Canadian Public Policy



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Canadian Public Policy The First Ten Years in Canada: A Multi-Level Assessment of Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant Children Author(s): Xin Ma Source: Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp. 395-418 Published by: University of Toronto Press on behalf of Canadian Public Policy Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3552229 Accessed: 29/04/2009 09:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showpublisher?publishercode=utp. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Canadian Public Policy and University of Toronto Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques. http://www.jstor.org

The First Ten Years in Canada: A Multi-Level Assessment of Behavioural and Problems of Emotional Immigrant Children XIN MA Canadian Centre for Advanced Studies of National Databases University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta En nous servant des donnees de l'enquete Nationale Longitudinale sur les Enfants et les Adolescents, nous examinons dans cet article les difficultes comportementales et affectives des enfants immigres, en comparaison avec celles des enfants nes au Canada. Des analyses a des niveaux multiples (enfants eleves dans les villes) ont montre que ce ne sont pas les enfants immigres qui ont lle plus de difficultesur le plan du comportement et des emotions. Au niveau de l'enfant lui-meme, le sexe est la variable la plus importante dans les lecauses des difficults comportementales et affectives chez les enfants immigres. Les caracteristiques de la ville ont une bien plus grande influence sur les caracteristiques de la population, etant donne que les conditionsocio-economiques, le climat social et l'etat des services sociaux sont responsables des difficultes comportementales et affectives des enfants immigres. Au contraire, pour les enfants nes au Canada, les caracteristiques de l'enfant sont plus importantes que celles de la ville. L'equite sociale est un element crucial pour les enfants nes au Canada, tandis que pour les immigres c'est l'environnement social qui est important. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, the current study examines behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children, in comparison with non-immigrant children. Multi-level analyses (children nested within cities) showed that immigrant children fared better in behaviours and emotions than non-immigrant children. Gender was the most important child-level variable responsible for behavioural and emotionald problems of immigrant children. City characteristics had much stronger effects with population characteristics, socio-economic conditions, social climate, and social services conditions being responsible for behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. In contrast, child characteristics were more importanthan city characteristics for non-immigrant children. Social equity was a critical issue for non-immigrant children, whereas social environment was important for immigrant children. T he twenty-first century shows Canada at an interesting phase of transformation. The proportion of children in Canada's population is at its lowest ever, and the immigrant population is growing at its fastest since 1941, almost threefold the growth of native-born Canadians. At the intersection of these two trends, a particularly vulnerable and important new demographic is revealed: immigrant children. The Canadian Council on Social Development (1998) reported that a growing

396 Xin Ma proportion of young people in Canada, especially in large cities, were born in other counties (for example, 30 percent of youth in Toronto and 28 percent of youth in Vancouver). This new socialdemographic situation is unique in Canadian history; however, the scarcity of research on this group of children is remarkable when compared with studies on Canadian children in general (Beiser et al. 1998; Kinnon 1999). The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), the largest survey of Canadian children and their families ever conducted in Canada, may be the best hope in remedying this lack of information. It is well-known that immigrant children have different patterns of adaptation to immigration (see Aronowitz 1984). Several individual factors appear to influence immigrant children's adaptation to immigration, such as gender, socio-economic status (SES), culture of origin, age at immigration, length of residence since immigration, and experience prior to immigration (see Pepler and Lessa 1993). Although some early studies reported behavioural and emotional problems resulting from poor adaptation to immigration among immigrant children (e.g., Bagley 1972; Gaertner-Harnach 1981; Rutter et al. 1974), more studies, particularly recent ones, indicate that immigrant children do not necessarily suffer more from behavioural and emotional problems than their native counterparts (Aronowitz 1984; Mirsky et al. 1992; Osbor 1971; Pepler and Lessa 1993; Touliatos and Lindholm 1980). For example, Beiser et al. (1998) reported that immigrant children tend to be mentally and physically healthy, perform well in school, and are more resilient to the negative effects of poverty than native-born children. In countries like Canada, refugee children are a significant proportion of the population of immigrant children. Among immigrant children under the age of 12, one-quarter enter Canada as refugees (CCSD 1998). Williams and Berry (1991) indicated that refugee youth are at risk for alcohol abuse, drug addiction, delinquency, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and psychopathological problems. These risk factors can be enhanced by the extent of pre-immigration trauma, violence witnessing, and separation from parents (Williams and Berry 1991). Jacob and Blais (1991) found that younger refugee children experiencing trauma typically exhibit sleep disorders, eating disorders, and developmental problems, while older refugee children display depression, fear, anxiety, and learning difficulties. There are reports, however, indicating that despite various stresses encountered along their life course, most children and youth in refugee families cope well with the challenge of their new culture (Hyman, Beiser and Vu 1996). Behavioural and emotional well-being of immi- grant children is also influenced by their family characteristics. For example, parents' adaptation to immigration has been identified as an influential factor in immigrant children's adaptation to immigration (see Pepler and Lessa 1993). Barankin, Konstantareas and DeBosset (1989) found a significant relationship between parental depression upon immigration arrival and poor adaptation of their children to immigration. It is still a fact that many immigrant families face socio-economic challenges in their new countries. For example, in Canada, almost one-third of immigrant families live in poverty and reside in low-income neighbourhoods. Statistics like this justify the inclusion of environmental factors in addition to individual and family factors when determining behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children (Boyle and Lipman 1998). For example, the culture of the host as well as social resources have been proposed as factors that influence behaviour and emotional outcomes of immigrant children (Beiser et al. 1995; Pepler and Lessa 1993). Environmental characteristics are particularly important considerations in Canadian immigration studies because immigrants to Canada tend to follow specific patterns of destination, occupation, and social circle (Reitz and Sklar 1997; Harrison, Harrison and Park 1997; Samuel 1994).

The First Ten Years in Canada 397 "Macrospheres" (see Bronfenbrenner 1992), such as population, economy, social climate, and social services are importanto more accurately describe the environment in which immigrant children live. This range of individual, family, and environmental factors implies that children's adaptation to immigration is a complex process that requires considerable attention to the interactions among immigrant children, their families, and communities in which they reside (Pepler and Lessa 1993). The current study was a response to Beiser et al. (1995) which stated that "research about immigrant children is scant" (1995, p. 67). Specifically, the current study attempted to examine how immigrant children are surviving adaptation into Canadian society. The emphasis of the current study is on behavioural and emotional outcomes of immigrant children in comparison with those of non-immigrant children. Using data from the first cycle of the NLSCY to derive variables descriptive of children, families, and cities (coming from census data), two principal research questions were addressed: * What is the average level of behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children among Canadian cities? and * What child, family, and city characteristics contribute to the variation in behavioural and emotional outcomes of immigrant children? These research questions were answered for immi- grant children in comparison with non-immigrant children. METHOD Data Source Data for the current study came from the first cycle of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). As a part of the research initiative, Investing in Children, the NLSCY measured the development and well-being of Canadian chil- dren, with a specific design to provide information to guide the formulation of "effective policies and strategies to help young people live healthy, active and rewarding lives" (Canada. HRDC and Statistics Canada 1996, p. 5). The first round of this survey was conducted by Statistics Canada in 1995. The target population in the NLSCY was children ranging in age from newborn to 11 years. A stratified sampling approach produced a nationally representative sample of 22,831 children (newborn to 11-years-old). These children came from (a) rural regions (a combined category without further specification) and (b) major cities (71 specific cities). For the purpose of the current study, a subsample was taken from the NLSCY data that included only school-aged (7 to 11-years-old) children and their families. The resulting sample included 182 immigrant children from 21 major cities (few immigrants to Canada reside in rural areas - almost all immigrants reside in sizable major cities). There were 2,122 non-immigrant children in these 21 cities in the sample. Non-immigrant children from other cities were not used in the current study because there were no immigrant children living in those cities. Measures The NLSCY collected a wide range of information from the medical, educational, psychological, and sociological perspectives. Outcome variables in the current study were derived from the NLSCY, including (a) conduct disorder, (b) indirect aggression, (c) property offences, (d) hyperactive behaviour, (e) prosocial behaviour, and (f) emotional disorder. Using factor analysis, the NLSCY staff constructed these outcome variables as scale (composite) measures (see Appendix I for a description of items in each scale). Scores were derived using the weighted items in each scale. Because the number of items was different among scales, the range of scores was different among outcome variables (Canada. HRDC and Statistics Canada 1996). Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of items in each scale (Sax 1997). Results (for the whole sample of both immigrant and non-immigrant children)

398 Xin Ma were 0.77 for conduct disorder (rated on a scale of 0 to 12), 0.78 for indirect aggression (rated on a scale of 0 to 10), 0.64 for property offences (rated on a scale of 0 to 12), 0.84 for hyperactive behaviour (rated on a scale of 0 to 16), 0.82 for prosocial behaviour (rated on a scale of 0 to 20), and 0.79 for emotional disorder (rated on a scale of 0 to 16). In all these scales, a higher score indicated a more evident presence of certain behaviour or emotion. Student characteristics included gender, age, SES, family structure (number of parents), and family size. Length of residence in Canada and culture of origin (original culture) were also used as individual characteristics for immigrant children. Descriptions of these student-level variables are presented in Appendix I. SES, age, family size, and years in Canada were continuous variables, whereas gender and family structure were dichotomous variables. Original culture was a categorical variable that identified where immigrant children came from. The categories included the United States, Europe, Asia, and other regions. Three effect coded variables were created to represent this categorical variable with the last category as the baseline effect against which other categories were compared (see Appendix I). These student-level variables captured the major individual and family factors influential of behavioural and emotional outcomes of children, in particular, immigrant children, as presented in the literature. The NLSCY offered no information on city characteristics. To overcome this limitation, the 1996 census data (the first round of the NLSCY was conducted in 1995) were used to generate city information describing (a) geographic region (cities in Quebec where the majority of the population speaks French versus other Canadian cities where the majority speaks English), (b) population characteristics, (c) socio-economi conditions, (d) social mobility, (e) social climate, and (f) social services conditions. Most categories contained multiple variables, and definitions of these variables are presented in Appendix I. Social support for students (under social climate) was derived from the NLSCY. Originally a composite variable (on a scale of 0 to 16) in the NLSCY (Cronbach's alpha was 0.82), it was used in the current study as a measure aggregated from the child level to the city level (averaging children responses within each city). These citylevel variables tapped the major environmental factors influential of behavioural and emotional outcomes of children, particularly immigrant children, as presented in the literature. Statistical Analysis Social data are often structured in a hierarchical manner (for example, individuals nested within communities, or children nested within cities as in the case of the current study). Statistical analysis ignoring this multi-level nature of the data produces biased statistical results (see Bryk and Raudenbush 1992). In the current study, multi-level models were developed to analyze each of the six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of children nested within cities (see Appendix II). Therefore, the first level was the child model in which each outcome measure was regressed on the child-level variables. The intercept or constant of the regression was then the average measure of the outcome for a particular city adjusted for child characteristics in that city. Using these adjusted city-average measures of the outcome as the dependent variable, the second level was the city model in which this dependent variable was regressed on the city-level variables (Bryk and Raudenbush 1992). Two multi-level models were tested for each of the six outcome variables of behavioural and emotional problems. The first model was the "null" model which contained only the outcome variable (as the dependent variable) and no independent variables at either the child or the city level. This null model functioned to produce unconditional city average measures of behavioural and emotional problems. Results of this null model were used to answer the first research question. The second model was the "full" model which contained independent

The First Ten Years in Canada 399 variables at both the child and the city levels. This full model functioned to model the variation in the outcome measure as it was related to child and city characteristics, identifying child-level and city-level variables that were responsible for the variation in the outcome measure. Results of this full model were used to address the second research question. These null and full models were also compared as a way to assess the model-data-fit issue, using the deviance statistic (Bryk and Raudenbush 1992). For the purpose of data analysis and results interpretation, all continuous variables were standardized (to have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one) at both the child and the city levels. Meanwhile, all dichotomous variables were centred around their means at both levels. These standardizing and centring procedures produced statistical estimates for what is often referred to as the "typical" child with nationally average characteristics among immigrant children (ibid.). These statistical estimates of behavioural and emotional problems for the typical immigrant child were important national measures of the problems in behaviours and emotions among immigrant children. The same statistical procedures were also applied to data from non-immigrant children (immigrant and non-immigrant children were analyzed separately). There was a concern about the robustness of the empirical results for immigrant children, because their sample size was relatively small (182 immigrant children). One strategy to address this concern (often used in economics) is to combine immigrant and non-immigrant children to perform a "pooled" regression analysis with a dummy indicator denoting immigration status (i.e., 1 for immigrant children and 0 for non-immigrant children). Coefficient for this dummy indicator then shows the difference in effects of being an immigrant child. This is a very efficient strategy to test for differential immigrant effects, although it does assume that the rest of the coefficients in the regression are the same between immigrant and non-immigrant children. This strategy was adopted to provide a better sense of the robustness of the empirical results in the current study. RESULTS Descriptive Results on Outcomes, Child Characteristics, and City Characteristics Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for outcome variables and variables used at the child level. With consideration of the scale on which each outcome variable was measured, the results did not show any serious concerns about behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant children. For example, the mean for conduct disorder was 0.84 on a scale from 0 to 12. This indicated that conduct disorder was quite trivial among immigrant children. Also, the mean for prosocial behaviour was 12.85 on a scale from 0 to 20. Recall that for all outcome measures, a higher score indicated a more evident presence of particular behaviours and emotions. Therefore, prosocial behaviour was definitely on the positive side among immigrant children. Similar interpretation also applies to non-immigrant children. Differences in means between immigrant and non-immigrant children were tested using their 95 percent confidence intervals with non-overlap indicating statistically significant differences (Glass and Hopkins 1984). There were no statistically significant differences in any of the six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems between immigrant and non-immigrant children. Descriptive statistics for the child-level variables illustrated the characteristics of the population of immigrant children. Gender was balanced among immigrant children. The current study included school-aged immigrant children (7- to 11-year-olds), and their average age was nine years old. About 82 percent of immigrant children came from bothparent households. The average family size was five persons. Similar interpretation also applies to nonimmigrant children. Immigrant children, on average,

400 Xin Ma TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics of Outcome Variables and Child-Level Variables Immigrant Children Mean Standard Deviation Non-immigrant Children Mean Standard Deviation Outcome variables Conduct disorder 0.84 1.32 1.27 1.80 Indirect aggression 1.39 1.67 1.38 1.86 Property offences 0.61 1.06 0.77 1.19 Hyperactive behaviour 3.52 3.23 4.42 3.59 Prosocial behaviour 12.85 3.93 12.88 3.71 Emotional disorder 2.09 2.34 2.93 2.80 Child-level variables Gendera 0.46 0.50 0.50 0.50 Age 9.16 1.39 8.97 1.40 Socio-economic status (SES) -0.07 0.87 0.11 0.80 Family structureb 0.82 0.39 0.84 0.37 Family size 5.00 1.65 4.39 1.12 Years in Canada 4.81 2.55 Immigration from the United Statesc -0.42 0.63 Immigration from Europec -0.27 0.82 Immigration from Asiac -0.31 0.77 Notes: a Females are coded as 1 and males are coded as 0. b Both-parent families are coded as 1 and single-parent families are coded as 0. c Effect coding is used to create variables to represent country of origin. For example, for the variable immigration from the United States, children who immigrate from the United States are coded as 1; children who immigrate from Europe and Asia are coded as 0; and children who immigrate from other regions are coded as -1. had been in Canada for four to five years. About 7 percent of immigrant children came to Canada from the United States, about 22 percent from Europe, about 19 percent from Asia, and the rest of the immigrant children (about 52 percent) came to Canada from other regions. A comparison between immigrant and non-immigrant children showed statistically significant differences only in SES, in favour of non-immigrant children. Descriptive statistics for the city-level variables were generated from the 1996 census data (see Appendix I for definitions of city characteristics). These variables described city characteristics from vari- ous perspectives, and Table 2 presents descriptive statistics of these variables. These city-level variables essentially portrayed a demographic, economic, and social environment within which immigrant and non-immigrant children developed their behaviours and emotions. The impact of these city characteristics on immigrant and non-immigrant children's behavioural and emotional problems was examined in the current study. Estimating City Average Behavioural and Emotional Problems Table 3 presents the "true" city average behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant and non-

The First Ten Years in Canada 401 TABLE 2 Descriptive Statistics of City-level Variables Geographic region City where the majority speaks English vs. French a Population characteristics Population sizeb Population density Population age Population without high school education Population with postsecondary education Socio-economic conditions Median family incomec Incidence of family low income Unemployment rate Average housing costd Social mobility Migration rate Immigration rate Social climate Divorce rate Social support for studentse Social services conditions Social work professionals Health-care professionals Mean 0.93 63.47 0.95 0.11 0.32 0.29 50.76 14.73 7.34 7.30 0.07 0.17 0.07 15.66 0.07 0.05 Standard Deviation 0.28 95.20 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.06 4.21 3.19 1.56 0.95 0.02 0.09 0.01 1.09 0.01 0.01 Notes: acities where the majority speaks English are coded as 1 and cities where the majority speaks French are coded as 0. bpopulation size is represented as the number of units, with 10,000 residents as the unit. CMedian family income is represented as the number of units, with $1,000 as the unit. daverage housing cost is represented as the number of units for average rental and mortgage, with $100 as the unit. esocial support for students is a measure aggregated to the city level from data at the child level as collected in the NLSCY. immigrant children. This implies that, unlike descriptive statistics as reported above which had no statistical adjustment of any kind, means in Table 3 have been adjusted for sampling and measurement errors in the multi-level models (Bryk and Raudenbush 1992). Results in the table show the unconditional true city average behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant and nonimmigrant children (without any adjustment for child and city characteristics). These true city average effects could be considered important national average measures of behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant and non-immigrant

402 Xin Ma TABLE 3 True City Average Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Children Conduct Indirect Property Hyperactive Prosocial Emotional Disorder Aggression Offences Behaviour Behaviour Disorder Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Immigrant children -0.04 0.09-0.01 0.07-0.06 0.06 0.02 0.09-0.11 0.12-0.09 0.08 Non-immigrant children 0.02 0.04-0.02 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.04-0.02 0.04 0.01 0.03 Note: * p < 0.05. SE= standard error. There were no statistically significant city average effects in any of the six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant children. Therefore, on average, conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder among immigrant children were not a social concern at the national level. However, immigrant children did not demonstrate significant prosocial behaviour at the national level either. This finding certainly signals some social concern. Non-immigrant children demonstrated the same effect pattern regarding behavioural and emotional problems. Modelling Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant Children Statistically significant variation was found among both immigrant and non-immigrant children in all six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems, and city average measures of these disorders also varied across cities. Child-level and city-level variables were used to explain this variation between children and between cities. Table 4 shows the results of multi-level models estimating the effects of child and city characteristics on behavioural and emotional problems among immigrant children. These effects came from simplified models that excluded variables (at both child and city levels) that were not statistically significant. Recall that females were coded as 1 for the dichotomous variable of gender. The gender effect was then the female effect. A negative female effect in conduct disorder indicated that males demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder than females. The effect size was about 12 percent of a standardeviation. There were also statistically significant gender differences in property offences, hyperactive behaviour, prosocial behaviour, and emotional disorder, all in favour of female immigrant children (about 9 percent, 15 percent, 5 percent, and 8 percent of a standard deviation in effect size respectively). Immigrant children from other regions reported statistically significantly more incidents of property offences and hyperactive behaviour than those from Europe (about 5 percent of a standard deviation in effect size on both). Age, SES, family structure, family size, and years of residence in Canada since immigration had no statistically significant effects on any behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. Cities had statistically significant effects on all six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. Specifically, population characteristics of the city statistically significantly affected hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children. Immigrant children living in cities with a high population density demonstrated

The First Ten Years in Canada 403 TABLE 4 Multi-Level Models Estimating the Effects of Child-Level Characteristics and City-Level Characteristics on Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant Children Conduct Indirect Property Hyperactive Prosocial Emotional Disorder Aggression Offences Behaviour Behaviour Disorder Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effects of child-level characteristics Gender -0.12*** 0.03-0.09* 0.04-0.15*** 0.03 0.05* 0.03-0.08*** 0.02 European origin -0.05** 0.02-0.05** 0.02 Effects of city-level characteristics (population characteristics) Population density 0.35*** 0.03 Population without high school education -0.15*** 0.03 Effects of city-level characteristics (socio-economic conditions) Average housing cost 0.31*** 0.07 Unemployment -0.24*** 0.06 Effects of city-level characteristics (social climate) Divorce rate 0.27*** 0.04-0.24***0.03 Social support for students -0.12*** 0.03 Effects of city-level characteristics (social services conditions) Social work professionals 0.46*** 0.09 Health-care professionals 0.20** 0.07 0.14* 0.06 0.24* 0.10 0.18** 0.05 Notes: * p< 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001. At the child level, age, socio-economic status (SES), family structure, and family size are not statistically significant. At the city level, geographic region (cities where the majority speaks English versus cities where the majority speaks French) is not statistically significant; certain population characteristics (population size, population age, and population with postsecondary education) are not statistically significant; certain socio-economic conditions (median family income and incidence of family low income) are not statistically significant; and social mobility characteristics (migration rate and immigration rate) are not statistically significant. statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour than those living in cities with a low population density (about 35 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). Immigrant children living in cities with a low proportion of the population with- out high school education reported statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour than those living in cities with a high proportion of the population without high school education (about 15 percent of a standardeviation in effect size).

404 Xin Ma Socio-economic conditions of the city statistically significantly affected conduct disorder and hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children. Immigrant children living in cities with a low unemployment rate demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder than those living in cities with a high unemployment rate (about 24 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). Immigrant children living in cities where the average housing cost was high reported statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour than those living in cities where the average housing cost was low (about 15 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). Social climate of the city statistically significantly affected indirect aggression, hyperactive behaviour, and prosocial behaviour of immigrant children. Immigrant children in cities with a low level of social support for students demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of indirect aggression than those in cities with a high level of social support for students (about 12 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). Immigrant children in cities with a high divorce rate reported statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour and fewer incidents of prosocial behaviour than those in cities with a low divorce rate (about 27 percent and 24 percent of a standard deviation in effect size respectively). Finally, social services conditions of the city statistically significantly affected conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder of immigrant children. Immigrant children in cities with a large proportion of health-care professionals in the workforce demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, and hyperactive behaviour than those in cities with a small proportion of healthcare professionals in the workforce (about 20 percent, 14 percent, 24 percent, and 18 percent of a standard deviation in effect size respectively). Immigrant children in cities with a large proportion of social work professionals in the workforce also demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of emotional disorder than those in cities with a small proportion of social work professionals in the workforce (about 46 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). Geographic region and social mobility did not have statistically significant effects on any outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. Following the common practice in multi-level modelling, the model-data-fit of the above multilevel models was assessed using deviance statistics between the null and full models. In comparison with the null multi-level models, the full multi-level models as reported in Table 4 fitted the data statistically significantly better. This is an indication of satisfactory model-data-fit for the full multi-level models. Note that multi-level models for nonimmigrant children and those for immigrant and non-immigrant children combined were also evaluated for model-data-fit with the same procedure and demonstrated satisfactory results as well. Modelling Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Non-immigrant Children Table 5 presents the results of multi-level models estimating the effects of child and city characteristics on behavioural and emotional problems among non-immigrant children. At the child level, there were statistically significant gender differences in conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and prosocial behaviour, all in favour of female children (about 10 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent, 14 percent, and 14 percent of a standar deviation in effect size respectively). Older children demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of emotional disorder than younger children (about 2 percent of a standard deviation in effect size). SES had statistically significant effects on all six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems, all in favour of children from high socio-economic backgrounds (about 2 percent of a standard deviation in effect size on conduct disorder, 3 percent on indirect

The First Ten Years in Canada 405 TABLE 5 Multi-Level Models Estimating the Effects of Child-Level Characteristics and City-Level Characteristics on Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Non-Immigrant Children Conduct Indirect Property Hyperactive Prosocial Emotional Disorder Aggression Offences Behaviour Behaviour Disorder Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effects of child-level characteristics Gender -0.10** 0.04 0.05** 0.02-0.10*** 0.03-0.14*** 0.03 0.14***0.02 Age 0.02* 0.01 Socio-economic status (SES) -0.02* 0.01-0.03* 0.01-0.05*** 0.01-0.06*** 0.01 0.03** 0.01-0.04*** 0.01 Family structure -0.13*** 0.03-0.12*** 0.03-0.11*** 0.04-0.14*** 0.03 Family size -0.03*** 0.01 Effects of city-level characteristics (socio-economic conditions) Incidence of family low income -0.09*** 0.02-0.06* 0.02 Effects of city-level characteristics (social mobility) Migration rate -.05* 0.02 Effects of city-level characteristics (social climate) Divorce rate 0.07*** 0.02 0.04* 0.01 Social support for students -0.06* 0.02-0.06* 0.02 Notes: * p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001. At the city level, geographic region (cities where the majority speaks English versus cities where the majority speaks French) is not statistically significant; population characteristics (population size, population density, population age, population without high school education, and population with postsecondary education) are not statistically significant; certain socio-economic conditions (median family income, average housing costs, and unemployment) are not statistically significant; the social mobility characteristic (immigration rate) is not statistically significant; and social services conditions (social work professionals and health-care professionals) are not statistically significant. aggression, 5 percent on property offences, 6 percent on hyperactive behaviour, 3 percent on prosocial behaviour, and 4 percent on emotional disorder). Recall that both-parent families were coded as 1 for the dichotomous variable of family structure. The effect of family structure was then the effect of double-parent households. The negative effects of family structure indicated that children from single-parent households demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, and emotional disorder (about 13 percent, 12 percent, 11 percent, and 14 percent of a standard deviation in effect size respectively). Finally, children from small families demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour than

406 Xin Ma children from large families (about 3 percent of a standar deviation in effect size). City characteristics had statistically significant effects on all outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children except prosocial behaviour. Socio-economic conditions of the city statistically significantly affected conduct disorder and indirect aggression of non-immigrant children. Non-immigrant children living in cities with a low percentage of low-income families demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder and indirect aggression than those living in cities with a high percentage of low-income families (about 9 percent and 6 percent of a standar deviation in effect size respectively). Social mobility of the city statistically significantly affected property offences of nonimmigrant children. Non-immigrant children in cities with a low migration rate reported statistically significantly more incidents of property offences than those in cities with a high migration rate (about 5 percent of a standar deviation in effect size). Social climate of the city statistically significantly affected conduct disorder, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder of non-immigrant children. Non-immigrant children in cities with a high divorce rate reported statistically significantly more incidents of hyperactive behaviour and emotional disorder than those in cities with a low divorce rate (about 7 percent and 4 percent of a standard deviation in effect size respectively). Non-immigrant children in cities with a low level of social support for students demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder and hyperactive behaviour than those in cities with a high level of social support for students (about 6 percent of a standard deviation in effect size on both). Geographic region, population characteristics, and social services conditions did not have statistically significant effects on any outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children. Modelling Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant and Non-immigrant Children Table 6 presents the results of multi-level models estimating the effects of child and city characteristics on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant and non-immigrant children combined. Operationally, these multi-level analyses functioned both to assess the robustness of the statistical estimates for the small sample of immigrant children as reported in Table 4 and to model behavioural and emotional problems of the general Canadian population aged 7 to 11 years. However, given the similarity among Tables 4 to 6 and the fact that detailed interpretations were presented for Tables 4 and 5 earlier, the focus of this section is not on the interpretation of results in Table 6 but on the robustness of the empirical results for immigrant children. Tables 4 to 6 were compared frequently to assess whether the statistical estimates for immigrant children were robust (to the paucity of immigrant observations). Recall that the dummy indicator was coded 1 for immigrant children, and as such the effect associated with the indicator was the immigrant effect. The four negative immigrant effects then all suggest that non-immigrant children demonstrated statistically significantly more incidents of conduct disorder, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder (about 7 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent, and 9 percent of a standar deviation in effect size respectively), after holding statistically significant child-level variables the same for both immigrant and non-immigrant children (i.e., controlling for statistically significant child-level variables in the equation). There were not statistically significant differences between immigrant and non-immigrant children in indirect aggression and prosocial behaviour. At the child level, there were statistically significant gender differences in conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and prosocial behaviour, all in favour of female

The First Ten Years in Canada 407 TABLE 6 Multi-Level Models Estimating the Effects of Child-Level Characteristics and City-Level Characteristics on Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Children Conduct Indirect Property Hyperactive Prosocial Emotional Disorder Aggression Offences Behaviour Behaviour Disorder Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effect SE Effects of child-level characteristics Immigrants vs. non-immigrants -0.07*** 0.02 -.05*** 0.01-0.06*** 0.01-0.09*** 0.02 Gender -0.10** 0.03 0.04* 0.02-0.10*** 0.02-0.14*** 0.02 0.12***0.02 Age 0.02** 0.01 Socio-economic status (SES) -.05*** 0.01-0.06*** 0.01 0.03***0.01-0.04*** 0.01 Family structure -0.16*** 0.03-0.13*** 0.02-0.11** 0.04-0.12** 0.04 Family size 0.01** 0.00-0.02* 0.01 Effects of city-level characteristics (population characteristics) Population size -0.07*** 0.01 Population density 0.04* 0.02 Effects of city-level characteristics (socio-economic conditions) Incidence of family low income -0.06* 0.02 Effects of city-level characteristics (social climate) Divorce rate 0.08*** 0.02 0.05* 0.02 Social support for students -0.07** 0.02-0.06** 0.02 Notes: * p < 0.05. ** p < 0.01. *** p < 0.001. At the city level, geographic region (cities where the majority speaks English versus cities where the majority speaks French) is not statistically significant; certain population characteristics (population age, population without high school education, and population with postsecondary education) are not statistically significant; certain socio-economic conditions (median family income, average housing cost, and unemployment) are not statistically significant; social mobility characteristics (migration rate and immigration rate) are not statistically significant; and social services conditions (social work professionals and health-care professionals) are not statistically significant. children (about 10 percent, 4 percent, 10 percent, property offences, and hyperactive behaviour as es- 14 percent, and 12 percent of a standar deviation timated in Table 4 were considerably robust. in effect size respectively). Gender gaps in conduct disorder, property offences, and hyperactive behav- Gender differences in prosocial behaviour among iour were extremely close to those reported in Table immigrant children were also confirmed, although this 4 for immigrant children, and this is a good indica- gender gap was relatively more of a phenomenon tion that gender differences in conduct disorder, among non-immigrant than immigrant children

408 Xin Ma (about 12 percent of a standard deviation in effect size in Table 6 compared with 5 percent in Table 4 for immigrant children and 14 percent in Table 5 for non-immigrant children). Gender differences in indirect aggression as shown in Table 6 were extremely close to those reported in Table 5 for non-immigrant children. This situation indicates that the absence of gender differences in indirect aggression among immigrant children as estimated in Table 4 was robust. The only gender gap that appeared to be less robust was that in emotional disorder. Gender differences in emotional disorder among immigrant children as reported in Table 4 were likely a random significant effect due to chance. The absence of effects among immigrant children associated with age, SES, family structure, and family size on behavioural and emotional problems as reported in Table 4 was fairly robust in that age, SES, family structure, and family size effects in Table 6 closely mirrored those in Table 5 for non-immigrant children. Overall, it is evident that child-level effects on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children (as reported in Table 4) were considerably robust. At the city level, because the number of cities was the same for both immigrant and non-immigrant children and statistical estimates at the city level have to do with the number of cities only (Bryk and Raudenbush 1992), there is no need to assess the robustness of the city effects for immigrant children. However, Table 6 shows the effects of city characteristics on behavioural and emotional problems when the general Canadian population aged 7 to 11 years is considered. Population characteristics, socio-economic conditions, and more importantly, social climate of a city were crucial environmental factors for the behavioural and emotional well-being of children. DISCUSSION The current study identified a number of child and city characteristics that were statistically signifi- cantly associated with behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant and non-immigrant children, providing empirical evidence on individual and societal conditions underlining children's behaviours and emotions. This section summarizes the most important findings and derives implications for social policies related to immigrant children. The Status of Behavioural and Emotional Problems of Immigrant Children Tables 3 and 6 both contain information descriptive of the status of immigrant children, in comparison to that of non-immigrant children, in terms of behavioural and emotional problems. Results in Table 3 are absolute (non-conditional) national measures of behavioural and emotional problems when immigrant and non-immigrant children are examined separately. From a national perspective, the major social concern about behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children is their prosocial behaviour. The typical immigrant child (see discussion in the method section) with nationally average characteristics of immigrant children did not demonstrate statistically significant prosocial behaviour. This phenomenon, however, is not unique to immigrant children. The typical non-immigrant child demonstrated the absence of prosocial behaviour as well, which is the major social concern about behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children from a national perspective. Nevertheless, this general lack of prosocial behaviour among Canadian children is likely a reflection of the general psychological fragility of young adolescents. On the other hand, from a national perspective, conduct disorder, indirect aggression, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder are not social concerns among immigrant children (the same for non-immigrant children as well). Unlike Table 3 where immigrant and non-immigrant children are examined separately, Table 6 examines behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant and non-immigrant children in relation to each other, taking into account child characteristics. If one holds statistically significant child

The First Ten Years in Canada 409 characteristics constant for both immigrant and nonimmigrant children, then immigrant children fared better than non-immigrant children in conduct disorder, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder, and immigrant children fared as well as non-immigrant children in indirect aggression and prosocial behaviour. Overall, immigrant children demonstrated better behavioural and emotional well-being than non-immigrant children. These findings provide empirical evidence that, in general, immigrant children are adapting to their new social, cultural environment uneventfully. The Role of Child Characteristics Gender played the single most important role in predicting behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children (based on the relative size of the standardized coefficients in Table 4). Male immi- grant children demonstrated statistically significantly worse records than female immigrant children in five out of six outcome measures: conduct disorder, property offences, hyperactive behaviour, prosocial behaviour, and emotional disorder (caution on gender differences in emotional disorder). Reasons for these gender differences can only be speculated about at this stage. For example, at the age of 7 to 11 years, male immigrant children may be more physically active than female immigrant children, thus having more chances to be hyperactive and demonstrate behavioural and emotional concerns and problems. Immigrant children did not show markedly differential patterns of behavioural and emotional problems conditional on where they came from (the United States, Europe, Asia, and other regions). The two effects in favour of immigrant children from Europe were both very small by themselves and quite secondary in comparison with gender of immigrant children, which is far more predictive of behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. To some extent, this situation may indicate the success of Canadian immigration polices that emphasize the non-discriminative selection of immigrants into Canada. It is also interesting to note that, in the general literature on children's behaviours and emotions, SES often plays a significant role in determining the status of children's behavioural and emotional well-being (see National Advisory Mental Health Council 1996 for an overview). This has not been found to be the case for immigrant children, however. SES of immigrant children was not statistically significant in any of the six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems. This situation may be due to a paucity of observations or to the relatively homogeneous socio-economic conditions among the majority of immigrants (many immigrants to Canada are employed in professional positions with a similar range of income). Overall, child-level characteristics did not affect behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children as much as non-immigrant children. Gender differences in behavioural and emotional problems were similar between immigrant and nonimmigrant children. However, in addition to gender differences, non-immigrant children demonstrated much greater individual differences in behavioural and emotional problems than immigrant children (based on the child-level standardized coefficients in Tables 4 and 5). The socio-economic effects for nonimmigrant children are in line with the literature as mentioned above (SES was the only child-level variable statistically significant across all outcome measures, although it had small effects). Family characteristics (family structure and family size) played a more important role in predicting behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children (based on the relative size of the standardized coefficients in Table 5). The disadvantage of those from single-parent families was evident in the current study. In general, the social equity issue is much more marked among non-immigrant than immigrant children (based on the relative size of the child-level standardized coefficients in Tables 4 and 5). The Role of City Characteristics There is evidence in the research literature that places (communities, towns, and cities) matter to

410 Xin Ma individual health outcomes (see, e.g., Donnermeyer and Scheer 2001; McDermott and Garofalo 1996 for regional effects on substance abuse behaviours). The current study showed a harvest of statistically significant city effects on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. Population characteristics affected hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children. Immigrant children living in cities with higher population density showed more incidents of hyperactive behaviour. One speculation is that immigrant children, particularly new ones, may have difficulties in adapting to the frequent social interactions among people in highly populated cities. If this is true, then hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children in such cities may be related to the poor adaptation in the early days of immigration. In cities where the proportion of the population without high school education is low, it is likely for most parents to engage in careers. The lack of adequate parental supervision may be related to more incidents of hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children in such cities. This conclusion fits well into the research literature that after-school settings and activities are associated with behavioural changes of children, in particular, low-income children (e.g., Marshall et al. 1997; Pettit et al. 1997). Compared with non-immigrant children, the above effects of population characteristics were unique to immigrant children (non-immigrant children under similar circumstances did not demonstrate these effects). City socio-economic conditions influenced conduct disorder and hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children in an important way. Immigrant children living in cities with higher average costs for housing showed more incidents of hyperactive behaviour. There may be some association between hyperactive behaviour and housing conditions. Poor housing conditions often confine personal activities and family functions at home, leading to hyperactive behaviour at home. Poor housing conditions can also drive immigrant children to places where hyperactive behaviour is more likely to occur, such as streets, malls, and playgrounds. Once again, the fact that immigrant children in cities with a lower un- employment rate had more incidents of conduct disorder may imply the lack of adequate parental supervision. Effects of socio-economic conditions of the city were not unique to immigrant children, however. Three out of six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children were related to the city social climate. In cities with a lack of adequate social support for students, incidents of indirect aggression among immigrant children rose. More important is that in cities with a high divorce rate, immigrant children demonstrated increased incidents of hyperactive behaviour and antisocial behaviour. Overall, it can be concluded that the social environment of a city in which immigrant children dwell is associated with their behavioural and emotional well-being in an important way. Note, however, that effects of social climate of the city were not unique to immigrant children. City social services conditions had impacts on five out of six outcome measures on behavioural and emotional problems of immigrant children. The finding that immigrant children living in cities with a larger proportion of health-care or social work professionals in the workforce showed more incidents of behavioural and emotional problems may indicate that professional care and supporto immigrant children in need are present in those cities. In fact, this finding may be positive news in that it may imply that immigrant children are getting the professional help that they need to cope with their behavioural and emotional problems. Even though it is possible that the higher incidence of immigrant children with behavioural and emotional problems in cities with a larger proportion of health-care and social work professionals may have to do with the greater likelihood of diagnosis than in cities with few health-care and social work professionals, the emphasis is still on the presence of adequate healthcare and social work professionals. Social services conditions were the other set of city characteristics that demonstrated effects unique to immigrant

The First Ten Years in Canada 411 children. Non-immigrant children living under similar circumstances did not demonstrate these effects. City-level characteristics were much less important for behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children, on the other hand. That non-immigrant children in cities with a high percentage of low-income families showed decreased incidents of conduct disorder and indirect aggression may once again be related to the issue of parental supervision. In cities where families have low income because of, for example, unemployment or underemployment, adequate parental supervision is more likely, which may be related to reduced incidents of some behavioural and emotional problems of non-immigrant children. Common city-level variables that have important impacts on behavioural and emotional problems of both immigrant and non-immigrant children are socioeconomic conditions, and in particular, social climate. In cities with a low level of social support for students or a high rate of divorce, non-immigrant children demonstrated increased incidents of conduct disorder, hyperactive behaviour, and emotional disorder, although the effects were on a smaller scale compared with those for immigrant children. Therefore, socioeconomic conditions and social climate of the city are important for behavioural and emotional well-being of both immigrant and non-immigrant children. A greater degree of social mobility is not necessarily associated with increased behavioural and emotional problems of children (both immigrant and non-immigrant ones). As a matter of fact, in cities with a higher rate of population migration, nonimmigrant children actually showed decreased incidents of property offences. The common concern that living in a mobile city may somehow disadvantage children's behaviours and emotions seems to be unnecessary, as long as the city has a positive social climate. Given that social mobility affected only one of six outcome measures, it can be treated as a common factor with a similar pattern between immigrant and non-immigrant children. The other more evident common factor of city characteristics is geographic region. Where immigrant children lived in the country (either in Quebec or in English-speaking Canada) was not associated with their behavioural and emotional problems. The same holds true for non-immigrant children. Overall, compared with child-level characteristics, behavioural and emotional well-being of immigrant children is associated heavily with citylevel characteristics. There are adequate social equities among immigrant children, as far as their behavioural and emotional problems are concerned. But the city social environment has a critical influence on behavioural and emotional well-being of immigrant children. It is the opposite for nonimmigrant children. Their behavioural and emotional well-being is associated more with child-level than city-level characteristics. In being so, the social equity issue (individual differences) is much more marked among non-immigrant than immigrant children. On the other hand, non-immigrant children are relatively "immune" to the city social environment compared with immigrant children, as far as their behavioural and emotional problems are concerned. Policy Implications Overall, immigrant children appeared to be healthy in terms of behaviours and emotions. In the first ten years of immigration, immigrant children appeared to be adapting to the new social and cultural environment uneventfully. Although the lack of prosocial behaviour among immigrant children (also non- immigrant children) may reflect the general psychological fragility of young adolescents, cities with a high divorce rate face the challenge of promoting prosocial behaviour among immigrant children. The finding that prosocial behaviour of immigrant children was associated solely with social climate among several city characteristics (see Table 4) highlights the importance of creating a caring and supportive social environment. Policymakers at different levels need to pay close attention to social climate and social services

412 Xin Ma conditions. Not only did positive social climate affect the prosocial behaviour of immigrant children, but it also had important impacts on conduct disorder and hyperactive behaviour. Increasing social support for students and strengthening various elements of the social safety net are just a few examples of the strategies to improve social climate of a city. Although, overall, immigrant children may be getting adequate professional care and support for their behavioural and emotional problems, policymakers need to maintain the adequate presence of the social services that help immigrant children cope with the challenge of immigration and integration. The common misconception that it is normal for new immigrant children to experience misbehaviours and uncertainties in the early days of immigration may bear serious social consequences. In the area of policy research, it is rare for researchers to link health-care conditions with behavioural and emotional problems of children. The current study suggests that health care may bear social meanings far beyond looking after the lives of individuals. The presence of adequate health-care (and social work) professionals in the workforce may create a positive social atmosphere of care and support. If this is true, then immigrant children living in this environment may feel secure and valued in a social sense. This feeling is very likely to correlate with behaviours and emotions of immigrant children. Apart from this main strategy of improving social climate and social services conditions, other social support programs can also be considered to promote behavioural and emotional well-being of immigrant children. For example, social support programs that assist new immigrants to live under decent housing conditions can be considered, given the finding that a low average cost for housing was associated with a reduction in incidents of hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children. Housing aid programs may well be inexpensive compared with the cost of treatment, counselling, and correction for behavioural and emotional problems. However, social support programs need a positive social environment (for example, positive social climate and adequate social services conditions) to carry out their functions. Hyperactive behaviour was the most responsive to city-level characteristics in the current study (there were five statistically significant city-level variables in comparison with at most two for other outcome measures). This suggests that hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children is as much a medical problem as a social problem. Even for non-immigrant children, social climate was critical for their hyperactive behaviour. Policymakers at different levels need to make sure that hyperactive behaviour of immigrant children receives both adequate medical attention and adequate social attention. The combination of both stands a far better chance of curbing this problem. The current study also identified that male immigrant children face more challenges of integrating into the mainstream culture. When they live in cities with undesirable characteristicsuch as those identified above, their chance of successful integration may become even slimmer. Policymakers at different levels need to be prepared to help male immigrant children with their behavioural and emotional problems. Finally, policymakers need to work with the social equity issue sharply marked among non-immigrant children. The remarkable differences in factors associated with behavioural and emotional problems between immigrant and non-immigrant children imply that effective social policies need to address these discrepancies (social environment is a critical issue for immigrant children and social equity is a critical issue for non-immigrant children). The weakness of the current study is the small sample size for immigrant children, although the pooled analyses of immigrant and non-immigrant children supported most empirical results for immigrant children. After all, the NLSCY was not designed to examine issues associated with immigration and integration. This fact certainly imposes

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