Parenting Stress in Immigrant Families: Roles of Social Support and Household Dynamics

Background: Immigrant parents in the U.S. might experience heightened levels of parenting stress compared to their non-immigrant counterparts, exacerbated by immigration, language barriers, cultural disparities, and adjustment challenges. Often isolated from their extended family and social networks, these parents navigate their new lives with limited support. This study examined the interplay between social support, economic self-sufficiency, and parenting stress among immigrant parents. Specifically, it aims to determine whether increased levels of social support and economic independence can moderate the impact of immigration-related stress on parenting stress.

Methods: An online survey was conducted, utilizing a cross-sectional design that included both demographic questions and standardized measures. These measures comprised the Border Community Immigration Stress Scale, the Parental Stress Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the 14-item Scale of Economic Self-Sufficiency. Eligible Participants were adult immigrants with at least one child under the age of 18. The data collection occurred in August and September 2023. Moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted in R to assess the moderating roles of social support and economic self-sufficiency on the immigration-related stress and parenting stress relationship. The analysis included checks for linearity, residual normality, homoscedasticity, and the presence of outliers to ensure robust and valid findings.

Results: Among 318 participants, 51.89% were women, mostly aged 45-54 (33.3%), employed full-time (62.89%), and living in households of 3 to 4 people (68.24%). With an average U.S. residency of nearly eight years, more than half (51.88%) hadn't used governmental benefits in the past year. Regression analyses revealed statistically significant models for parental stress (F (42, 259) = 5.522, p < .001, adj. R^2 = 0.3869). Fathers experienced significantly higher parental stress (B = 4.64, p < 0.01), with additional stress linked to having a female child (B = 2.99, p < 0.05), unemployment (B = 4.04, p < 0.05), and using government benefits (B = 3.59, p < 0.01). In contrast, increased social support significantly lessened parental stress (B = -0.26, p = 0.0), while immigration-related stress amplified it (B = 0.14, p = 0.0). Larger households seemed to be associated with reduced parental stress (B = - 1.32, p < 0.01). However, moderation analyses found that neither having social support nor higher economic self-sufficiency significantly buffered the negative impacts of immigration stress on parenting stress.

Conclusion and Implications: The study's findings confirm that factors such as gender, employment status, and family composition have a significant bearing on stress levels. Although social support and unemployment status have direct impacts on parenting stress, neither social support nor economic self-sufficiency was found to significantly buffer the negative impacts of immigration stress on parenting stress. These results underline the necessity of targeted support initiatives that address not only the broad stressors of parenting but also the hardships induced by immigration. There's an imperative for support services to go beyond traditional measures, encompassing programs that provide comprehensive assistance tailored to the intricate needs of immigrant families, thus fostering their resilience against the multifaceted challenges of acculturation.