Mother-Child Adjustment in Arab Immigrants and Refugees

描述（由申请人提供）：对于在国外出生的母亲和她们的孩子来说，青春期是一个艰难的发展过渡时期。由于生活在两种规范和价值观相互冲突的文化中，与这种发展转变相关的典型身份问题和同伴压力变得更加复杂。然而，人们对它们的调整知之甚少。对于外国出生的母亲的育儿方式，以及她们的压力对青春期育儿的影响，人们所知的就更少了。对于阿拉伯穆斯林移民来说，这些问题甚至更严重，因为他们的文化与占主导地位的美国价值观明显不同。本研究以阿拉伯穆斯林移民和难民母亲及其子女为研究对象，从母亲和青少年的双重视角探讨压力、应对、社会支持和亲子关系。在一个因果模型中，母亲、家庭和儿童变量如何影响儿童心理社会适应的途径将在青春期早期和晚期过渡期间进行研究。研究目的是：1)确定母婴压力、应对和社会支持因果模型中的基线关系；socio-demographic风险;产妇调整;父子关系;2)确定上述变量路径的稳定性，以解释阿拉伯青年在18个月和36个月后在青春期早期和晚期过渡期间的调整。将从608对母子中收集有关母亲、家庭和儿童变量的数据，这些数据在儿童处于青春期前期或早期以及18个月和36个月后的基线时收集，以捕捉过渡到青春期后期的情况。结构方程模型将用于建立潜在变量之间的基线关系模型，并检查模型预测18个月和36个月调整结果的能力。模型的稳定性将通过评估潜在变量随时间的系统变化，确定变化的可靠性，并获得个体真实分数变化的经验贝叶斯（EB）估计来评估。结合EB估计的变化评分模型将确定潜在变量的变化如何与18个月和36个月的儿童调整结果相关。从拟议的研究中获得的信息是为妇女和儿童这一弱势群体制定服务提供计划所必需的，特别是为了确定关注人际关系/内部动态与背景/环境特征的干预措施的相对价值。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescence is a difficult developmental transition for foreign-born mothers and their children. The typical identity issues and peer pressure associated with this developmental transition for adolescents of foreign parentage are complicated by living in two cultures with conflicting norms and values. Yet, little is known about their adjustment. Even less is known about the parenting of foreign-born mothers or the effects of their stress on parenting during adolescence. These issues are even greater for Arab Muslim immigrants because their culture is markedly different from dominant US values. This longitudinal study of Arab Muslim immigrant and refugee mothers and their children will investigate stress, coping, social support, and parent-child relationship from the dual perspective of mothers and youth. The pathways in a causal model of how maternal, family, and child variables affect child psychosocial adjustment will be examined during transition into early and late adolescence. Study aims are to: 1) determine the baseline relationships in a causal model of maternal and child stress, coping, and social support; socio-demographic risk; maternal adjustment; parent-child relationships; and child psychosocial adjustment for pre- and early adolescent Arab youth, and 2) determine the stability of the pathways of the above variables for explaining the adjustment of Arab youth, 18 and 36 months later during transitions into early and late adolescence. Data about maternal, family, and child variables will be collected from 608 mother-child dyads at baseline when the child is a pre- or early adolescent and at 18 and 36 months later to capture transition into later stages of adolescence. Structural equation modeling will be used to develop a model of the baseline relationships among the latent variables and examine the model's ability to predict adjustment outcomes at 18 and 36 months. Model stability will be evaluated by assessing systematic change in the latent variables over time, determining the reliability of the change, and obtaining empirical Bayes (EB) estimates of individual true score change. A change score model, incorporating EB estimates, will determine how changes in the latent variables are related to the 18- and 36-month child adjustment outcomes. Information from the proposed study is needed to develop service delivery programs for this vulnerable population of women and children, particularly to determine the relative value of interventions focused on inter/intrapersonal dynamics versus contextual/environmental features.