Grasping Parental Behaviours through the Eyes of Romanian Adolescents Affected by Parental or Family Migration

Abstract

Romanian labour migration determined changes in family structure and life, whether one looks on temporary or permanent migration patterns. Within this larger framework, we introduce results of an empirical study exploring the influence of parental or family migration, but also of family residence (urban or rural), on views about parental behaviours and family support in two groups of Romanian adolescents, namely left behind in the home country and migrants with their families. Results highlight some variations of adolescents’ views about parental behaviours and family support, according to parental/family migration and family residence, but they mainly account for tendencies and may not be interpreted categorically. Nevertheless, the present study suggests that parents’ migration associated with the decision of leaving the children behind in the home country can potentially disrupt parent-child relationships, and determine more negative perceptions of parenting behaviours than in the case of whole family migration.