Abay Gebrekidan

Parenting in the Context of Immigration: a Cross-cultural Investigation Among Ethiopian Immigrant Parents in Sweden Abay Gebrekidan

While forming an established family life, one of the challenges that immigrant families encounter is the task of raising their children in the host culture. For these families, the demands of the host culture are often incompatible with the cultural values that parents brought with them resulting in intercultural conflicts and role reversals. In Sweden such problems have been profound for many immigrants. This book has explored the challenges faced by immigrant parents taking the case of Ethiopian immigrants in Sweden. Departing from practical observation on the problem, it investigated the socialization patterns in cross cultural context. Result analysis showed that intercultural conflicts have been recurring problems. Parents who relied on socialization patterns of their original culture demanding immediate obedience of the child faced strange & fierce reactions. Language was also obstacle for effective parent-child communication due to parents' limited knowledge of Swedish & children's lack of native language of their parents; all these highlight to the integration being lower. Hence, this book is more helpful for professionals and policy-makers working in immigrant integration.