Self-image of children with parents working abroad

Abstract

Like other countries, Romania exports labour permanently or seasonally. In the secondscenario, the question of the psychological price paid by children left at home arises. A number of answers have already been accumulated, but this natural experiment of occupational migration still off ers much room for investigation. Can the ontogenetic dynamics of childhood self-image act as a protective factor? Does the constellation of parental absence matter? How do the two variables interfere on global self-image/on sub-components? These are the stakes of the present study, carried out on a group of 175 preschoolers and young schoolchildren from the cities of Galați and Iași. We opted for one of the multidimensional paradigms of self-identity [11] and a 2x3 research design. There are two novelties, relatively counterintuitive, compared to other similar researches in terms of topic: - in the case of self-image, there are no diff erences between children with one absent parent and those with both parents present; - identification of the fact that participants with both parents present have a self-image centred on aggressive behaviour more accentuated than children with absent parents.