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

Abstract

Intensive 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 information is associated with mothers’ social comparison, competition, and consumption. This paper thus considered comparison, competition, and consumption as the 3Cs of contemporary motherhood, and explored these factors in a neoliberal educational context. Specifically, this paper examined how mothers’ educational information acquisition leads to the 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, and comparison of opinions was negatively associated with competition, consistent with social comparison theory. Competition then positively predicted consumption intention. These results demonstrate quantitatively how responsibilization of mothers regarding children’s education under intensive mothering ideology influences mothers’ consumption intentions around education investment. The invariance of the model across the two groups suggests that motherhood competition, despite cultural differences, operates similarly in both countries.

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Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 11/20/2022 | Link to this post on IFP |
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