Child‐rearing practices of two generations of Punjabis: development of personality and independence

This paper reports the findings of two studies on the child‐rearing practices of Punjabis living in Britain. The research for the first project was carried out during the years 1970–3 and for the second during 1995. A small number of white mothers was also included in the present sample for comparison. The data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews and the topics explored included the development of personality and independence. The findings show that the process of enculturation has brought about many changes in the attitudes of the nineties' generation of Punjabi mothers to child rearing. Despite this, they still hold on to the family value of fostering interdependence rather than rugged individualism in their children. Extracts from the interviews are used to give the reader both the nuance and flavour of the mothers' feelings and attitudes.