Child-rearing goals and conceptions of early childcare from young adults perspective in East and West Germany

Abstract

Ideas on child-rearing have been found to vary between different cultural groups, as in the case of formerly divided Germany. Nowadays it is not clear whether and to what extent these differences are reflected in young German adults' ideas about child-rearing goals and early childcare. Analysis of questionnaire data from East and West German students (n = 299) revealed similar importance of developmental goals with respect to autonomy and obedience. In regard to pro-social goals, however, East German women scored lower than all other participants. Regarding childcare-related plans, significantly more students from East Germany favoured early childcare. They additionally preferred an earlier age of children at the entry into daycare and a longer daily duration of non-parental care. These results coincide with different traditions of early childcare use before reunification, thus partly indicating cross-cultural differences in young adults' anticipated beliefs and decisions for their own parenthood. © 2014 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.