Julia Jäkel

Assessment of Migrant and Minority Children

Testing children with minority status or migration background poses particular challenges for educators and researchers. More obvious are language barriers, but there may also be more complex limitations based on cultural or contextual differences. The literature on testing migrant and minority children is summarized in a brief historical perspective, focusing on the use of standardized tests. Potential biases in testing minority and migrant children are discussed, and empirical results of testing two groups of preschool age children of nonmigrant (N = 50) and migrant status (N = 35) with the ET 6–6 in Germany are presented. Results indicate significant group differences to the disadvantage of the migrant children in some scales, however, both groups scored within the normal range of one standard deviation around the test norm. The migrant group children were tested in their dominant language, and they used more time to complete the test. Interpretation of test results should use caution, particularly whe...

Parenting practices and pre-schoolers’ cognitive skills in Turkish immigrant and German families

The present study aims to investigate the association between parenting behaviours, children’s daily activities and their cognitive development. Participants were 52 Turkish-German and 65 German pre-school children and their mothers, who were matched in terms of education level (10–12 years of schooling). Children’s cognitive skills were assessed using a developmental test (ET 6–6). Parenting behaviours were measured with a modified version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. Children’s daily activities and their literacy environment were captured with interviews as well as with a time budget diary covering two days. For parenting practices, we found mean differences inasmuch as parents in the German sample were more likely to be engaged in dyadic interaction and book reading, and less likely to endorse inconsistent parenting practices and rigid discipline practices when compared to the Turkish immigrant parents. We found similarities in the sense that parents in the two samples were equally likely to engage in positive parenting behaviour and in social play, and girls received higher scores on cognitive performance than boys. Separate regression analyses for each sample revealed that parent’s involvement indicating a more stimulating environment was positively associated with children’s cognitive development. Taken together, the findings point to the importance of programmes geared at supporting Turkish immigrant parents’ involvement with their pre-schoolers.

Tägliche Stressfaktoren und Lebenszufriedenheit türkischstämmiger Mütter in Deutschland

Zusammenfassung. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht mit dem Everyday Stressors Index (Hall, 1983), welche taglichen Stressfaktoren die Lebenssituation turkischstammiger Mutter (n = 100) von Kindergartenkindern im Vergleich zu deutschen Muttern (n = 105) mit ahnlichem Bildungshintergrund kennzeichnen. Insbesondere interessierte uns, inwieweit die Bildung der Mutter deren alltagliche Stresserfahrungen und Lebenszufriedenheit moderiert. Turkischstammige Mutter mit 10-11 Jahren Schulbildung erreichten hohere Belastungswerte als deutsche Mutter derselben Bildungsgruppe. Wir fanden keine Unterschiede in der Stressbelastung turkischstammiger und deutscher Mutter mit mehr als zwolf Jahren Schulbildung. Die Zahl der Bildungsjahre in Deutschland, die bei turkischstammigen Muttern ein Indikator fur den individuellen Zugang zu Kultur und Sprache ist, fungierte als protektiver Faktor fur die psychosoziale Belastung. Je langer die turkischstammigen Mutter eine deutsche Schule besucht hatten, desto hoher war ihre Lebensz...