Conflicts Experienced by Immigrant Parents From the Former Soviet Union: about Responses to Children’s Misbehavior in Educational Institutions

One of the difficulties which immigrant parents may experience as they become integrated into their new country is the difference in expectations about ways in which teachers and other professionals involved in the educational system should relate to the misbehavior of their children. This study, conducted with 103 immigrant parents from the Former Soviet Union in Israel, indicates that conflicts which the immigrant parents experience in that setting could be characterized primarily as culturally-based disagreements about how professionals in educational systems discipline children when they misbehave, when intervention is needed, and how to respond to children’s misbehavior when immigration-related difficulties contribute to the misbehavior. Suggestions to bridge the gaps between immigrant parents and professionals in schools and kindergartens are discussed.