, C., & Stright, A. D. (2004). Parenting behaviours during child problem solving: the roles of child temperament, mother education and personality and the problem solving context. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 28(2), 166-179.
Qi. H., Sun, J., Lau, E. Y. H., & Zhou, Y. L. (2022). Linking Chinese mothers’ and fathers’ scaffolding with children’s initiative and mathematics performance; a moderated mediation model. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 59, 74-83.
Ramezani, V., Abdlkhodaee, M. S., Tabibi, Z., & Aghamohammadi Sharbaf, H. R. (2018). Cognitive aspects of Iranian parent’s parenting: A qualitative research. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 6(3), 22-36. [Persian]
 Ramezani, V., Abdlkhodaee, M. S., Tabibi, Z., & Aghamohammadi Sharbaf, H. R. (2019). Healthy and pathological aspects of parenting among Iranian families: A qualitative research. Journal of Research in Psychological Health, 13(1), 58-80. [Persian]
Rochanavibhata, S., & Marian, V. (2020). Maternal scaffolding styles and children's developing narrative skills: A cross-cultural comparison of autobiographical conversations in the US and Thailand. Learning Culture and Social Interaction, 26, 100413.
Schnieders, J. Z. Y., & Schuh, K. (2022). Parent child interactions in numeracy activities: parental scaffolding, mathematical talk and game format. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 59, 44-55.
Sun, J., & Tang, Y. (2017). Maternal scaffolding strategies and early development of self-regulation in Chinese preschoolers. Early Child Development and Care, 189(9), 1525-1537.
Zare, H. (2013). Parenting beliefs and parent-child interaction in Iranian mothers. Master thesis of Shahid Beheshti University. [Persian]