Final answer:
Broadly, it is true that in Western cultures, infants are weaned earlier than in non-Western cultures, with weaning ages influenced by a variety of factors including cultural practices and nutrition.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to cultural differences in weaning age for infants from breastfeeding. In Western cultures, infants are generally weaned off the breast earlier than in non-Western cultures. This is true and is supported by evidence from La Leche League International, which reports that the global mean age of weaning a child is around four to five years old, while in the United States, the mean weaning age is significantly lower, at about nine months. Influencing factors may include nutritional differences, cultural beliefs, and social imperatives.
Cultural practices and ideologies significantly affect developmental milestones and caregiving routines, including the age at which infants are weaned. In the context of cross-cultural studies, although various milestones such as language development occur in a similar sequence globally, local child care customs can accelerate or delay achievements in physical developmental milestones, which could also apply to the norms governing weaning ages.