Urban-Rural Differences in Sociable and Disruptive Behavior of Kenya Children

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Abstract
Urban and rural setting effects on the overall pattern of social behaviors and on various kinds of sociability and disruptive behaviors of young children aged 2-8 were studied. The kind of rural-urban network sample of families used provided some controls on nonsetting differences, such as socio-economic status, age and stage in the family developmental cycle and modernity, between urban and rural residents. These situational differences were used to interpret several findings: rural children engage in more sociable behaviors than urban children, city children seek interaction more than do rural children and urban children seek to dominate and act aggressively towards others more than do rural children. An analysis of urban-rural differences between children who acted as their own control showed no significant differences. This subgroup of children differed from the total network sample in personnel present and daily routines and work in the city, but not in other respects. These factors (personnel and routines) may be the most important in accounting for the urban-rural differences in the total sample. Parents'' own perceptions and attitudes towards these behavioral changes and situational pressures are also important in understanding how different families are trying to adapt to the duolocal residence pattern of the rural-urban network migrant cycle.

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