Refugee Parents’ Communication and Relations With Their Children: Development and Application of the Refugee Parent-Child Relational Communication Scale

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study had two goals: First, a 20-item “Refugee Parent-Child Relational Communication Scale ” was developed for parents from refugee backgrounds. Former refugee parents from Ethiopia, Congo, and Burma (= 221) completed this and other questionnaires measuring demographics, acculturation, and acculturative stress. Exploratory factor analysis indicated three factors: “Engagement,” “Hope and Aspirations,” and “Dissonance.” The subscales were internally consistent. Second, this newly developed scale was used to explore whether the parents’ communication and relations with their children were associated with demographics, acculturation, and acculturative stress. Results of multiple regressions indicated that mothers and parents with higher acculturation were more engaged with their children and also encouraged their children to aspire for higher goals in life. Although parents with higher acculturative stress were also developing aspirations and hopes in their children; they reported strained relations with their children. Parents from the Congo scored higher on dissonance, indicating some problematic communication with their children.