Migrant Children's Acculturative Stress

Thousands of people are deported yearly from the United States. The purpose of deportation is to protect America and keep it safe. However, deportation tears families apart and ruins the well-being of migrant children. Deportation has developed and expanded over the years. It developed into something much more complex that affects many families in the United States yearly, but also affects the well-being of the United States Economy

The changing environment throughout time has caused many families to move out of their homelands. These families are either forced to make the decision to move out, or they move by their own desire. Migration and parenthood in a new country are significant transitions that pose stressful challenges for immigrant and refugee parents. Although living in Canada can be rewarding, however, there are challenges that immigrants and refugee face through trying to adapt to the culture of Canada. These challenges may include, battling cultural shock, Language Barriers, Misconceptions of Homeland and culture, employment, and depression.

As referenced above, according to Fass 2006 there are a significant number of children of immigrants being affected by poverty (26% of immigrant children and 16% of children of native born parents). These students are more likely to have a first language other than English and have a higher chance of not being proficient in English. This will result in these children with less than sufficient literacy skills, which in turn affects them in all academic areas.

emotional, financial, and linguistic changes that can be overwhelming. Learning the norms of a new society and having to adapt while overcoming the fears associated with the unknown is something that most immigrants will face at some point. However, just as family plays a role in many other aspects of the Mexican culture, so does it with acculturation and adapting to the new societies they reside in. In an article titled Family Cohesion and Social Support Factors for Acculturation Stress Among Low-Acculturated Mexican Migrants, Vidal De Haymes, Martone, Munoz, and Grossman (2017), explain that while all of the factors of migration are challenging, the fact that many have family members or friends they can depend on; in their receiving country plays a role in lowering the stress and challenges they experience. This is because once in the United States, there is a support base that can assist them with learning and understanding the new culture and behavioral norms they will experience, making the transition mush easier. According to Vidal De Haymes et al. (2017), a study looking at the acculturative stress amongst 197 Mexican adults found that there were five factors that played a role in lowering the stressors associated with migration and the main factor was family. This is because it allows for the individual to have some familiarity with the new settings they live in. When looking at the religious aspects of this population, majority are part of the Christian or

According to acculturation theory (Berry et al., 1987), the psychological experience of adapting to a new culture becomes manifested as acculturative stress for children. Acculturation theory identifies how immigrant children’s mental development is hindered as a result of acculturation stress. Acculturation stress that directly results from the acculturative process can appear as mental health problems. Since culture may influence an immigrant child throughout his or her entire life, reducing acculturative stress is important for them to live in the new home country. Understanding the role of acculturation in the lives of immigrants is an essential component to understanding the overall mental health of Asian American immigrant children.

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

Children in immigrant families are often considered at increased risk of maltreatment due to the stress and pressure experienced by the family resulting from immigration and acculturation. Within the child welfare system, the number of Latino children has steadily risen over the past several years, with national data indicating that the percentage of Latino children confirmed as victims of maltreatment has risen from 10.0% in 1995 to 14.2% in 2000 to 17.4% in 2005 (Dettlaff et al. 2009). This data represents only one part of the various research studies conducted in order to better understand immigrant families entry and presence in the child welfare system. In Earner’s (2007) research study, a focus group was facilitated with immigrant families who were already part of the child welfare system. From this focus group a few key themes arose, there was a deep concern for the public service workers lack of awareness on issues that immigrant families face and the needs that they encounter (Earner, 2007). There was also concern about the service and referrals they were receiving since many of them were dependent upon eligibility which they did not meet due to their immigration status (Earner, 2007)

The study itself discusses several “buffers” which might have prevented trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder. When coming to the United States, many Latinx immigrants have a support system waiting for them, whether that is family or friends. Others build a support system right away in places such as church. Therefore, Perreira takes into account parent living with a partner and church attendance as buffers. A support system contributed to the resilience of female immigrants who went through a traumatic experience. Consequently, they might not develop post-traumatic stress disorder or its symptoms.

I will never forget the day when my childhood nightmares of being kidnapped when i was five years old from my home became true. When I was five years old living in an apartment in Everett one day on a cold night while I was awake I went to go get a drink of water, suddenly as I was in the hallway I saw a large figure with a mask. I just froze,I did not know what to do or how to react, I was so scared I could not say a word and I couldnt do anything or run away, I just froze, I didnt know what was going on.

According to the migrationpolicy.org in 2010 the reports show low-income immigrant children were significantly less likely to make a doctors appointment weather having private or public health care insurance. Of the low-income immigrant children only forty-seven percent, forty-four percent with private coverage and sixty-two percent of public overage over their native-born children that sixty-nine percent, sixty-nine percent with private coverage, and seventy-one and a half percent with public coverage (Ku and Jewers). With the raise in obesity it is very important that they are able to go to the doctors the check their health. Having programs and doctors appointments set up can help them to learn where they need help weather its in their diets or in their exercise. I think having a program at schools can provide a better opportunity for both the children and the parents to have check ups especially when families are raises the rates of obesity.

Obama Presses Central American Leaders to Slow Wave of Child Migrants by Michael D. Shear and Ashley Parker was the article I chose to read. It was written on July 25, 2014. I chose this one because we are currently reading Enrique’s Journey and this article was about the stop of the incoming immigrants. It takes about how President Obama met with the four presidents of Central America about the dangerous journey people travel to get out of Central America. I felt it important to list the date because it said that since October more than 57,000 children who travel alone and thousands of parents with their children have traveled across the boarders since October. Obama is looking for a way to stop this from happening and deport people who have illegally crossed the

Discussions about immigration, focused on such policy issues as labor force participation and use of welfare programs, however policy makers frequently fail to include considerations for the children’s well-being. Even those debates which center on programs that benefit children, including institutions such as schools, public assistance, and social welfare program are often based on issues related to short-term costs and societal impacts, completely neglecting considerations of the well-being and future contributions of immigrant children. Immigrant children have been rendered largely invisible in policy spheres. Yet first and second generation immigrant children are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population under age 15 (Board on

I have chosen this paper since I have been involved in care for the pediatric patients and families from various backgrounds. This increased my interest in effects of culturally sensitive care for children and their families.

abroad where the work is available and the cost of living isn't rising.Hence, they can improve their social situation. Dummet,P.(2013)admitted that immigrants went in to building a new life and how their descendants now feel a duty to honour their efforts by working hard too .He also give two Queens residents’ stories about that ;Richard&Tanja.Some families leave their countries to access to good education. In the last few years there have been a number of studies examining the adaptation of immigrant children in schools. Suárez-Orozco characterizes their findings by saying that immigrant children today fit pattern of school adaptation.Someimmigrant children do quite well in school, surpassing U.S.-born children in grades,standardized test scores, and attitudes toward education.Other immigrant children tend to overlap with U.S.-born children, and yet others tend to achieve below their U.S.-born peers.

Child Migration has a crucial impact on economic and social development of whole world but the specific effect of migration on children that make up their future of those economics and societies education are as follows: