ISSN: 2375-4494

Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior
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  • Research Article   
  • J Child Adolesc Behav 2016, Vol 4(4): 307
  • DOI: 10.4172/2375-4494.1000307

Inconsistent Paternal Behavior Predicts Turkish Immigrant and German Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health

Julia Jaekel1,2*, Birgit Leyendecker2 and Alexandru Agache2
1Department of Child and Family Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
2Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
*Corresponding Author : Julia Jaekel, Department of Child and Family Studies, College of Education, Health & Human Sciences, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1215 W. Cumberland Avenue Jessie Harris Building, Room 417, Knoxville, TN 37996-1912, USA, Tel: +1 865 249 4479, Email: jjaekel@utk.edu

Received Date: Jul 15, 2016 / Accepted Date: Jul 20, 2016 / Published Date: Jul 25, 2016

Abstract

Objective: Data about Turkish immigrant fathers in Germany is scarce and it is not known how their parenting behavior may affect their children’s outcomes. The aim of this longitudinal study was to test whether Turkish immigrant and German fathers’ inconsistent discipline predicted their children’s mental health. Methods: Turkish immigrant (n=115) and German fathers (n=76) were administered the Inconsistent Discipline Scale items of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). One year later, fathers rated their children’s (N=191; age range 6-16 years; n=97 (50.8%) male) mental health with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Self-reported levels of inconsistent discipline were the same among Turkish immigrant and German fathers. Turkish immigrant children had higher peer relationship problem scores compared with German children but there were no ethnic differences in total difficulties, emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivityinattention, and prosocial behavior. Multivariate regression analyses showed that both Turkish immigrant and German fathers’ inconsistent discipline predicted higher total difficulties (ß=0.24; p=0.001), hyperactivity-inattention (ß=0.20; p=0.007), peer problems (ß=0.21; p=0.005), and lower prosocial behavior (ß=-0.21; p=0.004) after statistically controlling for child gender and age, as well as paternal education. There were no effects of inconsistent behavior on emotional symptoms and hyperactivity-inattention. Conclusion: The negative effects of fathers’ inconsistent discipline on children’s and adolescents’ mental health are similar in the Turkish immigrant and German native population. Fathers’ use of consistent parenting behavior may be a potential target for parenting interventions aimed at improving youth mental health.

Keywords: Turkish immigrant children and adolescents; Fathers; Parenting behavior; Inconsistent discipline; Mental health; Strengths and difficulties questionnaire; Behavior problems

Citation: Jaekel J, Leyendecker B, Agache A (2016) Inconsistent Paternal Behavior Predicts Turkish Immigrant and German Children’s and Adolescents’ Mental Health. J Child Adolesc Behav 4: 307. Doi: 10.4172/2375-4494.1000307

Copyright: © 2016 Jaekel J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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