The Effect of Gender and Culture on Children’s Participation in Daily Activities in the Community Educational Setting

PURPOSE: Ecologically based models of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), as well as the bio-psychosocial model of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001), highlight the important contribution of contextual factors to individual participation in life situations. Contextual factors include both environmental and personal factors. In this study we focused on culture, which is one environmental factor; and on gender, one of the personal factors (WHO, 2001). Few studies have examined the impact of these factors on children’s participation (e.g., Anaby et al., 2014). The purpose of our study was to examine the impact of culture and gender on the participation of preschool children from two minority sub-cultural groups in Israel (Ultra-orthodox Jews and Arabs) in daily activities in the educational setting.

DESIGN: This is an experimental study using a group-comparison design.

METHODS: The sample consisted of 120 preschool children from two minority groups:80 Ultra-orthodox Jewish children and 40 Arab children. Both groups were selected from different education settings, located in two cities with a similar size and socio-economic index ranking. Each child was observed by trained therapists for approximately 6 hours over a period of 2-3 weeks using the Structured Preschool Participation Observation (SPO; Authors concealed). The SPO, a 20-items observation, which was found as a reliable and valid measure, evaluating children’s participation in the preschool educational setting in the areas of play, learning and social participation.

RESULTS: Significant gender effects were found for participation in learning (F=81.516_[1,116]), social participation (F=37.258_[1,116]), and in play (F=41.035_[1,116]), with higher scores among girls. Significant group effects were found for participation in play (F=164.592_[1,116]), learning (F=33.470 _[1,116]) and social participation (F=7.025_[1,116]), with higher scores among ultra-orthodox children. Significant gender and group interaction effects were found for play (F=4.699_[1,116]) and social participation (F=25.963_[1,116]).

CONCLUSION: This study focused on the effects of culture and gender on children’s preschool participation. The results showed both cultural and gender differences, indicating that cultural values may guide educational practices and influence children’s participation in daily activities. This may be especially true in cultures that have their own educational settings for children from a homogeneous cultural background. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of potential cultural needs among preschoolers. It may also assist educators and occupational therapists in better understanding the need to be more culturally sensitive, and consequently better able to adapt educational and intervention programs to the child’s cultural background.

References

Anaby, D., Law, M., Coster, W., Bedell, G., Khetani, M., Avery, L., & Teplicky, R. (2014). The mediating role of the environment in explaining participation of children and youth with and without disabilities across home, school, and community. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 95(5), 908-917.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiment by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

World Health Organization (WHO; 2001). International classification of functioning, disability and health: ICF. Geneva: World Health Organization.