Parents' Acculturation Stress and Involvement in Schools

• In Event: Family-School Connections With Immigrant and Multilingual Communities

Abstract

The study examined the dimensions of immigrant parent’s acculturation stress and tested their association with parents’ involvement in their child’s school. The sample comprises 181 immigrant parents of elementary school children residing in Montreal, Canada. Factor analysis first yielded three dimensions of acculturation stress: linguistic stress, lack of social contact in host country, and perceived discrimination. Findings from our structural analysis supported the hypothesis that parental acculturation stress limits parents’ involvement in schools. Linguistic stress and perceived discrimination were negatively linked to parent -school affective bonding, but not with parental-child communication about school and their support for homework. Stress associated with lack of social contact was however linked to these scales of parental involvement. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Authors

• Kiran Saluja, University of Montreal

• Isabelle Archambault, University of Montreal

• Elizabeth Olivier, University of Montreal

• Sophie Pascal, University of Montréal