Offers a conceptual framework for describing differences in parenting patterns and infant-parent relationships among groups from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with an emphasis on immigrants who make the transition to parenthood and a new culture simultaneously. These two transitions are associated with both stress and personal growth. Thus, while a woman who has experienced forced migration may feel compounded stress upon giving birth to an infant in a new country, she also may view the birth as symbolic of a new beginning in a safe environment. The complex factors influencing parenting in immigrant populations have a great deal to do with both the impetus behind and experience of migration and the social supports, or lack thereof, available to the parents. Before high-risk families can be identified and culturally appropriate interventions can be recommended, nurses and other health care practitioners need to learn what is considered normal parenting by various immigrants, how patterns of maternal-infant interaction are influenced by migration experiences and subsequent cultural transition, and the meaning that an infant holds for a particular family from a particular culture. Further research needs to address such areas as the relationship between traumatic events and maternal depression among immigrant mothers.
