Improving Parental Attitudes of Turkish Immigrants Living in Germany: An Action Research

Year 2019, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 103 - 121, 01.12.2019

Osman Nejat Akfırat

https://doi.org/10.17275/per.19.16.6.2

Cited By: 1

Abstract

This study, which aims to improve the
parental attitudes of Turkish immigrants living in Germany, is designed as an
action research. During the study, the managers of the Turkish School-Parents
Unions and 37 teachers giving courses to Turkish students living in Germany
were interviewed, and the needs of immigrant Turkish parents for child rearing
were determined. In line with these needs, a family education program was
revised. The program was applied on 602 parents in 34 different group studies.
Research data were collected through the letters of the participants of an eight-session
program and a group of 26 people by forming a focus group interview held 2
years after the training. Data were analyzed through content analysis and
descriptive analysis. According to data obtained after the completion of the
family education program, the parents stated that they acquired valuable
information on dealing with negative behaviors of their children,  on becoming prepared for conflict resolution,
anger control, and on getting effective behaviour in planning their children's
future.   During the monitoring phase of
the study, the participants stated that they continued to display their
acquired behaviour in terms of autonomy, communication skills, interpersonal
parental communication and of democratic parental attitudes.

Keywords

Family education, Turkish Immigrants in Germany, Parental attitude, Action research, Immigrant families

References

• Abrams-Wilson, L.D.(2019). The effect of a tutorial program for parents on their attitudes towards the importance of educatıon: An action research study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Capella University. Retrived 18.08.2019 https://search.proquest.com/openview/4df03df89b2db5097fb74d68aa9b08e9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
• Atabay, I. (2012). Zwischen islamismus und patchwork: Identitätsentwicklung bei türkeistämmigen kindern und jugendlichen dritter und vierter generation. [Between islamism and patchwork: Identity development among turkish children and adolescents third and fourth generation.]Freiburg: Centaurus Verlag & Media UG
• Bekman, S. (1998). Eşit fırsat: Anne-çocuk eğitim programının değerlendirilmesi [Equal opportunity: Evaluation of mother-child education program].. İstanbul, Turkey: Yapım Matbaası.
• Berry, J. W. (2002). Conceptual approaches to acculturation, in K. M. Chun, P. B. Organista, and G. Marin (Eds.), Acculturation in Theory, Measurement and Applied Research Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 17–37.
• Boyd, L., Hibbard, C., & Knapp, D. (2001). Market analysis of family life, parenting, and marriage education for the National Council on Family Relations. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Organization.
• Boyoung, K. (2013). Action research for parent empowerment of married immigrant women. J Korean Acad Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs, 22 (1), 65-76.
• Cashmore, J. A. & Goodnow, J. J. (1985). Agreement between generations: A twoprocess approach. Child Development, 56 493–501.
• Copur, Z. & Taylor, K.D. (2018). Family life education inTurkey. M. Robila & A.C. Taylor, (Eds.), Global perspectives on family life education, (345-359). New York: Springer
• Darling, C. A., & Cassidy, D. (2014). Family Life Education. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Doherty, W. J. (1995). Boundaries between parent and family education and family therapy: The levels of family involvement model. Family Relations, 44(4), 353–358.
• Duncan, S. F., & Goddard, H. W. (2011). Family life education. Principles and practices for effective outreach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Durgel, E. & Bilici, G. (2012). Batı Avrupa’daki Türk Göçmen Ailelerde Ana Babalık [Parenting in Turkish Immigrant Families in Western Europe]. Ana Babalık: Kuram ve Araştırma [Parenting: theory and research], M. Sayıl & B. Yağmurlu (Eds.), (129-148). İstanbul, Koç Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Ferrance, E. (2000). Action Research. Themes in Education. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University. USA.
• Fischer, V. (2011). Eltern- und Familienbildung. Handbuch Migration und Familie. V.Fischer & M.Springer, (Ed.), 419-433. Schwalbach: Wochenschau Verlag.
• Fischer, V., Krumpholz, D. & Schmitz, A. (2007). Zuwanderung – Eine Chance für die Familienbildung. Bestandsaufnahme und Empfehlungen zur Eltern- und Familienbildung in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf: Ministerium für Generationen, Familie, Frauen und Integration des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen.
• Friedrich, L. & Smolka, A. (2012) Konzepte und Effekte familienbildender Angebote für Migranten zur Unterstützung frühkindlicher Förderung. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung, 24. (2). 178-198
• Friedrich, L., Siegert, M., & Schuller, K. (2009). Förderung des Bildungserfolgs von Migranten: Effekte familienorientierter Projekte; Abschlussbericht zum Projekt Bildungserfolge bei Kindern und Jugendlichen mit Migrationshintergrund durch Zusammenarbeit mit den Eltern (Working Paper der Forschungsgruppe des Bundesamtes, 24). Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168- ssoar-258766
• Gander, M.J. & Gardiner, H.W. (2010). Çocuk ve ergen gelişimi [Child and adolescent development]. Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.
• Gay, L.M., Mills, G.E. & Arirasian, P.W. (2012). Educational research: Compentencies for analysis and applications. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Grusec, J. E., Goodnow, J. J. & Kuczynski, L. (2000). New directions in the analysis of parenting contributions to children’s acquisition of values. Child Development, 71(1) 205–211.
• Güngör, D. & Bornstein, H. M. (2013). Gender and developmental pathways of acculturation and adaptation in ımmigrant adolescents. Gender roles in immigrant families, S. S. Chuang & C.S. Tamis-LeMonda (Ed.), (177-190). New York: Springer.
• Güngör, D. (2008). The meaning of parental control in migrant, sending, and host communities: Adaptation or persistence? Applied Psychology: An International Review, 57 , 397–416.
• Hamamcı, Z., & Sevim, S. A. (2004). Türkiye’de aile rehberliği çalışmaları. (Family guidance studies in Turkey). Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi (Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal), 3(22), 77–87.
• Jäkel, J. & Leyendecker, B. (2009). Erziehungsverhalten türkischstämmiger und deutscher Mütter von Vorschulkindern. Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht, 56. 1–15.
• Johnson, A.P. (2012). A short guide to action research. (4. Ed.). USA: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Joyce, B.R. & Showers, B. (1988). Student achievement through staff development. New York: Longman.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (1970). Social norms and authoritarianism: A Turkish-American comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16 (3), 444-451.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (1996). The autonomous-relational self: A new synthesis. European Psychologist, 1 (3), 180-186.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (1997). The Turkish early enrichment project and mother-child education program. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41, 470–474.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (2000). Kültürel psikoloji: Kültür bağlamında insan ve aile (Cultural psychology:Family and human development in cultural context)(1st ed.). İstanbul: Evrim Yayınevi.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context: Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 36 (4), 403-422.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (2007). Family, self and human development across cultures: Theory and applications (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (2010). Benlik, aile ve insan gelişimi [Self, family and human development]. İstanbul: Koç Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Kağıtçıbaşı, Ç. (2012). Kültür ve ana babalık: Kuram ve Uygulama Çıkarsamaları [Culture and parenting: Theory and Practice Inferences], Ana Babalık: Kuram ve Araştırma [Parenting: theory and research], M. Sayıl & B. Yağmurlu (Eds.), (61-79). İstanbul: Koç Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Kaspar, S.I.(2016). Improvıng attitudes about parental roles in childhood education: An action research study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Capella University. Retrived 18.08.2019 https://search.proquest.com/openview/34250386aac57b443f6b009b946fe71d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y.
• Kaya, A. & Kentel, F. (2005). Euro Türkler [Euro Turks]. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Kaya, İ. (2008). Avrupalı Türkler: Misafir işçilikten Avrupa Vatandaşlığına [Euro Turks: From Guest Workers to European Citizenship]. Doğu Coğrafya Dergisi [Eastern Geographical Review], 13,(19),149-166.
• Kılıç, Ç. (2010). Aile eğitim programları ve Türkiye’deki örnekleri [Family education programs and examples in Turkey]. Abant İzzet Baysal Üniversitesi Dergisi, 10 (1), 99-111.
• Leyendecker, B., Jäkel, J., Olcay Kademoğlu, S. & Yağmurlu, B. (2011). Parenting practices and pre-schoolers’ cognitive skills in Turkish immigrant and German families”, Early Child Development and Care, 181:8, 1095-1110,
• Lösel, F., Schmucker, M., Plankensteiner, B., & Weiss, M. (2006). Bestandsaufnahme und Evaluation von Angeboten im Elternbildungsbereich [A survey and evaluation of parent education programs], Berlin: Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend.
• Marshall, C. & Rossman, G. B. (2014). Designing Qualitative Research. New York: Sage.
• Mills, G. E. (2007). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher (3th ed.). New Jersey: Person Education, Inc.
• Ministry of National Education (MNE). (2014). Aile Eğitimi Uygulamaları Ülke Raporu 2013 [Family education practices country report 2013]. Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education. Retrieved from http://aileegitimi.meb.gov.tr/upload/aile_egitimi_rapor_03_03_2014.pdf
• National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). (2019). Degree programs in family science Retrieved from https://www.ncfr.org/cfle-certification/what-family-life-education
• Nauck, B. (2001). Intercultural contact and intergenerational transmission in immigrant families. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32 (2), 159-173.
• Nuruan, M., Güneş, T., Şen, R. B., Güneş, S., Kalaycı, A. R. & Kaplan, M., (2005). Federal Almanya’da yaşayan Türklerin aile yapısı ve sorunları araştırması [Investigation of family structure and problems of Turks living in Federal Germany]. Ankara: Başbakanlık Aile ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Genel Müdürlüğü.
• Phalet, K. & Schönpflug, U. (2001). Intergenerational transmission in Turkish immigrant families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 32(4), 489-504.
• Phalet, K.,and Güngör, D. (2009). Cultural continuity and discontinuity in Turkish migrant families: Extending the Model of Family Change, In S. Bekman & A. Aksu-Koç (Eds.), Perspectives on human development, family, and culture ( 241– 262). London, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Powell, L., & Cassidy, D. (2007). Family life education:Working with families across the life span. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
• Rogers-Sirin, L., Ryce, P. & Sirin, S. R. (2014). Acculturation, acculturative stress, and cultural mismatch and their influences on immigrant children and adolescents’ well-being. Global perspectives on well-being in immigrant families, R. Dimitrova, M. Bender & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), (11-30). New York, NY: Springer.
• Rudy, D. & Grusec, J. E. (2001). Correlates of authoritarian parenting in individualist and collectivist cultures and implications for understanding the transmission of values. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32 (2) 202–212.
• Sayıl, M. & Yağmurlu, B. (2012). Türkiye’de ana babalık çalışmalarına bakış.[ Overview of parental work in Turkey], M. Sayıl & B. Yağmurlu (Eds.), Ana babalık: Kuram ve araştırma [Parenting: theory and research], (15-18). İstanbul: Koç Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Schneewind, K.A. (2009). Elternkompetenzen fördern — Wege zur Prävention kindlicher und familialer Fehlentwicklungen. Kindergesundheit stärken, E.M. Bitzer, U. Walter, H. Lingner, FW Schwartz. (Ed.), (303-310). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
• Springer, M. (2011). Elterntrainings und Familienbildung. Handbuch Migration und Familien, V.Fischer, & M.Springer, (Ed.), (473-501). Schwalbach: Wochenschau Verlag,
• Stastisches Bundesamt (2015). Sonderauswertung mikrozensus. beschäftigung in kultur und kulturwirtschaft. Wiesbaden.
• Şahin, S. (2012). Almanya’ya Türk Vatandaşlarının Göçünün 51. Yılı Kazanımlar ve Tehditler [51th Year of Immigration of Turkish Citizens to Germany: Achievements and Threats]. Hacettepe Üniversity Sociological Studies E journal, 1-15
• Tan, D. (2014). Elternbildung. Handbuch Migrationarbeit, B. Marschke ve H.U. Brinkmann. (Eds.), (199-210), Wiesbaden: Springer.
• Thiessen, B. (2008). Wie erreicht Familienbildung und -beratung muslimische Familien? Eine Handreichung. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend.
• Uslucan, H. H. (2009). Erziehung in Migrantenfamilien: Entwicklungs- und erziehungspsychologische Perspektiven. Familien in Deutschland: Beiträge aus familienpsychologischer sicht, K. A. Schneewind (Ed.). (30-35). Berlin: Deutscher Psychologen Verlag GmbH.
• Uslucan, H. H. (2010). Erziehungsstile und Integrationsorientierungen türkischer Familien. Kindheit und Jugend in muslimischen Lebenswelten. Aufwachsen und Bildung in deutscher und internationaler Perspektive, C. Hunner-Kreisel & S. Andresen (Eds.), (195–210). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
• Uslucan, H.-H., Fuhrer, U. & Mayer, S. (2005). Erziehung in Zeiten der Verunsicherung. Kinder und Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund, T. Borde & M. David (Eds.), (65-88). Frankfurt: Mabuse.
• Yagmurlu, B., Citlak, B., Dost, A., & Leyendecker, B. (2009). Türk annelerin çocuk sosyalleştirme hedefleri: Eğitime bağlı kültür-içi değişimin incelenmesi [Child socialization goals of Turkish mothers: An investigation of education related within-culture variation]. Turkish Journal of Psychology, 24, 1–15.
• Yıldırım, A. & Şimşek, H. (2013). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri [Qualitative research methods in the social sciences]. (9th. ed.). Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık.
• Yuen, L. H. (2017). New immigrant parents’ experiences in a parent education programme. Internatıonal Journal of Early Years Educatıon, 1-14.