Transnationalism, parenting, and child disciplinary practices of African immigrants in Alberta, Canada
Abstract
Child discipline remains a topic of public health interest across the globe. Despite this enduring interest, very little is known about the child disciplinary practices of African immigrants in Canada. This paper explores the disciplinary practices of African immigrant parents in Alberta, a Canadian province with a recent surge in the population of African immigrants. As members of the African immigrant community, we were deeply immersed in the research settings, which afforded us the opportunity to collect observational data in the form of reflexive notes. We found that African immigrant parents used corporal discipline (i.e. spanking and pinching, and more severe practices as kicking and slapping), persuasive discipline (i.e. timeouts and withdrawal of privileges, positive reinforcement techniques, such as the use of rewards), and a hybrid of the two. They also used emerging practices involving transnational fostering (fostering chronically misbehaving children to relatives and friends in Africa) and emotional isolation of children who persistently misbehaved. These practices, in their totality, appeared to be influenced by parents’ cultural backgrounds, as well as their interactions with Canadian educational system. We present theoretical, policy, and service implications of our findings, including a recommendation to incorporate sociocultural dimensions of child discipline into Canadian child welfare policies and practices.
Notes
Key findings
African immigrants engage in a variety of parenting practices that include those informed by their cultural background as well as ‘new’ approaches, adopted in Canada. The authors describe three approaches to parenting/child discipline: corporal (i.e. spanking and pinching, and more severe practices as kicking and slapping), persuasive (i.e. timeouts and withdrawal of privileges, positive reinforcement techniques, such as the use of rewards) and a hybrid of both; fear of the child welfare system shapes the experiences of African parents in Canada; Authors contend that there are gaps in understanding between the child welfare system and African immigrant families that narrow the parenting practices available to African immigrant parents
Location
Edmonton, Alberta
Key recommendations
Need for engagement between African communities and child welfare system to (1) develop a collective understanding of the legal, cultural, and psychological dimensions of various child disciplinary practices (2) clarify differences between child abuse and permissible corporeal punishment (3) develop culturally appropriate support systems for families experiencing challenges with child discipline
Community organizations
NA
Integration timeline
At what point during the integration process the study was conducted?
NA
Gaps identified
Lack of cultural competence of child welfare systems; gaps in understanding by parents about appropriate forms of discipine for the Canadian landscape
Key populations
African immigrants
Open-access – No