Parenting, family functioning and lifestyle in a new culture: The case of African migrants in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Child and Family Social Work

Volumn 16, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 228-240

  Renzaho, André M N ^a   Green, Julie ^b   Mellor, David ^a   Swinburn, Boyd ^a  

^a DEAKIN UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b MURDOCH CHILDREN'S RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (Australia)

Author keywords

African migrants; Family functioning; Intergenerational acculturation; Lifestyle changes; Parenting

Indexed keywords

EID: 79952796434     PISSN: 13567500     EISSN: 13652206     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2010.00736.x     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Abraído-Lanza, A.F., Chao, M.T. & Flórez, K.R. (2005) Do healthy behaviors decline with greater acculturation? Implications for the Latino mortality paradox. Social Science & Medicine, 61, 1243-1255.
2. Basran, G.S. (1993) Indo-Canadian families: historical constraints and contemporary contradictions. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 24, 339-352.
3. Batrouney, T. & Stone, W. (1998) Cultural diversity and family exchanges. Family Matters Australian Institute of Family Studies, pp. 13-20.
4. Berry, J.W. (1997) Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 5-68.
5. Burns, C. (2004) Effect of migration on food habits of Somali women living as refugees in Australia. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 43, 213-229.
6. Burns, C., Webster, K., Crotty, P., Ballinger, M., Vincenzo, R. & Rozman, M. (2000) Easing the transition: food and nutrition issues of new arrivals. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 10, 230-236.
7. Chao, R.K. (1994) Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65, 1111-1119.
8. Commonwealth of Australia (2004) The Commonwealth - Victoria Working Party on Migration. Final Report, Department of Premier and Cabinet, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne.
9. Degni, F., Pöntinen, S. & Mölsä, M. (2006) Somali Parents' Experiences of Bringing up Children in Finland: Exploring Social-Cultural Change within Migrant Households Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research 7(3):Art. 8. Available at: (accessed 12 February 2010).
10. Dei, G. (2004) Schooling and Education in Africa: The Case of Ghana. Africa World Press, Asmara.
11. Department of Immigration and Citizenship (2009) Refugee and Humanitarian Issues: Australia's Response. DIAC, Canberra.
12. Fu-Kiau, K.K.B. & Lukondo-Wamba, A.M. (1988) Kindezi: The Kôngo Art of Babysitting. Vantage Press, New York.
13. Green, J., Willis, K., Hughes, E., Small, R., Welch, N., Gibbs, L. etal. (2007) Generating best evidence from qualitative research: the role of data analysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 31, 545-550.
14. Guerin, P.B. & Guerin, B. (2002) Relocating refugees in developed countries: the poverty experiences of Somali resettling in New Zealand. Selected papers. In: 5th International APMRN Conference (eds K. Lyon & C. Voight-Graf ), pp. 64-70. University of Wollongong, Fiji, Wollongong.
15. Hamilton, M. (2000) Expanding the new literacy studies: using photographs to explore literacy as social practice. In: In Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context (eds D. Barton, M. Hamilton & R. Ivanic ), pp. 16-34. Routledge, London.
16. Hwang, W. (2006) Acculturative family distancing: theory, research and clinical practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice and Training, 43, 397-409.
17. Kelley, M.L., Power, T.G. & Wimbush, D.D. (1992) Determinants of disciplinary practices in low-income black mothers. Child Development, 63, 573-582.
18. Komarraju, M. & Cokley, K.O. (2008) Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism-collectivism: a comparison of African Americans and European Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14, 336-343.
19. Kotchick, B.A. & Forehand, R. (2002) Putting parenting in perspective: a discussion of the contextual factors that shape parenting practices. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11, 255-269.
20. Lincroft, Y. & Resner, J. (2006) Undercounted, Underserved: Immigrant and Refugee Families in the Child Welfare System. Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore.
21. Maiter, S., Alaggia, R. & Trocmé, N. (2004) Perceptions of child maltreatment by parents from the Indian subcontinent: challenging myths about culturally based abusive parenting practices. Journal of Child Maltreatment, 9, 309-324.
22. Neuman, W. (2006) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 6th edn. Pearson Education International, Boston.
23. Ochocka, J. & Janzen, R. (2008) Immigrant parenting: a new framework of understanding. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 6, 85-111.
24. Ong, W.J. (2002) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Routledge, London.
25. Pettys, G. & Balgopal, P. (1998) Multigenerational conflicts and new immigrants: an Indo-American experience. Families in society. The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 79, 410-423.
26. Renzaho, A. (2002) Addressing the Needs of Refugees and Humanitarian Entrants in Victoria: An Evaluation of Health and Community Services. Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health, Melbourne.
27. Renzaho, A.M.N. (2009) Challenges of negotiating obesity-related findings with African migrants in Australia: lessons learnt from the African Migrant Capacity Building and Performance Appraisal Project. Nutrition & Dietetics, 66, 146-151.
28. Renzaho, A. & Burns, C. (2006) The post migration food habits of Sub-Saharan African migrants - a cross-sectional study. Nutrition and Dietetics, 63, 91-102.
29. Renzaho, A., Swinburn, B. & Burns, C. (2008) Maintenance of traditional cultural orientation is associated with lower rates of obesity and sedentary behaviours among African migrant children to developed countries. International Journal of Obesity, 32, 594-600.
30. Thomas, T. (1995) Acculturative stress in the adjustment of immigrant families. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 4, 131-142.
31. Varela, R.E., Vernberg, E.M., Sanchez-Sosa, J.J., Riveros, A., Mitchell, M. & Mashunkashey, J. (2004) Parenting style of Mexican, Mexican American, and Caucasian-Non-Hispanic families: social context and cultural influences. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 651-657.
32. Wagner, K., Ritt-Olson, A., Soto, D., Rodriguez, Y., Baezconde-Garbanati, L. & Unger, J. (2008) The role of acculturation, parenting, and family in Hispanic/Latino adolescent substance use: findings from a qualitative analysis. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 7, 304-327.
33. Warr, D. (2005) 'It was fun...but we don't usually talk about these things': analyzing sociable interaction in focus groups. Qualitative Inquiry, 11, 200-225.
34. Williams, N. (2009) A critical review of the literature: engendering the discourse of masculinities matter for parenting African Refugee men. American Journal of Men's Health, 20, 1-13.
35. Ying, Y.W. & Han, M. (2007) A test of the intergenerational congruence in immigrant families - Child Scale with Southeast Asian Americans. Social Work Research, 31, 35-43.