Acculturation, parenting stress, and children's problem behaviours among immigrant Latinx mothers and fathers

Abstract

The Latinx population in the United States has been growing steadily over the last few decades, necessitating the need to better understand the impact of stress and acculturation on Latinx parents and children to provide more targeted community supports. This study examines how parenting stress, within the context of acculturation, is associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behaviours among newly immigrated Latinx families (n = 129). Correlational analyses were used to understand the relationship between acculturation, parenting stress for mothers and fathers, and children's behaviour problems. Regression analyses were used to predict children's behaviours when accounting for acculturation and parenting stress. Results indicated that parent acculturation was not associated with child problem behaviours for mothers or fathers. Maternal parenting stress was associated with child internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems, while paternal parenting stress was associated with child externalizing problems only. Implications and future directions for this research are discussed.

Keywords: Latinx mothers and fathers; acculturation; child problem behaviour; parenting stress.