The aim of this study was to investigate and understand how west African immigrant mothers of children with neuropsychiatric disability are been supported by the Lss service provider. Method: Qualitative semi- structured interviews were conducted with seven participants , therein four were west African mothers of children with neuropsychiatric disability, and three were Lss service workers.  The interviews were transcribed and then later thematically analysed. The Result shows that there are challenges for the mothers to understand the supportive information avaliable because of language barriers, therefore making it difficult for the Lss to know whom to provide structural services to, thus there are no health promotional interventions mapped out for the mothers.  A total of five main themes and ten subthemes emerged . Conclusion: The findings from this study showed that west African immigrant mothers of children with neuropsychiatric disability in Sweden have a cultural perception that disability is outlawed and prohibited,  and their insufficient knowledge on the importance of health literacy affects the Lss from providing sustainable rehabilitation  and structural services.

Thesis advisor: Thomas M. Crea / Thesis advisor: Ruth E. Prado P. / Undocumented Mexican immigrants and their children make up a considerable proportion of the United States population at risk of mental health problems. Yet research to inform the mental health of undocumented Mexican immigrants and their children is very limited, and the majority of existing studies are qualitative; both types of studies are needed to understand better the relationship among different factors that may influence the mental health of immigrant parents and their children. This three-paper dissertation analyzed the implications of parents’ and children’s immigration status for the mothers' mental health and the children’s behavioral problems. It utilized subsamples from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A. FANS), a survey representative of Los Angeles County, which includes direct measures of respondent’s immigration status. Paper 1 used path analysis to examine the relationship between the mothers' immigration status and major depression, and whether self-efficacy served as a mediator. Surprisingly, undocumented mothers had fewer symptoms of major depression compared with Mexican American and documented mothers. However, when self-efficacy mediated the relationship, immigration status lowered self-efficacy, increasing symptoms of major depression. Paper 2 used hierarchical regression analysis to examine the associations of mother’s and children’s immigration status with children’s behavioral problems. Immigration status was significantly associated with internalizing problems, but not with externalizing problems. For children in mixed-status families, the influence of immigration status on internalizing problems was more severe for children in middle childhood compared to children in early childhood. The influence of immigration status on internalizing problems was more severe for adolescents compared to children in early childhood and middle childhood. Also, the mother’s self-efficacy ameliorated the negative influence of immigration status on children’s behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing) for girls in undocumented and mixed-status families. Finally, marital conflict exacerbated the negative effects of immigration status on children’s behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing) for girls in undocumented and mixed-status families. Paper 3 utilized path analysis to examine the mediating role of mother’s mental health (e.g., major depression and self-efficacy) and parenting stress in the relationship between immigration status and children’s behavioral problems. It was found that immigration status influences the mothers' mental health and parenting stress, which in turn influences the behavioral functioning of children in middle childhood and adolescents. Results of these three studies will help inform practice and policy by addressing critical gaps in the literature impacting a growing number of undocumented immigrant mothers and their children. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Immigrant parents with young children face difficult dilemmas that stem from the challenges of navigating the different cultures of their home and of their adopting country (e.g., Hynie, 2018; Kim et al., 2001; Schwartz et al., 2010). Parents’ deliberations about how to raise their children are particularly challenging when their home and adopting cultures are very different (Fuentes-Balderrama et al., 2022; Lozano et al., 2022), as is the case for Chinese immigrants to the U.S. Chinese immigrants constitute the largest immigrant group in the U.S., and their parenting styles and strategies have tremendous consequences for the development of their children, the well-being of the parents and the children in their communities, the integration of the family in their new environment, and, consequently, the well-being of the larger American community.Research has often portrayed Chinese immigrant parents, and most often mothers, as negotiating a simple dichotomy of Western and Chinese parenting styles (e.g., Cheah et al., 2013; Ma, 2019; Wang et al., 2021). The literature commonly portrays these styles as discrepant on degrees of warmth, control, and discipline, with Chinese parenting viewed as cold, strict, and demanding compared with the warmer, relaxed, and lenient American way. More recent studies (Donald & Yi, 2008; Guo, 2013; Han & Chen, 2019; Liu et al., 2020) have begun to challenge this simple dichotomy and to highlight the diversity of their parenting beliefs and practices, uncovering nuanced approaches based on Chinese Confucianism and Guan, including their emphasis on learning and the establishment of high expectations, and their beliefs and practices related to children’s socio-emotional development, particularly related to parental expressions of warmth, socialization goals towards children, and beliefs about friendship and play. However, this research is in its infancy, and it lacks a theoretical framework to conceptualize the diversity of Chinese immigrant parenting approaches in the American context. In the multiple case study, therefore, I employed the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI; Kaplan & Garner, 2017) to conceptualize and investigate the parenting approaches and strategies of three Chinese immigrant mothers of children aged 3 to 5 in Philadelphia, PA. DSMRI allows for a nuanced understanding of individuals by considering their unique experiences, perspectives, and parenting practices. It also considers various components of role identity, such as purpose and goals, worldviews, self-perceptions, action possibility, and emotions. Besides, it explains parenting practices from a bottom-up perspective. The DSMRI framework further places significant emphasis on the relational and cultural context in which parenting occurs, recognizing the continuous construction of a mother’s role identity in relation to various family members and networks. I aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) Who are the Chinese immigrant mothers (e.g., educational background, socioeconomic status, life experiences in China, life experiences in the U.S., and life experiences as a mother)?; (2) What are the mothers’ experiences with parental involvement with their children?; (3) What are their parent role identities, including purpose and goals, self-perceptions, worldviews, and action possibilities as a mother?; (4) How can their role identities explain their decisions on parental involvement with their children?; (5) How do contextual factors (e.g., Chinese immigrant communities, school, and technology) in their environments influence their parent role identities? Three Chinese immigrant mothers of children aged 3 to 5 participated in this study. The data included life-story interviews, as well as home observations, and stimulated recall interviews centering on parental involvement with the children. The interviews were recorded, and I utilized ethnographic tools such as observation, thick descriptions, and detailed field notes to describe these mothers’ parental involvement with their children. As about data analysis, I analyzed the collected data using inductive coding techniques first to identify emerging themes. Then I delved into each theme, applying the DSMRI framework deductively to explain how parents’ role identity influenced their actions and behaviors. Finally, I interpreted and synthesized the findings, integrating the inductive themes and the DSMRI framework. The research revealed critical insights into the parenting experiences of Chinese immigrant mothers. First, it showcased the diverse backgrounds and life experiences of three Chinese immigrant mothers. Their differences encompassed childhood experiences, educational histories, socioeconomic backgrounds both in their families of origin and their own status, as well as experiences related to immigration and child-rearing (e.g., the number of children and involvement of other family members such as their husband or parents-in-laws) and the communities they were part of. Second, regarding their parental involvement, they all emphasized the following key aspects of their children’s upbringing, including language learning, reading, math education, talent development, and socio-emotional growth. Third, this study examined the mothers’ negotiation of tensions within their mother role identity, their teacher role identity within their mother role identity, and the incorporation of multiple role identities and their tensions. Specifically, the three mothers’ parent role identities helped them navigate parenting in a cross-cultural context, balancing between the Chinese and the U.S. educational and cultural systems. They integrated teacher role identity into their mother role identity, autonomously imparting essential values and skills. Moreover, these mothers negotiated multiple role identities, dealing with the complexities of balancing self, mother, and other familial role identities. Fourth, their mother role identities influenced their decisions on parental involvement in adapting and forming new role identity components, navigating tensions, setting priorities, allocating time, integrating family members, building relationships with schools, and integrating community resources. Finally, the U.S. cultural environment and other contextual factors like community and technology influenced their parent role identities. The study contribute to knowledge about the important phenomenon of Chinese immigrants’ parenting practices, and investigate the utility of a framework of identity, motivation, and action for parenting research that is grounded in dynamic complexity theory, transcending conceptions of static, discrete parenting styles for conceptualizing and instead investigating parenting as a diverse, complex, dynamic, and relational phenomenon among Chinese immigrant mothers in America. / Educational Psychology

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The analytical and creative chapters of my thesis display the best and the worst of bicultural daughters and their mothers as writers represent this relationship in short stories. Throughout the analytical chapters, I show that the through their fiction these writers help us understand that the bicultural daughter/immigrant mother relationship not only is affected by general feelings of matrophobia – as Adrienne Rich points out – but also by different pressures and paradigms that can only be experienced if the daughter belongs to and/or associates herself with a different culture than that of her mother. I hypothesize that the stories reflect these paradigms as usually negative because the pressures from both “American” society and the immigrant mother are often so great that the bicultural daughter cannot embrace either one fully. However, with the adverse feelings from both mother and daughter, comes a realization from both that neither will succeed in dominating the other. Once this is established, both mother and daughter will either reach a consensual agreement to disagree, or will continue having a hostile relationship. By including my own short stories in context with the analyses done for the stories by Kingston, Tan, Pietrzyk and Danticat, I hope to bring interest to this genre for further analysis on the bicultural daughter and immigrant mother relationship as depicted in short stories.

AbstractThe study aims to hear and represent the experiences of Afghan immigrant mothers in Malmö, Sweden. By focusing on the individual level, the research seeks to investigate the challenges of raising children and the strategies developed to overcome those challenges.  A qualitative research design was chosen for the study, using data from five semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The research is theoretically framed by Berry's acculturation theory and concepts of parenting. The finding indicates that Afghan immigrant mothers face challenges as individuals and as parents during their integration process. The key challenges include adapting to a new way of living, overcoming language barriers, changes in social position and lack of social networks. Additionally, Cultural influence on parenting, the difference between the collective and individualistic parenting styles in Swedish society, and differences in acculturation levels, authority and discipline were significant factors. Finally, the thesis implies immigrant mothers need structural support through access to language classes and community programs to navigate the Swedish system and professional support to integrate successfully into the Swedish community.

Empirical studies have shown that single-parent families have been overrepresented in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and the children of these families are more exposed to factors that lead to aggressive behavior. Despite these studies, there is limited literature on the parenting of immigrant mothers that may prevent aggressive behaviors in children. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of single Southern African immigrant mothers in low socioeconomic neighborhoods in California working and raising male children who do not exhibit aggressive behaviors in schools and in the community. Seligman's theory of positive psychology informed this study. Research questions were focused on how the participants make meaning of and positively cope with their parenting experiences. Data were collected through semistructured interviews using purposive sampling of 8 single Southern African immigrant mothers. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, 5 themes emerged: (a) working hard, (b) religion, (c) family, (d) education, and (e) positively coping. The findings of this study may contribute to positive social change by informing policy makers from California and high school personnel about the need to develop programs that are culturally responsive to the needs of adolescents with aggressive behaviors.