The present study draws from the theoretical framework of the "developmental niche," developed by Super and Harkness, to investigate the cultural construction of the social and cognitive developmental processes that mothers from two Roma urban communities in Thrace, northeastern Greece, hold regarding their 6-year-old children. Roma mothers' ethnotheories and childrearing practices were examined using semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis showed that although the Roma mothers maintain the collectivistic cultural orientation of their group of origin, factors such as urbanism and the socioeconomic status of the families seemed to enhance the mothers' individualistic values. Interestingly, the Roma mothers' childrearing practices reflected the prominence of the authoritative style in their interaction with the child especially with reference to their proactive strategies. The findings suggest that the components of the niche respond differently to the various eco-cultural forces and that a set of criteria should be examined to understand the relationship between different aspects of the niche and the larger environment.