Associations between Economic Hardship, Parenting Stress, Psychological Distress, Resilience, and Parenting Practices in Refugee Parents: Utilizing the Family Stress Model

Resettlement in a new cultural context can be experienced as challenging for refugees and some may need support to adapt to new circumstances. Previous studies indicate that refugee parents are at risk for economic hardship, which may influence their parenting practices via an increase in parental stressors. The aims of this study were to employ the conceptual framework of the Family Stress Model (FSM) to (1) investigate the level of economic hardship, parenting stress, psychological distress, resilience, and parents’ approaches to parenting practices; (2) investigate correlations between these factors; (3) examine whether they were associated with parenting practices. The sample consisted of (N = 276) refugee parents settled across Norway. Descriptive analyses were conducted, and mixed-effects models were used to estimate associations with parenting practices. The results showed that some of the parents reported that economic hardship occurred, which was correlated with higher levels of psychological distress. Higher parenting stress was correlated with lower levels of resilience and higher levels of psychological distress. Harsh and inconsistent discipline was significantly associated with parenting stress (B = 0.013, p < 0.001) and psychological distress (B = 0.208, p = 0.042), while resilience was significantly associated with praise and incentives (B = 0.423, p = 0.005) and positive verbal discipline (B = 0.473, p < 0.001). These insights may enable health and welfare services to recognize families at risk and identify resources that can help refugee families in their resettlement into a new country.