Social Support, Stress, And Adaptation Of Immigrants

Various reasons exist as to why Hispanic students are dropping out of school. The most widely known cause is poverty. According to Valladeres (2002), ?Almost 40 percent of Hispanic children are raised in families that are below the poverty line, a rate twice as high as that of Caucasian children? (p.37). Hispanic students often find it difficult to attend school when their parents are struggling with finances. Many drop out to assist their parents in earning money to stay in the country. According to Ofelia Garcia Hunter (2003), ?some immigrants formally enroll in public schools to learn English, but then drop out to work, their true goal for moving to the United States? (p.A1). Another very common explanation is the Hispanic?s language proficiency. Often, immigrants entering the U.S. are illiterate in Spanish, which makes learning English a daunting task (Valladares, 2002, p.38). Ronald Blackburn-Moreno explains that ?Latino children who enter school speaking only Spanish have the double task of learning to speak and read English. Once students are in elementary, even in middle school, their inability to read causes them to dropout? (Valladares, 2002, p.38). A further cause is age. If students immigrate at an older age,

The transition is different for a first generation immigrant at a high school level. There are many factors that come into play that make this transition difficult for the immigrants. In recent times, schools all over the country are very diverse, population wise. They have to deal with a new environment, unknown to them. They also have to learn to adapt, and learn a new language, which is a whole new challenge all on its' own. Bullying followed by discrimination are some of the biggest issues first generation immigrants face during their high school education.

Immigrant and multilingual youth face many challenges while getting an education. There are programs, laws and curriculum created and put in place in order to help further them in their educational goals; but these end up causing more harm than good. This is referred to as subtractive schooling. In this paper we will briefly go over what subtractive schooling is, what causes this to occur and what could be done to fight this type of schooling.

They face many difficulties like stressor, playing in a disadvantageous field. The American educational system does not have many programs to help the students assimilate into the culture without losing their own culture. …case study where three groups of immigrants (Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America) where the Latinos were exposed to more stressors, which resulted in a decrease of grades and academics success (122-124). 10% of the participant responded to the stressors by dropping out of the course because of the lack of help. “Latina America face unique risk and deserve intervention efforts focused on sociocontextual stressors that may prevent these students from achieving their full academic potential” (Plata-Potter, Sandra and Maria Rosario T. de Guzman,

American culture, they often develop a sense of membership in the United States despite their legal status. For many, the United States is the only country they have ever known (p. 268). In a sense, these students feel they are a part of a system that is trying to exclude them despite their similarities and integration into aspects of that system.

Growing up, my parents sacrificed endlessly to ensure I would thrive in America; they were Mexican immigrants, weren’t fluent in English, and struggled to assimilate into American culture. Their barriers wouldn’t stop them from presenting me with an opportunistic life. I didn’t have the luxury of parents that had proper schooling; all they taught me was to work hard and to not allow anything to bring me down. I was raised in a low-income neighborhood, and as my peers were entangling themselves in drugs and gangs, I focused on my schooling. I knew the importance of education and all the fruits of labor that would eventually come with it. I didn't’ fall into peer pressure, I surpassed the expectations of my family, and most importantly, did not fall into the negative statistics that correlate with Latinos.

Social/interpersonal stressors are characterized as the challenges associated with having to recreate family and social support, changing gender and family roles, and intergenerational conflicts between children and parents (Arbona et al, 2010).

As the son of impoverished Mexican immigrants, I never experienced the luxuries and everyday joys of other children my age. For instance, while other children worried about missing their favorite television shows or about what gifts they were going to receive for Christmas, I spent a majority of my time worrying about whether or not my parents would be able to put food on our table or be home in time to say goodnight. Yet, thanks to the support of my family and an unsurpassed desire to obtain a better life, I have immersed myself into my studies, in hopes that I can one day better the situation for those around me.

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

The purpose of this chapter is to review existing theories about the process of immigrant adaptation to a new society and to recapitulate the empirical findings that have led to an emerging perspective on the topic. This emerging view revolves around the concepts of different modes of structural incorporation and of the immigrant enclave as one of them. These concepts are set in explicit opposition to two previous viewpoints on the adaptation process, generally identified as assimilation theory and the segmented labor markets

In the two readings “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, the similar idea presented in both text is that students whose families come from immigrant background tend to work the hardest as in adapting to the English language. The reading by Richard Rodriguez provides a different message of how him coming from Mexican heritage had to adapt to the school environment in the U.S., albeit he was able to obtain academic excellence. However, having success in education cost him to be isolated and to have less communication with his family. Richard as a student was able to develop strengths in literacy and grammar thanks to his immense curiosity and habit of reading books. Since he would read many different books, he was able to gather different points of views and perspectives.

The Role of American Class System on the Social Mobility of Immigrants in the United States: Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung Today, many people migrate to the United States in search of the American dream; freedom, equality, and the opportunity to achieve their personal goals in life that people could not otherwise achieve in their homeland. The pursuit of prosperity and opportunity is what drives people to push their own limits and persevere in order to lead successful lives and achieve whatever goals they set. However, it has become apparent that the American dream is slowly fading due to the emergences of a class system. In Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung, author Anthony DePalma discusses the contrasting lives of two illegal immigrants:

In class we have discussed the academic pressure than many Chinese students face through Vivian Louie’s book Compelled to Excel. I am interested in studying the complex ways that ethnicity and immigrant status combine to affect students’ relationships with school. I think that reading and writing are relevant ways to delve into this, because of the large impact language has on both immigrant experience and school life. Additionally, 826 NYC’s position as an organization that is not immigrant specific but serves a large number of immigrant families is complicated. I am

If one were to evaluate the impact of immigration, it can be said that it alters the way in which one interprets a certain culture or idea. Immigration can shape the way parents see the future of their child, specifically their academic and career aspirations. The parents may hold different expectations for their children, in terms of their desire for a better future for their children. However, it can also affect the manner in which the child accomplishes these goals. In this paper, I will examine the effects of migration on higher educational aspirations for the children of immigrants, because it is important to note how the migrant’s experience influences the desires for their children. I will focus on the three reasons that can influence their aspirations: motivations for migration, expectations for children and academic performance of the children. I argue that to fully understand how migration affects educational aspirations, it is necessary to focus on the reasons that migration was made possible for Latina migrant womens, considering the economic and political histories of Latin America and the United States. It is also important to note what the educational aspirations are, and to consider the academic performances of the children of migrant workers, to see whether or not they are living up to these expectations. Results demonstrate that the outcomes can be mixed, as some children may live up to the aspirations while others are held back due to

Critique of Social Support and Migration in Scotland Project on Experiences of Social Security and Prospects for Long Term Settlement in Scotland amongst Migrants from Central Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union.