UNDERSTANDING CHILDHOOD (PROBLEM) BEHAVIORS FROM A CULTURAL-PERSPECTIVE - COMPARISON OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS AND COMPETENCES IN TURKISH IMMIGRANT, TURKISH AND DUTCH CHILDREN

Parents' reports of problem behaviors in 2,081 Dutch children, 3,127 T urkish children in Ankara and 833 Turkish immigrant children living in The Netherlands, aged 4-18 years, were compared. Dutch and Turkish ve rsions of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were used. Immigrant chi ldren were scored higher than Dutch children on 6 of the 11 CBCL scale s, most markedly on the Anxious/Depressed scale. Immigrant children we re scored higher than Ankara children on five CBCL scales. However, th ese differences were much smaller than those found between immigrant a nd Dutch children. Furthermore, immigrant children's Total Problem sco res did not differ from those for Ankara children. Turkish immigrant c hildren have very similar patterns of parent-reported problem behavior s to children living in Turkey, although both groups of Turkish childr en showed higher levels of parent-reported problem behaviors than Dutc h children. The higher scores for Turkish children on the Anxious/Depr essed scale compared with their Dutch peers may be explained by cultur al differences in parental perception of children's problem behaviors, as well as the threshold for reporting them, or by cultural differenc es in the prevalence of problems, for instance as the result of cross- cultural differences in child-rearing practice. More research is neede d to test the degree to which Turkish immigrant parents tend to preser ve their cultural characteristics and child-rearing practices in Dutch society.