Mudar Shakra: Meanings of Parenting among Syrian Forced Migrants in Sweden: Exploring Legal Realities through a Psychology of Religion Lens

Abstract

Perceptions of parental responsibilities, rights, and practices, as well as understanding of the child’s best interests, are often influenced by specific cultural, religious, and legal contexts. In cases of forced migration, parents must navigate differences between familiar normative systems and those of the receiving society.

This dissertation examines how Syrian forced migrants who arrived in Sweden after 2011 interpret and negotiate differences within the meaning-making and acculturative contexts of parenting. It investigates participants’ meaning-making outcomes as they transition from religion-based family law systems to Sweden’s secular family law system.

The main aim of this study is to contribute to a more holistic understanding of this population's perceived mental health by identifying relevant challenges and resources.

This research combines the psychology of religion, as the primary discipline, family law, as a complementary lens, and a public mental health framework.

The Syrian and Swedish contexts are examined using a multi-method qualitative research design grounded in the pragmatic paradigm and deductive reasoning. Empirical data were collected through 44 semi-structured interviews, complemented by a comparative legal analysis of Syrian and Swedish family law systems. Outlining key legal concepts, institutional frameworks, and regulatory differences between the two systems establishes the legal and normative foundation needed for designing the research project, conducting interviews, and analysing empirical findings.

The findings offer extended insights into participants’ adaptive and maladaptive responses to legal, cultural, and religious changes or differences within the acculturative context of parenting. These findings highlight perceptions, attitudes, or strategies that may mitigate or exacerbate potential discrepancies within meaning-making systems across five key psychosocial pillars: safety and security, interpersonal bonds and networks, identity and roles, justice, and existential meaning. The findings also describe how these potential responses relate to the role of the Swedish state as well as religiosity, within the meaning-making systems of these five pillars.