Differentiating the culturally-based help-seeking patterns of immigrant parents from the former Soviet Union by comparison with parents in Russia

Whom do immigrant parents turn to when their children encounter problems? To begin to answer this question, the help-seeking patterns of 100 immigrant parents from the Former Soviet Union were compared with 100 parents in Russia, with the goal to differentiate patterns that were more likely to be culturally based from those reflective of the new social context of this immigrant population in Israel. Similarities were found in the level of willingness and rationale for reluctance to seek help from formal sources. Differences were found in the level of willingness to seek help from informal resources and in the nature of the problems justifying help-seeking. Such knowledge can inform efforts to reduce barriers that immigrant parents confront in situations in which their children could benefit from help, but they do not seek it.