The Quality of Parent–Child Relationships in Transnational Families: Angolan and Nigerian Migrant Parents in The Netherlands

Abstract

An increasing body of transnational family literature finds that transnational family life challenges relationships between migrant parents and their children in the home country. However, transnational families are not uniform and function differently according to their specific characteristics. The aim of this study is to investigate how different factors are associated with the quality of parent-child relationships in transnational families. Based on an extensive literature review, five factors are found to be of special importance: gender of the migrant parent; contact and remittances; characteristics of the caregiver; length of separation; and the age of the child and age at separation. There is no quantitative evidence on the relationship between these factors, and how parents assess the relationship with their child in the origin country. This study uses survey data collected among 131 Angolan and 134 Nigerian migrant parents in The Netherlands with children in the country of origin in order to analyse these factors simultaneously. The study finds that contact and a good relationship between migrant parent and caregiver are important factors associated with good transnational parentchild relationships. However, important differences are found between Angolans and Nigerians, attesting to the importance of the characteristics of a particular migratory flow.

Psychological Well-being of Ghanaian Children in Transnational Families

“…Studies in the Philippines and China have shown how migrants maintain an active parenting role through information and communication technologies and that this has positive consequences for the emotional well‐being of children (Madianou & Miller, ; Wen & Lin, ). Furthermore, frequent contact between migrant parents and children was found to be significantly associated with African migrant parents' positive evaluations of their relationships with their children in the home country (Haagsman & Mazzucato, ). Our data show that children with a good relationship with their parents are more likely to be in contact with their parents at least once a week and to see them physically, compared with children with bad relationships.…”

International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola

“…The different destinations of international migrants in Ghana and Nigeria (largely to Europe and North America), and in Angola (mainly within Africa and to Portugal) (World Bank, 2010;) may at first glance seem a possible driving difference. While the better economic conditions in the destination countries of Nigerian and Ghanaian parents may allow them to send more remittances, not always can they access better earning opportunities due to difficulties in obtaining residency and work permits, and having their credentials recognized in the origin countries (Haagsman & Mazzucato, 2014). Furthermore, there are no studies to our knowledge that substantiate that Nigerian and Ghanaian parents remit more than Angolan parents.…”

Transnational parenting and the well-being of Angolan migrant parents in Europe

“…An important type of transnational family occurs when parents migrate while their children remain in the country of origin in the care of others. Although they continue to engage in their children's upbringing from afar, parents living apart from their children feel anxious, guilty and depressed (Bernhard et al 2009;Dreby 2006;Fresnoza-Flot 2009;Horton 2009;Moran-Taylor 2008;Parreñas 2005;Viruell-Fuentes 2006;Zontini 2004) and, in some instances, this results in poor child-parent relationships (Haagsman and Mazzucato 2014). These studies have important implications for the study of migrants' well-being in destination countries because they show that the aspects of migrants' lives that relate to the country of origin effect their well-being.…”