Recruitment
Thirty-one British Pakistani families, 26 British Indian families and 33 non-immigrant White families took part in this study. All of the mothers were British-born, and the target child in each family was between the ages of 5-7 years. Fathers did not take part in this study although mothers were asked questions about their partner’s role in the family, parenting and marital relationship.
Mothers and children were recruited mainly through state primary schools in London. Following ethical approval from the Cambridge University Psychology Research Ethics Committee, primary schools which were located in boroughs with high concentrations of Indian and Pakistani ethnic minorities as well as sizable non-immigrant White populations were contacted. The choice of London as a location for data collection was a popular one for researchers and a large number of the schools contacted were already involved in research studies and declined interest. The recruitment process was therefore lengthy and ongoing through the duration of data collection. Emails were initially sent to head teachers and deputy-head teachers, and meetings were then set up with schools that expressed interest. Following the meetings, a set of dates was agreed on for the researcher to visit the school during the school morning and home time when parents were present. In each school, letters were sent to all parents of children in year one and year two informing them of the purpose of the study and that a researcher would be visiting the school for recruitment purposes. On the day of recruitment, the researcher directly approached parents who were waiting to collect their children in the playground, and informed them of the nature of the study. The researcher stressed that participation in the study was voluntary. Participants did not receive any monetary compensation for taking part. Those who expressed interest were asked to fill in a recruitment booklet36
36
See Appendix B for recruitment booklet
. Phone numbers were collected of those parents who were still unsure and the researcher called them up at a later date to give them further details of the study. Following the parents’ agreement to participate in the study, a date was arranged by phone for a home visit. The exclusion criteria were the presence of severe psychological problems, developmental problems, or learning difficulties in children.
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The main boroughs in which recruitment took place were Walthamstow, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest, Harrow, Brent and Hounslow, Ealing and Croydon37
The sample was matched and selected according to strict criteria. Data from the population Census 2001 for the London area was used to achieve this. Details of the educational breakdown of Indians, Pakistani and White families living in London were obtained from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). A grid was then developed specifically for the study, which included the corresponding proportion of participants required for each education category based on a sample size of 30 participants per family type. These education categories were based on modified versions of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF).
. Due to practical constraints, some of the mothers were contacted through snowballing and this resulted in a few children from private schools and two families being interviewed outside of London. In total, children were recruited from 40 schools. Thirty-five of these were through direct contact with the school and 5 were through mothers recruited via snowballing.
38
Following the creation of this grid, participants were selected based on their education level, in order to achieve a representative sample according to the actual population of the ethnic groups in London. The education level of the parent with the highest qualifications was used for matching purposes39
The study was conducted in London, as it represents the most multicultural city in the UK, being home to almost half (49 per cent) of ethnic minority groups in the country (Scott et al., 2001). It was important for the study that an area in which communities were in close proximity to one another was selected in order to explore the impact cultural and ethnic diversity on family life
. The selection criteria were as follows: the child was between the age of 5-7 years old and was British born, the child attended primary school and both the child’s mother and father were British born.
37
See Appendix C
38
Parents qualification were separately reported for mothers and fathers on 6 levels: (1) 1 or more O levels/ NVQ Level 1 (2) 5 or more O levels (A-C)/ 1 A level, 1-3 AS levels/NVQ Level 2 (3) 2 or more A levels/ 4 or more AS levels/ NVQ Level 3 (4) First Degree (e.g. BA, BSc)/ NVQ Levels 4-5 (5) Higher Degree and (6) no qualifications. The 6 response categories were collapsed into 3 categories (1) primary (2) secondary and (3) higher. The category ‘no qualifications’ was coded as (1) primary. When parents had different qualification levels, the higher one was used for categorisation. See Appendix D for further details of the qualification scheme used.
39
The recruitment of low income ethnic minority groups is a particularly challenging aspect of recruitment. Past literature also discusses this (McManus, Erens and Bajekal, 2006).
85 Sample Characteristics
There were similar proportions of boys and girls in each ethnic group, and as shown in Table 1, the Child’s Age did not differ between groups. There was no significant group difference in the Mother’s Age. However, there was a significant difference in the Father’s Age, F(2,80) = 5.33, p < .01. The British Pakistani and non-immigrant White fathers were the oldest with mean ages of 41 years and 42 years respectively, and the Indian fathers had a mean age of 37 years.
Table 1: Age of Child, Mother and Father by Family Type
Social class was assessed by the Educational Level of parents, using modified versions of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). The modified framework ranged from 1 (Primary) to 3 (Higher)40. No significant group differences were found for mothers or fathers for Education Level (see Table 2).
There was a significant difference between groups in Mother’s Working Status χ2 = 17.00, p < .01. This was assessed according to a set of options which ranged from 1 (not currently working), to 3 (working full time) and showed a higher proportion of Pakistani mothers not currently working and a higher proportion of non-immigrant White mothers working part
40
See Appendix D
British Indian British Pakistani Non-immigrant White
F p
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Age (years)
Child 5.88 0.77 6.10 0.91 6.36 0.82 2.43 ns
Mother 35.23 4.71 37.00 5.07 38.61 5.99 2.92 ns
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time. No difference was found for Fathers’ Working Status. The Number of Siblings in the family did not differ between groups. However, the Number of Other Adults in the Household did, χ2 = 12.47, p < .01, reflecting a higher number of adults in the household for the Indian group as compared with Pakistani and non-immigrant White groups. Current Marital Status was also assessed between groups according to a set of options which ranged from 1(married to child’s father) to 3 (new partner/cohabiting). This showed no significant difference between ethnic groups (see Table 2). Aside from the three differences which were small between groups (i.e. Father’s Age, Mothers Working Status, and Number of Other Adults in the Household), all other contextual factors showed close matching between groups.
87 Table 2: Socio-Demographic Information by Family Type
British Indian British Pakistani Non-immigrant White χ2 p
n % n % n %
Child’s Sex
Boy 9 34.6 14 45.2 16 48.5 1.20 ns
Girl 17 65.4 17 54.8 17 51.5
Father’s Educational Level
Primary 7 26.9 12 40.0 13 39.4 1.71 ns
Secondary 3 11.5 3 10.0 2 6.1
Higher 16 61.5 15 50.0 18 54.5
Mother’s Educational Level
Primary 7 26.9 12 38.7 10 30.3 3.03 ns
Secondary 4 15.4 6 19.4 3 9.1
Higher 15 57.7 13 41.9 20 60.6
Mother’s Working Status
Not currently working 10 38.5 16 51.6 14 42.4 17.00 p <.01
Working part time 6 23.1 12 38.7 18 54.5
Working full time 10 38.5 3 9.7 1 3.0
Number of Siblings
None 2 7.7 3 9.7 8 24.2 11.44 ns
One 23 88.5 19 61.3 18 54.5
Two-three 1 3.8 6 19.4 4 12.1
More than three 0 0 3 9.7 3 9.1
Number of Other Adults in the Household
None 19 73.1 28 90.3 33 100 12.47 p < .01
One-two 5 19.2 1 3.2 0 0
Three or more 2 7.7 2 6.5 0 0
Current Marital Status
Married to child’s father 24 92.3 28 90.3 26 78.8 4.65 ns
Separated/divorced 2 7.7 3 9.7 5 15.2
88 Procedure
The researcher (H.I) was trained in the study techniques and visited the families at home. Each visit lasted approximately 2 - 2.5 hours. Mothers were first handed information sheets41 and given the opportunity to ask questions about the study in general, and what their participation would entail. They also had the option of opting out of any part of the study (e.g. the parent-child observation task) if they wished to. Following this, the mothers were asked to complete consent forms for their own participation as well as their child’s participation in the study.42
The home visit procedure involved the following:
• Conducting an interview with the mother on parenting and family life, which lasted approximately 1.5 hours (of this, about 40 minutes involved the quantitative section of the interview and 40 - 60 minutes involved the qualitative section)
• Administering an observational measure to measure mother-child interaction. This took approximately 10 - 15 minutes to complete.
• Administrating a questionnaire booklet to mothers which took approximately 15 minutes to complete.
• While the mother was filling in the questionnaire booklet, administering a family map task to the child, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete.
Standardised interviews with mothers were digitally recorded. A copy of the standardised interview can be found in Appendix G. These interviews were an adaptation of an investigator based interview designed to assess quality of parenting (Quinton and Rutter, 1988) and quality of marriage (Quinton, Rutter and Rowlands, 1976). This interview utilized a standardised approach to coding the mothers’ responses to the interview questions, rather than using self-report data which relies on the mothers’ understanding of what is being assessed. This parenting interview has been adapted by a procedure developed by Quinton
41
See Appendix E
42
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and Rutter (1988), and has been validated against observational ratings in the home of mother-child relationships as well as child specific measures. It has shown a high level of concordance between global ratings of the quality of parenting by interviewers and observers (concurrent validity; r = .63) (Quinton and Rutter, 1988). Further, the marital relations section of the interview has been shown to demonstrate predictive validity for marital breakdown (Quinton, Rutter and Rowlands, 1976).
Extensive details were taken of the child’s behaviour and the mother’s response to it, particularly relating to mother-child interactions associated with warmth and control. The interview uses a flexible style of questioning in order to obtain sufficient information from the mother. This allows the researcher to rate variables according to a detailed, standardised coding scheme described in an accompanying interview manual. The researcher had also received extensive training in the administration and coding of the interview prior to the data collection stage.
Interrater reliabilities were calculated for the parenting interview in the following way: 24 randomly selected interviews43 were coded by a second researcher familiar with the study, who was unaware of the ethnic group type.44
The section of the interview on cultural and contextual factors in parenting and family life was developed specifically for the present study. This section consisted of a quantitative part and a qualitative part. The quantitative part was developed based on the standardised approach discussed, and mothers’ responses were rated according to a specially developed coding scheme. The qualitative part used a more semi-structured qualitative approach to obtain details of the influence of culture and diversity on family life. Following the interview, the researcher made short notes about the interview. The purpose of this reflective practice was to help with qualitative analysis, in particular, with the coding of qualitative data.
Details of the measures used, as well as intra- class correlation coefficients between raters for the interview variables are given in the relevant sections below.
45
Information gathered from the interview with mothers was rated according to the standardised coding scheme and the qualitative section of the interview was transcribed.
43
This represents approximately 27% of the total number of interviews conducted with mothers. Eight participants were randomly selected from each group type.
44
For the South Asian groups only
45
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Through the collection of extensive details on family functioning and family life, lengthy questioning, and assessment of non-verbal behaviours such as tone of voice and mothers’ facial expressions, socially desirable responding by mothers (which represents a challenge to this type of research), was minimised.
The observational measure was used to assess mother-child interaction. Approximately 10 minutes were given to the child and mother to complete a drawing task using an Etch-a- Sketch toy. With the mother’s permission, this was digitally video recorded. Such observational tasks allow for a detailed assessment of dyadic interaction between mother and child, which interview and self report measures fail to provide. They also help overcome problems linked to socially desirable responding, as it is difficult for mothers to hide their actual behaviour (Kerig, 2001).
Following the interview and the observational task, mothers were administered a questionnaire booklet which took approximately 15 minutes to complete. While the mother completed this booklet, the child took part in a drawing task to assess closeness in family relationships using a procedure developed by Dunn and Deater-Deckard (2001). This took approximately 10 minutes to complete and the child was provided with coloured pens to help complete the task. Data were thus obtained from the mother and child using different types of measures.
At the end of the visit, participants received a gift of a box of chocolates, but were not aware of this prior to the visit. All interviews were conducted face-to-face with 90 (100%) mothers while questionnaire data was obtained from 85 (94.4%) mothers. In the observational joint mother-child play task, 80 (88.9%) mothers and their children took part.46 Eighty-one (90%) children completed a family map47
In order to ensure anonymity and confidentiality, each family was allocated an identification number. Details of the families’ identities were only accessible by the researcher, and all information collected from families was stored in a locked filing cabinet. Further, all databases and computer files were password protected to further ensure data protection.
.
46
n = 80 for the observational data (30 non-immigrant White, 25 British Indian and 25 British Pakistani). There were 6 British Pakistani mothers who asked not to participate in the observational task as they were not comfortable with being video recorded due to religious reasons.
47
91 Measures
Two aspects of family life were assessed in the present study. Firstly, parenting and child adjustment, which employed the following categories of quantitative measures: (1) measures of parents’ marital and psychological state, (2) measures of parenting and mother-child relationships, and (3) measures of child adjustment. Secondly, cultural and contextual factors in family life, which employed the following categories of measures: (1) quantitative measures of cultural and contextual factors and (2) qualitative measures of cultural and contextual factors in family life. These four aspects of family functioning were broken down further into different areas as summarised in Table 3. Each area described is discussed in greater detail in the next section.
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Table 3: Constructs, Measures and Variables used in the Analyses of Family Functioning
Construct Type of Measure Variables
Parents Marital and Psychological State
Marital Relationship Interview Mutual Enjoyment, Confiding, Arguments
Partner’s Help in Care, Load Taking, Marital Choice
Questionnaire Golombok-Rust Inventory of Marital State
Mothers Psychological State Questionnaire Parenting Stress Index
Trait Anxiety Inventory Edinburgh Depression Scale
Parenting and Mother-Child Relationships
Warmth and Closeness Interview Expressed Warmth, Sensitive Responding, Mother-Child
Interaction, Expressed Criticism, Child-Centredness
Control Interview Maternal Control, Control of Bedtime
Supervision Interview Outside Boundaries, Chaperonage
Discipline Interview Overt Discipline, Frequency of Battle, Level of Battle,
Resolution
Generational Parenting Interview Generational Parenting
Mutuality Observational Assessment Mother’s Responsiveness to Child, Child’s
Responsiveness to Mother, Dyadic Reciprocity, Dyadic Cooperation
Child Adjustment
Child Adjustment Questionnaire Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
Child School Adjustment Interview Settled, Separation Pattern, Recontact Behaviour
After School Activity Interview After School Class Attendance, Number of Times a Week,
Number of Hours a Week, Type of After School Activity
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Cultural and Contextual Factors
Family Relationships Questionnaire Index of Family Relations
Interview Collectivism, Relationship with Mother-in Law
Child Assessment Child’s Family Map
Multiculturalism and Cultural Diversity Interview Feelings about Multiculturalism, Feelings about Child Growing up in Contemporary Britain, Discussion of Racism
Ethnic Identity and Socialisation Questionnaire Revised Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
Interview Cultural Socialisation
Acculturation Questionnaire Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale
Interview Child’s Knowledge of Language, Degree of Importance of Biraderi/ Caste, Feelings of Britishness, Perception of Non-immigrant White
Religion Interview Religiosity, Religious Beliefs, Religious Practices, Child’s
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