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A new study published in the Journal of Child Development looked at mother–child collaboration in an Indigenous community.

“Changes in family life related to globalization may include reduction in the collaborativeness observed in many Indigenous American communities,” study author Barbara Rogoff told us. “The present study examined longitudinal changes and continuities in collaboration in a Guatemalan Maya community experiencing rapid globalization.”

The research team expected to find less inclusive collaboration and decided on this topic for their study because it was an area they have been studying for decades.

The researchers tested their theory by visiting the families and videotaping their interactions exploring novel objects.

“Fluid collaboration was widespread three decades ago among triads of mothers and 1-to-6-year-olds in 24 Mayan families exploring novel objects during home visits,” Rogoff told us. “However, in the ‘same' situation 30 years later, 22 mother–child triads of their relatives spent half as much time in collaboration among all three people. This aligns with globalizing changes and with the pattern of Dayton et al.'s middle-class European American families. Nonetheless, the Mayan families maintained harmonious interactions, in line with preserving important cultural values.”

The research team was surprised that the families maintained harmonious relations.

They believe the results raise questions for the community (and many related communities) about whether the decrease in inclusive collaboration is something that is of concern to them.

“The results also give hope in that the mothers are managing to maintain the core cultural value of harmoniousness through their everyday interactions with their children,” Rogoff told us.