Parental monitoring in Turkish immigrant families in the United States

ABSTRACT There are a very limited number of studies on the Turkish immigrant population in the U.S. This article explores the parental monitoring strategies Turkish immigrant parents employ and the effects of parental monitoring on the adolescents from the perspective of the parents. In this qualitative study, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 parents (14 mothers and one father) in 14 Turkish families in and around a large Midwestern city. Two types of parental monitoring strategies were identified: (1) Accommodative parental monitoring strategies, and (2) Conflictual parental monitoring strategies. Parents described themselves as overprotective, and the findings reveal the effects of parents’ overprotectiveness on the adolescents from the parents’ perspectives.