Research Article Open Access Preadolescents with Immigrant Backgrounds: The Relationship between Emotional Problems, Parental Achievement Values, and Comparison

Background: Although strong parental achievement values have been associated with positive outcomes among children (e.g., academic success), they have also been connected to emotional problems. The latter effect may be the result of pressure related to such things as parental comparison of filial achievement, which appears to be more predominant among immigrant parents as compared with non-immigrant parents. Objectives: Our goals were to assess the following: 1) whether higher levels of parental achievement values and comparison are found among immigrant preadolescents; and (2) whether comparison (i.e., comparing a child’s achievements with those of siblings and peers) can account for the link between strong parental achievement values and emotional problems among the children of immigrants. Methods: The sample included 902 preadolescents between the ages of 10 and 12 years from two Norwegian cities: Oslo (79%) and Bergen (21%). Forty-seven percent of the sample had immigrant parents, and the others had non-immigrant parents. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by fifth, sixth, and seventh graders from fourteen schools during normal school hours; the questionnaires were completed after school by students from Turkey and Sri Lanka. The questionnaire included measures of emotional problems, parental achievement values, comparison, and school hassles. We used a moderated mediation model to test whether the relationship between parental achievement values and emotiona