Comparison, Competition, and Consumption: The 3Cs of Contemporary Motherhood in the Context of Children ’s Education

AbstractIntensive mothering ideology, which requires mothers ’ full dedication to their children, is the dominant mothering culture worldwide. Under this ideology, mothers are responsible for children’s education, and seek educational information for the betterment of their children’s future. Previous studies found that exposure to this educational info rmation is associated with mothers’ socialcomparison, competition, andconsumption. This paper thus consideredcomparison, competition, andconsumption asthe 3Cs of contemporary motherhood, and explored these factors in a neoliberal educational context. Specifically, this paper examined how mothers ’ educational information acquisition leads tothe 3Cs of contemporary motherhood regarding children ’s academic performance. Two-wave data were collected from mothers of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders in the United States and Singapore. While the Asian educational environment is more competitive, US mothering culture also emphasizes mothers ’ commitment to education, and this paper tested whether the model is invariant across the two groups. Findings from multigroup modeling analyses revealed similar models for both groups. Mothers’ exposure to educational information positively predicted social comparison. However,comparison of abilities was positively associated with competition, andcomparison of opinions was negatively associated with competition, consistent with social comparison theory. Competition then positively predi...
Source: Sex Roles - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research