The relations between maternal behaviors and school commitment in Turkish immigrant and native children

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to explore and compare the association of family collectivist values, perceived achievement values and maternal rearing behaviours with school commitment among immigrant and native Turkish preadolescent children in Norway and Turkey respectively. For the purpose of this study, 208 mother-child dyads (105 from Norway, 103 from Turkey) participated in the current study. The data was collected by a questionnaire battery including a Demographic Category Sheet, Short-EMBU (Egna Minnen Betraffende Uppfostran- My Memories of Upbringing), School Commitment Scale, Family Collectivist Values Scale, and Perceived Achievement Values Scale. Quantitative study was conducted to investigate study variables. Research questions revealed that 1) In terms of school commitment, there is no significant difference between two groups; 2) Turkish native children have more family collectivist values than Turkish immigrant children; 3) Turkish immigrant mothers and their children have more achievement values than Turkish native families; 4) Considering both Turkish immigrant and native’s scores, perceived maternal emotional warmth, perceived maternal control, perceived maternal rejection, children’ s collectivist family values, and maternal emotional warmth are significantly correlated to children’s school commitment; 5) For immigrant families, emotional warmth (perceived/maternal), and perceived maternal control predict, perceived achievement values are predictors of school commitment, whereas for native families, the predictors of school commitment are gender, perceived maternal emotional warmth, perceived maternal control, and rejection(maternal). From multicultural perspective, the findings of the present study may provide some understanding how macro and micro factors such as values and rearing behaviors to school commitment among Turkish immigrant and native children.