Description of the Problem and the Population of Focus Latinos represent the largest and fastest

America has been a melting pot of cultures for many centuries, with the number of immigrants continually rising every year. Most of these immigrants come into the country with nothing at all except for the clothes on their backs and a few English words. But they also bring with them something special – their cultures and traditions from their homeland. In the Immigrant Advantage, readers can see that these specific traditions that they bring with them give them an advantage because they tend to have better mental and physical health than their native born American counterparts (5).

Juana Mora in “Acculturation Is Bad for Our Health: Eat More Nopalitos” argues that the United States offers many job and educational opportunities for Latinos, but acculturation in America negatively impacts their health. Mora offers research and statistics, most of which I find compelling, to explain that these illnesses are primarily due to the immigrants’ new “daily habits and environment changes” (Mora 660). After arriving in America, immigrants often live in crime-ridden, low income neighborhoods, rely on fast food, abuse alcohol and tobacco products, and have fewer safe areas for exercise. Additionally, the stress caused “by learning a new language and culture” and “living in new and sometimes dangerous environments” causes illnesses such as post-traumatic

Different sub-groups among the Latino Community possesses varying rates of psychological disorders. A recent study, conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, surveyed those of the Latino and Hispanic Communities in the United States. This study revealed, that generally, 27% of Latinos reported having higher levels of depression. Among the various Latino groups, those having a lower score of 22.3% were those of the Mexican descent and those having a

Mental health is a person’s emotional and physiological well-being; some immigrants come to the country hoping for an easier and happier life, however, this is not always the case. As stated previously in lecture, assimilating to a new language, new food, and different cultural norms can be mentally draining. Experiences like exposure to war, death of loved ones, violence, oppression, and torture will likely make one mentally unstable and further complicates the resettlement process. The process of assimilating into a new cultural is mentally taxing to the soul, you are having to throw away all that you know and create a facade in order to be accepted. In my opinion, refugees and immigrants display poor mental health on arrival due to a combination

none of subgroups of children fell within category of probable depression when the clinical cut off T-scores (>60) were applied (Kovacs 2003), but children who went back to Mexico when the parent was deported ranked highest in the depression symptoms category, these children were more likely to have emotional problems and negative physical symptoms than children whose undocumented parents were not at risk of being deported or detained. The result also showed that all three groups did fall within the category of probable anxiety disorders. Children whose undocumented parents were not at risk of deportation were more likely to report positive self-concept than children who went back with the parents after being deported. When a parent is detained or deported, the mental health and well-being of the US born child is affected immensely.

Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Immigrants have been migrating to the Unites States for years. Many people in the United States have different opinions on immigrants: some are negative and some are positive. Some Americans assume that immigrants are here to destroy the United States, but immigrants are here for many purposes: to support their families, succeed in their future, or to escape violence occurring in their home countries. Many Americans think that once an immigrant has settled in the United States that he or she will right away get a job or quickly learn English. Imagine moving to a new school not knowing a single person. You will feel anxious or even discouraged. Now just imagine arriving in a new country and not knowing anyone and you can’t speak English. Well, that is how millions of young and adult undocumented immigrants feel every day when trying to fit into the American culture. Life is hard for an undocumented immigrant. Immigrants in the United States face many challenges when trying to adapt or assimilate into the American culture. But my question is, what kind of mental health issues or other psychological problems do immigrants face when they are trying to adjust to the American culture, and how can our society alleviate some of that anxiety?

One urban problem these immigrants face when arriving to Los Angeles is having a lack of education, and not being able to become educated properly. According to “5 Challenges Facing the Hispanic/Latino Community in the U.S.”, by Elias Moitinho, “Hispanics/Latinos have low levels of educational attainments” where “the high school dropout rate among Latino youths (17%) is nearly three times as high as it is among white youths (6%) and nearly double the rate among blacks (9%).” This issue facing Hispanic immigrants as they settle in Los Angeles can be related to poverty where “reportedly, 5 million Latinos (one-third of their total number) are living in poverty in the state” of California (Palash Ghosh). Considering how poverty is relevant to Hispanic immigrants, this leads to fiscal problems where services such as public education lack funding, resulting in an education crisis. Another urban problem is the issue of transportation use. Hispanic immigrants require transportation to get to their locations such as work, and many rely on public transportation due to their economic conditions. These immigrants reply on “a diverse transportation network” that is “especially important for those without cars, which includes…17 percent of Latino… households” (Manuel Pastor). Another urban challenge immigrant Hispanics face is settling in areas

Immigration trauma has different phases, but generally begins years before the individual leaves the country. The person is usually leaving conditions deemed intolerable; poverty, unemployment, and violence, and fear for one's safety are common. The immigrant then has to endure acculturative stress, the loss of social support, and displacement. A recent study asserts that 11% of all immigrant Latinos reported political violence exposure and 76% described additional lifetime traumas (Foster, 2001). Armed with this knowledge, the clinician assessing Mario and Mary would want to screen Mario for trauma,

Undocumented college students have a much higher level of anxiety than the population at large, likely caused by a unique set of challenges they face as a result of their legal status. Concern related to finances, fear of deportation and a sense of isolation weigh heavily on undocumented students, according to a study released today from the Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education at the University of California Los Angeles. In the study of undocumented undergraduates, 28.5 percent of male and 36.7 percent of female participants reported a level of anxiety that was above the clinical cut off for generalized anxiety disorder, which means a moderate or severe level of anxiety. That’s compared to 4 percent and 9 percent from a sample of the general population. The Pew Research Center estimates that there are between 200,000 and 225,000 undocumented immigrants enrolled in college. But research on the population is limited largely to students at selective four-year colleges or within specific states, according to the study. Undocumented students, for obvious legal reasons, also are a difficult population to reach. This study consisted of a largely anonymous survey of 909 participants from 34 states. They represented 55 different

Demographically, Latinos in the Unites States are relatively young due to immigration by younger people seeking work and to their high fertility rate (Appleby, G.A., Colon, E., & Hamilton, J., 2011). The Latino population is on the average eight years younger than that of Whites and two years than African Americans (Appleby, G.A., Colon, E., & Hamilton, J., 2011).

The chronosystem according to the Ecological Systems theory refers to the environmental patterns, social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or population over a life time. Acculturation, as defined by Smith and Guerra (2006) is “the differences and changes in values and behaviors that individuals make as they gradually adopt the cultural values of the dominant society” (283). In order to capture the complex process of acculturation and consider all dimensions of acculturation, it is important to consider the influence of the factors that have already been explored in this brief: individual variations, family dynamics, parental and environmental factors; in addition to acculturative stress, adaptation process and generational status (Smokowski et al., 2014) which will be further explored. Although research has reflected inconsistent findings regarding impact of acculturation on mental health issues for Latinos’, when considered in the context described above, acculturation has been found to impact Latinos. Acculturative stress has resulted in negative mental health outcomes, specifically anxiety and depression, for Latinos’ especially when an individual’s culture and dominant culture conflict. (Hovey, 2000; Katagadda & Tidwell, 1998, Stein et al., 2012) Due to the individual adjustment process each family member goes through when

Furthermore, there is also a difference on how adolescents and their parents adjust to the process of immigration and their mental health. According to Scuglik and Alarcon (2005), adolescent immigrants are most likely to suffer more mental health problems than adult immigrants. For example, adolescent Somali immigrants experience more psychological distress compared to their parents. The reason on why adolescent Somali suffer more mental health problems than their parents is because their process of adapting to a new culture and environment is sometimes more intense. Thus, it is harder for them to get used to a new lifestyle, adolescents are at an age where everything seems to be more difficult and challenging. In addition, children are most likely to struggle with their fluency in English more than their parents because

that is very likely to happen. Some people may be more susceptible to the exposure of a traumatic event than others and may deal with them in distinct ways. Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy diminished negative outcomes in children’s lives after traumatic experiences through appropriate coping skills and emotional stability. Although effectiveness has been seen with TF-CBT, the variation among people must be taken into consideration to be completely successful. With appropriate adjustments to the treatment’s assessment, multicultural factors will no longer be barriers for a successful treatment and can benefit ethnic minority such as Hispanic

Caring Across Communities (CAC), support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is the initiative that has been developed for engaging innovative partnerships among schools, families, students, mental health providers, and other community organizations to build effective and easy-access school-based mental health services for children and youth, including immigrant population in 15 sites across the U.S. (McNeely, Sprecher, & Bates, 2010). According to the evaluation report, school-based mental health services targeting immigrant children and youth were intervened through the CAC initiative for improving immigrant and refugee children and youth’s psychological and physical behaviors, enhancing them to access to mental health services, and