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The main aim of the study is to address changes in the meanings and practices of Estonian family socialization. Our interest in Estonian children's socialization is prompted by the fact that since August 1991 Estonia has been undergoing rapid societal changes, but a change in socialization patterns towards democratization seems to be not as rapid The second aim of the proposed study is to seek the deeper cultural meaning underlying the parental practices and attitudes that had emerged in the Estonian sample, examining children's and parents' beliefs about talkativeness, strict control etc. In addition, the interest of the study is whether the findings of Anglo-American studies showing that children of less talkative and more directive mothers are likely to score lower on measures of linguistic, conversational, and social abilities holds true in Estonia. Because the ways of talking with children seem to be culture-specific we predict that the peculiarities of Estonian maternal socialization pattern do not have a negative impact on language and social development of the child, and on mother-child relationships. |