Date of Award
Summer 8-22-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning Sciences
Organizational Unit
Morgridge College of Education, Teaching and Learning Sciences, Curriculum and Instruction
First Advisor
Rashida Banerjee
Second Advisor
Marc Guerrero
Third Advisor
Gloria Miller
Fourth Advisor
Alissa Rausch
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Early childhood development, Immigrant parents, Parents' engagement, Parents' perception, Play, Qualitative method
Abstract
Play is a critical part of early childhood and supports children’s cognitive, language, social, emotional, and physical growth. Although research has established the developmental value of play, less is known about how immigrant parents perceive and engage in play with their young children after relocating to the United States. This gap is important to note because parents’ understanding of play is shaped by cultural beliefs, migration experiences, educational expectations, family responsibilities, and the social contexts in which parenting occurs. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how immigrant parents from Nigeria made sense of play and described their engagement in play with their children. Participants included 10 Nigerian immigrant parents who had lived in the United States for no more than seven years and were primary caregivers of at least one child between the ages of two and eight. Data were collected through two rounds of semi-structured interviews. The first interview explored parents’ perceptions of play, childhood memories of play in Nigeria, current play practices, and beliefs about children’s development. The follow-up interview allowed participants to clarify, expand, and reflect more deeply on meanings that emerged during the first interview. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine how parents interpreted their experiences and how shared patterns of meaning emerged across participants’ accounts. Four major themes emerged from the analysis: Cultural Meanings and Negotiations of Play; Parent-Child Play Engagement Practices; Play as Learning and Child Development; and Supports and Barriers to Play Engagement. Findings revealed that Nigerian immigrant parents understood play as a meaningful context for learning, bonding, language development, social-emotional growth, and school readiness. However, parents also negotiated tensions between play and academics, Nigerian cultural memories of communal and unsupervised play and the United States’ expectations for individualized and supervised play, and the practical realities of work, fatigue, limited time, and migration-related adjustment. The study contributes to early childhood research by highlighting the culturally situated and context-dependent nature of immigrant parents’ play beliefs and practices. Findings may inform culturally responsive family engagement, early childhood programs, and community-based supports for immigrant families with young children.
Copyright Date
8-2026
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Grace Chinenye Ilori
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
182 pgs
File Size
1.1 MB
Recommended Citation
Ilori, Grace Chinenye, "Understanding Nigerian Immigrant Parents’ Perceptions of and Engagement in Play in Early Childhood: A Qualitative Study" (2026). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2772.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2772
Included in
Child Psychology Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Migration Studies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons