Poster #117 - African Immigrant College Students' Concepts of Sibling Relationships

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Methods, History, Theory

Integrative Statement

Previous research has studied how immigrants form new family structures and meaningful relationships outside the home as they navigate their new surroundings (Zukow, 1989). However, relationships of African siblings have yet to be studied through a cross-cultural lens. The purpose of the current study is to qualitatively examine African college students’ concepts of sibling relationships and to analyze and contextualize the nature and relevance of their sibling relationships in emerging adulthood. Our research design also allowed for the examination of emergent themes such as African sibling caregiving and differential gender expectations.
Study participants were 14 college students (eight females, six males) of African descent with at least two siblings. Recruitment was done via campus organizations. A demographic questionnaire identifying variables in sibling relationships was completed prior to video recording of four focus groups, each containing 3-4 participants. The participants were heterogeneous in age (18-22 years), ethnicity (Ghanaian, Sudanese, Nigerian), and acculturation status (recent immigrants to third generation). Videotapes were transcribed, and both initial and in-vivo methods were used in the first cycle of exploratory coding to allow the participants to tell the researchers what their sibling relationships meant to them and how they perceived the relationship dynamics. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze all data (Braun & Clark, 2006). A minimum of four researchers evaluated and sorted codes into evolving thematic categories during group sessions. Themes that consistently emerged across the focus groups were then compiled into one dataset and emergent themes were established. The most prominent primary and secondary themes were then placed in a conceptual model following a multi-level approach consistent with the theoretical framework presented by Boyd-Franklin (1989, Figure 1). As a preliminary credibility measure, data sources were triangulated with the purpose of checking for consistency and continuity across the primary data set. The following served as sources for triangulation: focus group transcripts, contemporaneous notes from postcoding sessions, member checking transcripts, analytic memos, and questionnaire responses. During the final stages of thematic analysis, as a secondary credibility measure, researchers began to label negative cases within the data set and attached them to burgeoning themes.
The results revealed salient themes of differential sibling experiences based on age and gender, and sibling parental roles. Emergent findings led to the understanding that both age and gender influenced how individuals interpreted differential sibling experiences and the degree to which they felt inclined to have a parental role within their family. Age and gender also influenced the method and level of exposure participants had to their cultural roots, which in turn sculpted how they interpreted cross-cultural differences following immigration. These results are displayed in Figure 1.
Our results may reflect cultural differences in parenting styles and the perception of one’s culture following familial immigration. This study allowed for a deeper understanding of how sibling relationships in non-western countries may form and develop over time. Future research, from different methodological traditions, should use these findings to develop new understandings about African sibling relationships and how they differ from sibling relationships of other cultures.

Group Authors

Sibling-Peer Research Group, Geneseo New York

Authors

• Jessica Mensah, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amelia Scofield, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Assia Bukuru, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brittany Bearss, SUNY Geneseo
  Presenting Author

• Oumou Wague, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Camila De Vasconcelos, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nicholas P. Palumbo, SUNY Geneseo; University of Rochester
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ganie B. DeHart, SUNY Geneseo
  Non-Presenting Author