[Families with Migrant Backgrounds as Target Group of Early Interventions: Results of a Social Early Warning System...

Families with migrant backgrounds (MB) are exposed to several psychosocial risk factors that increase the likelihood of impaired child development, in particular.

We investigated whether families with MB differ from families without MB regarding their psychosocial stressors in the period of pregnancy and birth.

As part of a social early warning system in an obstetrics clinic in Germany n=502 families with MB were compared with n=349 families without MB with respect to the degree of stress and stress factors on the basis of an initial screening of risk factors for child maltreatment by a midwife or physician and a subsequent structured clearing interview by social education workers during the mothers' inpatient hospitalisation.

For families without MB, a significantly higher total score was found in the risk screening (M=3,9 points vs. M=2,9 points) in comparison to families with MB. While families with MB compared to families without MB were faced more frequently by social stressors, e. g., financial problems or a difficult housing situation (81 vs. 37%), they were less frequently impacted by mental strain (27 vs. 48%), young fathers (2 vs. 10%) and maternal psychiatric diseases (3 vs. 17%), according to the risk screening. Socio-economic determinants such as social inclusion and living environment were found to be important factors influencing the psychosocial stress level of families.

Explanations and implications for research and practice are discussed.