Inappropriate child rearing practices as perceived by Jewish immigrant parents from the Former Soviet Union

Objectives: First to explore what Jewish immigrant parents from the Former Soviet Union consider to be appropriate and inappropriate child rearing practices, and second what are their help seeking preferences in situations of children at risk. Method: Interviews with 273 immigrant parents were conducted in Israel. A semi-structured questionnaire included seven vignettes which related to three areas of parental behaviors: Lack of provision of child's needs, corporal punishment and psychological punishment. In addition, open-ended questions were included about the participants' personal beliefs regarding the use of physical punishment towards children. Results: Suggest a concrete and practical approach towards child rearing practices, support for the utilization of certain types of corporal and psychological punishment, consideration of the gender of the child might be a factor in the approach towards corporal punishment, a perception of children as self sufficient at a fairly young age and a tendency not to cooperate with outsiders in situations of children at risk. Conclusions: Even though Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union might be in a new country for several years, their background may still have a significant role in their child rearing practices and help seeking patterns. Awareness of their perceptions could provide information which is significant for the accurate assessment of situations of abuse and neglect among the immigrants and for defining appropriate treatment objectives and means for achieving change.