YOUNG CHILDREN’S ADAPTATION TO CULTURE: A STUDY ON SUNDANESE MOTHERS AND CHILDREN

Children’s skills in adapting to change can be predicted through their means of interaction and behavior in accordance with culture. The objective of this study is to describe how children react to typical Sundanese social cues that they use to control their expression of emotion. A total of 210 mother-and-child pairs with children aged 3-5 years participated in this study. The main task is to arrange cards presented to the child while the mother helps him/her by giving cues. Prior to this task, mother and child are given different rules to set the cards such that a conflict situation is created between the pair. In a disagreement, the mother shows her disapproval through social cues that exhibit different rules. Results show that most of the children comply and concede to their mother’s rules in the task of stacking the cards. The mother’s cues and child’s age have a significant effect on the child’s reaction.