Parent-Child Relations as Protective and Promotive Factors for Ethnic Minority Children Living in Relative Poverty : A systematic literature review

Sammanfattning: Ethnic minority children living in relative poverty are a high-risk group for poor outcomes in all aspects of wellbeing. The relationship and interactions between child and parent are a key part of child development and a platform for providing positive experiences which can benefit a child’s wellbeing. There is therefore a need to identify what facilitates wellbeing for ethnic minority children in low-socioeconomic status families. By focusing on protective and promotive factors encompassing the parent-child relationship, factors can be identified which can use family strengths as a basis for interventions and practice within healthcare, social work and education, which is what this systematic literature review set out to do. Through a diligent search of the literature, 12 articles were identified for review according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, containing research on African American, Roma, Native American and Hispanic/Latino youth. The results inform how child wellbeing can be facilitated through several parental factors, including parental involvement and support, maternal attachment, paternal warmth and ethnic identity and ethnic socialization. The findings also indicate a need for further studies on paternal influence on wellbeing in especially Native American and Roma youth, as well as the impact of ethnic socialization on youth wellbeing. Parents have an important role to play in child wellbeing and are vital partners alongside the child when planning interventions. Considerations naturally need to be shown for each ethnic minority, the child’s setting and its individual characteristics.