Problem behavior and acculturation in Moroccan immigrant adolescents in the Netherlands: Effects of gender and parentchild conflict

The gender specificity of the relation between acculturation and problem behavior in Moroccan immi-grant adolescents in the Netherlands was examined. Three previously identified classes of adolescents with similar patterns of acculturation were used: an integrated, separated, and ambivalent class. Girls with an ambivalent acculturation pattern showed more problems than the other girls on parent- and adolescent-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior. For boys, no effects of acculturation on problem behav-ior were found. The high number of conflicts between parents and their ambivalently acculturated daughters partly explained the relation between acculturation and problem behavior. The findings empha-sized that gender and parent–child conflict should be considered when attempting to understand the com-plex relation between acculturation and problem behavior