Investigating the Empowerment Needs of Ethnic Minority- Low Socio-Economic Status Parents, Who Reside in Segregated Neighbourhoods: the Case of the Netherlands

Abstract

The current study examines the needs of Psychological Empowerment of ethnic minority parents who reside in segregated neighbourhoods in two big cities in the Netherlands, Utrecht and Amsterdam. For the data collection in-depth semi-structured interviews n = 10 were conducted. The respondents include educators of schools, characterized by uneven concentration of ethnic minority students, and parents with ethnic minority status, residents of segregated neighbourhoods. Utilizing exploratory case study as research method, the results indicate that a significant number of the target population show low level of Psychological Empowerment, based on the Nomological Network of Psychological Empowerment of Zimmerman (1995). Furthermore, factors which found to have an impact on the empowerment level of this group are: socio-economic status; experiences of discrimination; level of socio-cultural integration; social control for the home-culture community. In regards to these findings, the study suggests that an empowerment program implied in those schools may be beneficial for this particular group, contributing to its empowerment, as well as facilitating the school-parent partnership