Non-voluntary migration has been demonstrated to have an impact on family relationships as a result of children acculturating to the host country faster than their parents. Studies have reported on ...immigrant parents’ perceptions of their parenting in host countries. However, less is known about how both children and parents view and make sense of their relationships in new contexts. This exploratory qualitative study aims to capture the dialectical processes in parent-child relationships among Somali families in Sweden. Data were collected using focus group discussions with youth (
n
= 47) and their parents (
n
= 33). The data were analysed using a thematic analysis. Two themes, each with three themes of their own, were identified from the analysis:
finding a balance between hierarchical and egalitarian relationships
and
sharing of spaces
. Youth and parents described different factors, including contextual changes, generational gaps, peer pressure and lack of a father figures, as affecting their relationships with each other and sometimes creating conflicts between them. Both perceived themselves as active agents in contributing to family life after migrating to Sweden. In general, the youth expressed their emotional needs, the motivations desired from their parents and their desire to be equally treated as sons and daughters. Overall, this study demonstrates that there is a need to offer immigrant families culturally tailored parenting support programmes, thereby strengthening parent-child relationships.
Highlights
This study aimed to describe the dialectical processes in parent-child relationships among Somali families in Sweden.
There was a discrepancy between the parents’ and youths’ narratives of the dialectical processes in their relationship.
An acculturation gap, peer pressure and a lack of a father figure were perceived to have negative impacts on parent-youth relationships.
Both youth and parents described themselves as active agents.
The youth stressed their emotional needs and the desire for sons and daughters to be treated equally.
The aim of the study was to investigate how general family relations, reported changes in family interaction and involvement with peers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and following rules and ...recommendations during the pandemic relate to adolescent smoking, alcohol use, inebriation, and use of narcotics during Covid-19.
An online national survey of Swedish adolescents (n = 1818) aged 15-19 years was conducted in June 2020. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to predict adolescents' reported change in substance use during the pandemic. Person-oriented analyses, were used to identify clusters of participants characterized by similar patterns of substance use following ANOVA analysis with Scheffe post hoc tests testing differences between clusters in terms of family relations, reported changes in family interaction and involvement with peers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and following rules and recommendations during the pandemic.
Higher general family conflict, increased involvement with peers, a strained relationship with parents, and less compliance with rules and restrictions during the pandemic predicted a reported increase in adolescent substance use during this period. The grouping of scores for adolescent smoking, alcohol use, inebriation, and use of narcotics resulted in a six-cluster solution. One cluster (n = 767) either did not use or had decreased use of substances during the Covid-19 pandemic. Five other clusters, thus risk clusters, had retained or increased use of substances during the pandemic. Poor general family relations, increased peer involvement, and difficulties to conform to the rules and restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic were characteristics of risk clusters.
Most of adolescents in our study did not increase their substance use during the pandemic. However, adolescents with poor family relations who turn to peers during stressful times and who have difficulty following the government's rules and restrictions, are at risk of increased substance use during the pandemic. This is a potential threat both to adolescents themselves and others in their surroundings which is why at-risk adolescents and their families need more attention from public health and social services during this time of crisis.
To examine whether the cultural normativeness of parents' beliefs and behaviors moderates the links between those beliefs and behaviors and youths' adjustment, mothers, fathers, and children (N = ...1,298 families) from 12 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) were interviewed when children were, on average, 10 years old and again when children were 12 years old. Multilevel models examined 5 aspects of parenting (expectations regarding family obligations, monitoring, psychological control, behavioral control, warmth/affection) in relation to 5 aspects of youth adjustment (social competence, prosocial behavior, academic achievement, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior). Interactions between family level and culture-level predictors were tested to examine whether cultural normativeness of parenting behaviors moderated the link between those behaviors and children's adjustment. More evidence was found for within- than between-culture differences in parenting predictors of youth adjustment. In 7 of the 8 instances in which cultural normativeness was found to moderate the link between parenting and youth adjustment, the link between a particular parenting behavior and youth adjustment was magnified in cultural contexts in which the parenting behavior was more normative.
Research on young people’s perceptions of economic disadvantage has not focused on specific groups, or adversity connected to demographic phenomena such as migration. The current study seeks to ...explore perceptions about receiving state economic support among young people in newly arrived families from Syria. Participants were young people in families who arrived in Sweden between 2014 and 2016 and were in receipt of social assistance. Analysing interview data using a thematic approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006, Qualitative Research in Psychology, vol. 3, pp. 77–101) and applying Kuczynski and De Mol’s (2015) model of children’s agency reveal how participants’ experiences of social assistance in this study differ from those of young people in previous studies. Rather than connecting social assistance with hardship, limitations, stigma and shame, participants viewed social assistance as sufficient for current needs and providing opportunities to improve the family’s situation. Reciprocity was also highlighted, with participants expressing the desire to contribute to a welfare system from which they currently benefitted.
Background
Research supports the beneficial role of prosocial behaviors on children's adjustment and successful youth development. Empirical studies point to reciprocal relations between negative ...parenting and children's maladjustment, but reciprocal relations between positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior are understudied. In this study reciprocal relations between two different dimensions of positive parenting (quality of the mother–child relationship and the use of balanced positive discipline) and children's prosocial behavior were examined in Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States.
Methods
Mother–child dyads (N = 1105) provided data over 2 years in two waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.31 years, SD = 0.73; 50% female).
Results
A model of reciprocal relations between parenting dimensions, but not among parenting and children's prosocial behavior, emerged. In particular, children with higher levels of prosocial behavior at age 9 elicited higher levels of mother–child relationship quality in the following year.
Conclusions
Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother–child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics. Policy and intervention implications of this study are discussed.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine children's perception of their agency in different relationship contexts. Historically, most studies conducted in Sweden concerning children's agency, in ...relation to their self-efficacy and perceptions of their effectiveness as agents, have been carried out in school situations or other institutional organizations. Past research has shown that children'sagency has positive links to health, school achievement and/or adjustment. Method: Interviews were conducted with 103 10-year-old Swedish children to examine three relationship contexts: parent-child, teacher-pupil, and peer relations. Vignettes about the different contexts were presented to the children and their answers were analysed with thematic analysis. Results: The results show that children think of their agency differently depending upon which relationship context they find themselves in. Most perceived agency are found insituations with peers, and children perceive they have the least agency with teachers. In situations with parents, children think they would react with more resistance than with peers and teachers. It is mainly with other children that they would show assertiveness and try to find asolution together, while they would be more emotional and perceive less power with adults. Conclusion: We conclude that children make adistinction in their perception of agency depending upon the relationship context. These findings can be relevant for helping children receive more agency in all contexts, which might have apositive impact on health and adjustment.
We tested a model that childrenâs tendency to attribute hostile intent to others in response to provocation is a key psychological process that statistically accounts for individual differences in ...reactive aggressive behavior and that this mechanism contributes to global group differences in childrenâs chronic aggressive behavior problems. Participants were 1,299 children (mean age at year 1 = 8.3 y; 51% girls) from 12 diverse ecological-context groups in nine countries worldwide, followed across 4 y. In year 3, each child was presented with each of 10 hypothetical vignettes depicting an ambiguous provocation toward the child and was asked to attribute the likely intent of the provocateur (coded as benign or hostile) and to predict his or her own behavioral response (coded as nonaggression or reactive aggression). Mothers and children independently rated the childâs chronic aggressive behavior problems in years 2, 3, and 4. In every ecological group, in those situations in which a child attributed hostile intent to a peer, that child was more likely to report that he or she would respond with reactive aggression than in situations when that same child attributed benign intent. Across children, hostile attributional bias scores predicted higher mother- and child-rated chronic aggressive behavior problems, even controlling for prior aggression. Ecological group differences in the tendency for children to attribute hostile intent statistically accounted for a significant portion of group differences in chronic aggressive behavior problems. The findings suggest a psychological mechanism for group differences in aggressive behavior and point to potential interventions to reduce aggressive behavior.
Interpersonal conflict and violence occur within and between groups around the world. Although not proving causation, this study is significant because it suggests a key psychological mechanism in childrenâs chronic aggression that might be targeted for intervention: oneâs attribution that a peer is acting with hostile intent. When children attribute hostile intent to peers, they are more likely to predict they would react aggressively than when they attribute benign intent. Differences in this tendency statistically account for differences in future chronic aggressive behavior problems across children, as well as differences in chronic aggressive behavior problem rates across ecological-context groups. Identifying this mechanism could lead to novel interventions, education, and policies that reduce or prevent aggressive behavior.
We investigated the effects of parental warmth and behavioral control on externalizing and internalizing symptom trajectories from ages 8 to 14 in 1,298 adolescents from 12 cultural groups. We did ...not find that single universal trajectories characterized adolescent externalizing and internalizing symptoms across cultures, but instead found significant heterogeneity in starting points and rates of change in both externalizing and internalizing symptoms across cultures. Some similarities did emerge. Across many cultural groups, internalizing symptoms decreased from ages 8 to 10, and externalizing symptoms increased from ages 10 to 14. Parental warmth appears to function similarly in many cultures as a protective factor that prevents the onset and growth of adolescent externalizing and internalizing symptoms, whereas the effects of behavioral control vary from culture to culture.
Two key tasks facing parents across cultures are managing children's behaviors (and misbehaviors) and conveying love and affection. Previous research has found that corporal punishment generally is ...related to worse child adjustment, whereas parental warmth is related to better child adjustment. This study examined whether the association between corporal punishment and child adjustment problems (anxiety and aggression) is moderated by maternal warmth in a diverse set of countries that vary in a number of sociodemographic and psychological ways. Interviews were conducted with 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 1,196; 51% girls) and their mothers in 8 countries: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Thailand, and the United States. Follow-up interviews were conducted 1 and 2 years later. Corporal punishment was related to increases, and maternal warmth was related to decreases, in children's anxiety and aggression over time; however, these associations varied somewhat across groups. Maternal warmth moderated the effect of corporal punishment in some countries, with increases in anxiety over time for children whose mothers were high in both warmth and corporal punishment. The findings illustrate the overall association between corporal punishment and child anxiety and aggression as well as patterns specific to particular countries. Results suggest that clinicians across countries should advise parents against using corporal punishment, even in the context of parent-child relationships that are otherwise warm, and should assist parents in finding other ways to manage children's behaviors.
Internalizing and externalizing problems increase during adolescence. However, these problems may be mitigated by adequate parenting, including effective parent–adolescent communication. The ways in ...which parent-driven (i.e., parent behavior control and solicitation) and adolescent-driven (i.e., disclosure and secrecy) communication efforts are linked to adolescent psychological problems universally and cross-culturally is a question that needs more empirical investigation. The current study used a sample of 1087 adolescents (
M
= 13.19 years,
SD
= 0.90, 50% girls) from 12 cultural groups in nine countries including China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States to test the cultural moderation of links between parent solicitation, parent behavior control, adolescent disclosure, and adolescent secrecy with adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. The results indicate that adolescent-driven communication, and secrecy in particular, is intertwined with adolescents’ externalizing problems across all cultures, and intertwined with internalizing problems in specific cultural contexts. Moreover, parent-driven communication efforts were predicted by adolescent disclosure in all cultures. Overall, the findings suggest that adolescent-driven communication efforts, and adolescent secrecy in particular, are important predictors of adolescent psychological problems as well as facilitators of parent–adolescent communication.
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