Positive parenting in ethnic minority families: challenges and outcomes

The overall goal of the current dissertation is to uncover predictors and outcomes of positive parenting in ethnic minority families. Chapter 2 provides an overview of commonly used observational instruments to measure sensitivity, showing the versatility and scientific importance of the construct. The results presented in Chapter 3 suggest that mothers of different cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic groups have a highly similar view on maternal sensitivity. In Chapter 4, the results show that both acculturation stress and general psychological distress mediated the relation between socioeconomic status and positive parenting in Turkish minority families with young children. The results of the empirical study presented in Chapter 5 suggest that family stress processes play a role in adolescents’ behavioral outcomes, whereas family investment processes play a role in adolescents’ cognitive-behavioral outcome in Turkish minority families. Overall, the studies described in this thesis have shown that parenting beliefs and behaviors in ethnic minority families can only be understood in light of factors that are often related to minority status, such as lower socioeconomic status, higher general family stress, and acculturation stress. These factors should be taken into account in research and practice regarding parenting behaviors and child development in ethnic minority families