Migrants’ daily stressors and parenting behavior: The moderating role of intrinsic and extrinsic factors

Seminar no. 1270
3 July 2024 Time 12:30-13:30 hrs.

Speaker: Khaing Zar Lwin

The recognition of daily stressors like legal status, employment, harmful behaviour in the community is growing, highlighting their adverse effects on the mental health of migrant workers and displaced persons. Migrant workers often relocate with their families, resulting in the dual responsibilities of employment and family care, which can create a significant burden. Parenting is a lifelong commitment; long-term patience and it is a difficult task that requires care and effort. Parenting behaviour is important as it determines the outcomes of a child, which are closely linked to the quality of citizenship.

This study aims to investigate the association of the current experience of daily stressors on the parenting behaviour of migrant caregivers and how these associations are moderated by intrinsic factor (perceived social support) and extrinsic factor (lifetime trauma exposure) by using the baseline data from Parenting on the Thailand-Myanmar Border research project. The sample in this study was 2,249 migrant parents/caregivers.

Results from the robust linear regression, migrant caregivers experiencing somewhat and very serious health-related stressors have significantly higher positive parenting scores by approximately 1.12 units and 1.15 units, respectively, compared to those without serious health-related stressors. The plausible explanation is that caregivers facing severe health-related stressors may become more attuned to their children’s needs and prioritize positive interactions to mitigate the negative effects of their own stress. Conversely, migrant caregivers facing somewhat problematic interactions in their community show a significantly lower positive parenting score by approximately 0.85 units compared to those not experiencing this stressor.

Additionally, the findings illustrate that the intrinsic factor (perceived social support) shows a strong positive impact on parenting behaviour. Moreover, older caregiver is associated with greater positive parenting scores. Children aged 12-17 years have a positive parenting score approximately 1.81 units lower than those aged 4-5 years. The positive parenting behaviour of non-biological parents is lower than their counterpart. Caregivers who lived in Thailand 6-10 years have higher positive parenting score. Implementing educational and community-building initiatives to reduce problematic interactions between migrant caregivers and their communities can be better support positive parenting practices and ultimately improve child outcomes.

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