How Rohingya refugee parents support children’s prosocial development in crisis-affected and resettlement contexts: Findings from India and Canada

Abstract

Abstract We know little about how parents protect and promote children’s prosocial development during humanitarian crises. This qualitative study examined Rohingya refugee parents’ psychosocial perspectives and the processes they use to socialize prosocial values and behaviours in their children. Interviews (descriptive and in-depth qualitative) were conducted with 100 parents living in a refugee settlement in India (n = 100 descriptive; n = 5 in-depth) and 4 parents resettled in a mid-sized Canadian city (n = 4 descriptive; n = 4 in-depth). An inductive, ‘contextualist’ thematic analysis (TA) was conducted on the in-depth interviews to develop three overarching themes: (1) parents’ prosocial values and beliefs; (2) environmental conditions influencing parents’ available pathways for promoting children’s prosocial development; and (3) parents’ prosocial socialization and protection practices. The findings indicate that parents’ prosocial beliefs and contextual factors inform their parenting decisions and practices. Recommendations are provided for enriching parents’ capacity to promote child prosocial development in contexts of adversity.