• Proceedings of KHEA Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.151-151
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• 2003

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.55-68
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• 2004

This study investigated differences or similarities of infant rearing practices in Korea, Hong Kong and the United States and in young mothers and grandmothers generations. The silbjects were young mothers(YM) with babies from 2 to 2.5 years and their mothers or mothers-in-law(GM) in Korea(YM=118, GM=118), Hong Kong(YM= 126, GM=78) and the United States(YM= 105, GM= 105). The subjects answered questionnaires on infant rearing practices that were constructed by child study specialists in Korea, Hong Kong and the United States. Statistical analyses were by frequencies, percentages, and $\chi$$^2$ The results of this study were as follows. 1. Kum-Jut was used to announce giving birth to relatives and neighbors only in Korea. Mothers in Korea were more helped in their recovery by their mother or mother-in-law than their husband, but the opposite was the case in Hong Kong and the United States. Most Korean mothers ate special foods after giving birth, but mothers in Hong Kong and the United Slates didn't. Mothers in Korea were more likely to avoid contact with strangers for a given period of time than mothers in Hong Kong and the United States. The babies in Korea were more often named by grandparents than by parents, but most of the babies in Hong Kong and the United States were named by parents. The greater part of babies in Korea didn't have childhood names or nick names, but most babies in Hong Kong and the United States did. 2. Mothers in Korea were more likely to give a banquet, exercise Dol Jab le, share foods with neighbors, and take souvenir pictures on the baby's first birthday than mothers did in Hong Kong and the United States. Most mothers in Korea tended to think that their baby's fiyst birthday was more meaningful than the other birihdays, but most mothers in Hong Kong and the United States didn't. 3. Some differences between young mothers and grandmothers generations in infant rearing practices were found in each culture.