Child-rearing in Bi-Cultural Settings: A Culture-Ecological Approach

Abstract

North WestEuropean countries have experienced massive immigration from developing countries since World War II. These immigrant populations differ in several respects from the mainstream society. They generally have a low socio-economic status in society and they frequently are culturally different. Many immigrant children grow up in bi-cultural settings. In this article a theoretical model for studying child-rearing in bi-cultural settings will be presented. The model combines Bronfenbrenner's socio- ecological approach, which has mostly been used for research in mono-cultural settings, with Harkness and Super's framework of the developmental niche, which has often been used for cross-cultural comparisons. These models have not so far been applied systematically in studies of child-rearing in bi-cultural settings. The article concludes with a particular case of migration: the Hindustanis who migrated from India to Surinam about a century ago, and then to the Netherlands in the 1970s.