“Who Is Sitting Across From Me?” Immigrant Mothers’ Knowledge of Parenting and Children’s Development

Abstract

Although parents' knowledge about child development and child rearing is relevant to pediatric practice, very little is known about immigrant parents' knowledge. To fill this gap in research, this study investigated parenting knowledge in 2 groups of mothers who had immigrated to the United States. Japanese and South American immigrant mothers of 2-year-olds completed a standardized survey of parenting knowledge and provided information about sociodemographic and infant health status. Their data were compared with European American mothers in the United States. Immigrant mothers scored approximately 70% on the evaluation of parenting knowledge, significantly lower than multigenerational US mothers. The majority of immigrant mothers did not know correct answers for 25% of the items, and their incorrect answers were mostly to questions about normative child development. Parents' knowledge is relevant to pediatricians' evaluations of the health and welfare of children as understood by their parents. Gaps in parenting knowledge have implications for clinical interactions with parents, child diagnosis, pediatric training, and parent education.