Migration Cultural Assimilation

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

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

Many researchers have studied the immigrant assimilation in the recent years. America’s ethnic groups have been expected to come together as one and into the mainstream of american society for decades. Immigrant assimilation is a complex process in which immigrants should not only fully integrate themselves to a new country but also lose aspects perhaps all their heritage too if necessary. Social scientists rely on a primary benchmark to assess immigrant assimilation which is socioeconomic status. A melting pot can be described as a metaphor which indicates a society where many different types of people blend in as one.

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?

The changing environments throughout the ages have caused the movement of thousands of families out of their homelands. Whether forced to make such decisions or doing so by their own desires, all immigrants have had to survive the physical and psychological challenges encountered along the way. To speak about the experiences of all these different people using the same ideas and examples would be quite inaccurate. They all, however, had to live through similar situations and deal with similar problems. Many of them succeeded and found the better future they were looking for. Many others found only hardship and experienced the destruction of their hopes and dreams. All of them were transformed.

Research indicates that immigrant groups are likely to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) at varying degrees irrespective of whether they are voluntary migrants or refugees. However, refugees are known to suffer higher rates of mental health disorders ranging from PSTD to depression (Rasmussen et al., 2012). It is also known that refugees are likely to have more pre-migration risk for trauma than voluntary immigrants. Even though most refugees flee their home countries to reduce the risk of distress, research indicates that the well-being of such immigrants deteriorates with increasing time spent in the host countries

In recent studies, the United States has seen an increase in numbers in immigration and has affected both adolescent education and the work environment. These families are forced to learn a new language and blend into a new society. In the article Obstacles to Getting Ahead by Martica L. Bacallao and Paul R. Smokowski “Monolingualism and discrimination in interpersonal interactions and social policies directed Mexican adolescents and their parents to learn English and to conform to host culture norms, appearance, and behaviors to advance in school and in their work.” (1). Lately, education has been a struggle for immigrants due to the language barrier and the effects that it has on them such as depression, anxiety, and even feel abandonment.

Due to socioeconomic, cultural, and, after the past few election cycles in the United States, political adversity that immigrants have to endure, it is not surprising that some immigrant populations, namely the working poor, manifest various mental health issues at higher rates than the rest of the population. According to much research, "evidence is overwhelming that certain immigrant groups. . . suffer a greater incidence of schizophrenia" also noting that the "risk increases with length of residence in the host country and the risk is even more severe in the second generation" (Whitley 1073). There are a number of pre-migratory, post-migratory factors that also include factors associated with the process of migration that most likely increase the incidence of mental health issues in immigrants, namely persecution, poverty, violence, famine, drought and other traumatic events that in addition to potentially arduous journeys to reach their destination and post-migratory factors included in the term "marginalization" that make it easy to see why immigrants would have a higher incidence of psychopathology like schizophrenia, developmental disorders in children, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety (Whitley 1073). Many of these issues compound after migration has taken place to manifest what has been called "social defeat." According to Whitley, "social defeat is an umbrella term that refers to various sociocultural (and economic) acute events and

This study examines two important aspects of the mental and physical health of immigrants and this was referred to as the ‘healthy immigrant effect’. The article compares the mental health of immigrants and minorities in Canada to those who are Canadian (native born), or were brought to Canada at a young age. It shows that the mental health of Asians and Blacks was significantly better compared to their native born Canadian counterparts. Latin American men were also found to have better mental health compared to their native born Canadian counterparts. Even though mental health declines the longer they reside in Canada, evidence has suggested that living among your community is a factor that helps immigrants’ mental health. The weakness in

As a nation founded and built by immigrants, regardless of the treatment the different immigrant groups have received from the U.S., the very notion of immigration is an essential componant in understanding our nation’s identity. I believe it’s important to recognize and know one’s personal culture and background in their family line. If we are called to remember that somewhere down our family’s history there are immigrants who decided to migrate then I believe that can have a humbling effect, and, as a result, decrease the likelihood of xenophobic behavior to spread across our political system and the social and economic discourse that surrounds immigration. Thus, preserving one’s own culture is important, because it allows us to realize that

It is very difficult for someone to leave their place of origin and arrive to the United States, in a melting pot of different cultures. Based on the module readings and the documentary, “Lost in Detention”, immigrant’s experiences many physical and mental damages to their health, which can make their new life in America, a negative, rather than a positive. Immigrants arrive to the country in overall relatively good health (in comparison to natives) and with a hopeful attitude. After a few years, immigrants began to suffer depression, anxiety and poor health due to the conditions that they are presented with.

There are multiple barriers that prevent recent immigrants to Canada from accessing mental health services including culture, stigma, and affordability. One of the barriers that prevents immigrants from seeking mental health services is language proficiency (Ohtani, Suzuki, Takeuchi, & Ochida, 2015). Language barriers and their implications on mental health care will be reviewed. Brisset et al. (2013) highlights the importance of dialogue between the health care practitioner and the client receiving care. This inhibits the practitioner’s ability to form a diagnosis, and to collaboratively decide on a course of treatment. Recent immigrants and refugees have a higher likelihood to suffer from psychiatric disorders (Brisset et al, 2013).

In this article, it also talks about the families who have decided to try and assimilate into the dominant culture. Those who have more mental and/or physical health issues are the ones who have assimilated by forgetting their heritage and the connections that take place. In order to really understand culture we as workers need to take it upon ourselves to appreciate the connections between “ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, class, race, religion, geography, migration and politics and how they have together influenced families in adapting to American life” (Falicov, 1995). All of these things have an impact in some way on the assimilation of different cultures into the ‘American life.’ This article talks about how assimilating people move closer to these dominant values in two ways: 1) the longer time period they remain residents in the United States and 2) the degree of which the individuals rise in social class. It is thought that there are a few ways individuals can remain more comfortable in their ethnicity for a longer period of time, they typically remain in a neighborhood that is among their ethnicity, interact with members of their specific ‘group,’ and have religious ties to their ethnic

The question of identity is always a difficult one for those living in a culture or group, yet belonging to another. This difficulty frequently remains in the mind of most immigrants, especially the second generations who were born in a country other than their parents. Younger generations feel as if they are forced to change to fit the social standards despite previous culture or group. Furthermore those who wish to adopt a new identity of a group or culture haven't yet been fully accepted by original members due to their former identity.

There were four acculturation strategies that was proposed for minority migrants, depending on their level of cultural awareness: (a) assimilation occurs when individuals abandon their cultural identity in favour of adopting the new culture, (b) marginality occurs when individuals abandon their cultural identity and yet have little interest in adopting the new culture, (c) integration occurs when individuals maintain their cultural identity as well as adopting some characteristics of the new culture, and (d) separation occurs when individuals maintain their original cultural identity and do not adopt the new culture (Heggins & Jackson,