Abstract Understanding culture is essential for understanding child development, and thus for designing and evaluating interventions to improve children’s physical and mental health. We outline seven key aspects of culture, and then review the Developmental Niche, a theoretical framework created to highlight the dynamics of cultural influence on development and to guide assessment of the child’s cultural surround. Within this framework, Parental Ethnotheories are an especially important part of the psychology of caretakers, as they influence parental behavior both directly and through parents’ choices of settings and customs of care. Two examples to illustrate the usefulness of this perspective are provided. One demonstrates the cost of ignoring culture in a large-scale intervention to combat poverty in the United States; the other outlines successful use of the Developmental Niche framework in an intervention to improve infant health in Bangladesh. Together, these examples illuminate the seven aspects of culture reviewed in the introduction.

中文翻译：

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为什么理解文化对于支持儿童和家庭至关重要

摘要 理解文化对于理解儿童发展至关重要，因此对于设计和评估改善儿童身心健康的干预措施至关重要。我们概述了文化的七个关键方面，然后回顾了发展利基，这是一个理论框架，旨在强调文化对发展的影响动态，并指导对儿童文化环境的评估。在这个框架内，父母民族理论是看护者心理的一个特别重要的部分，因为它们直接或通过父母对环境和照料习惯的选择影响父母的行为。提供了两个例子来说明这个观点的有用性。一个证明了在美国与贫困作斗争的大规模干预中忽视文化的代价；另一个概述了在改善孟加拉国婴儿健康的干预措施中成功使用发展利基框架。这些例子一起说明了引言中回顾的文化的七个方面。