Immigrant and Refugee Youth and Families

Research and Practice

Mo Yee Lee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367617004
• eBook ISBN: 9781000386875
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery
• Index: Social Sciences

The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. Over the years the composition of immigrants has significantly changed. From receiving immigrants from primarily Europe, the United States is now home to people from countries around the globe. One of the common challenges encountered by immigrant and refugee families and youth is to successfully resettle and integrate into the host country that is culturally different from their country of origin. Depending on the context of migration, families and youth oftentimes face additional challenges ranging from potential trauma prior to immigration, language, employment, education, healthcare accessibility, integration, discrimination, etc. This book focuses on different issues experienced by immigrant and refugee families and youth as well as programs implemented to serve these populations. These issues pertain to the individual at a personal level (attachment, trauma, bi-cultural self-efficacy, behavioral problems, and mental health), family (parenting, work-family conflict, problems such as domestic violence), community (risk factors such as racial discrimination and protective factors such as social capital) and policy (immigration policy and enforcement).

Part I of the book focuses on immigrant and refugee families and Part II focuses on immigrant and refugee youth. By increasing our awareness of issues pertinent to immigrant and refugee families and youth, we can better provide culturally respectful and sensitive services and policy to this population at a time when they are navigating between their host culture and home culture in addition to dealing with challenges encountered in resettlement.

The book is a significant new contribution to migration studies and social justice, and will be a great resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of social work, public policy, law and sociology. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of Ethic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.

Introduction

Immigrant and refugee youth and families: research and practice

United States has been named as a nation of immigrants although the composition of immigrants has changed over the years from primarily immigrants from European countries to currently countries around the globe. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 after World War II also allows refugees to come to the US. Based on statistics provided by U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2018 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (2020a), since 2001, there were slightly over one million immigrants who were granted permanent resident status every year with the exception of 2003, 2004 and 2013 where slightly less than one million immigrants were granted permanent residency. Between 2001 and 2018, a total of 1,013,379 refugees have arrived in the US with the largest number of arrivals in 2016 (84,988) and lowest number of arrivals in 2018 (22,405) (U.S Department of Homeland Security, 2020b).

One of the common challenges encountered by immigrant and refugee families and youth is to successfully resettle and integrate into the host country, which is culturally different than their country of origin. Depending on the context of migration, families and youth usually face additional challenges ranging from language, employment, education, healthcare accessibility, integration, discrimination, etc. This special issue focuses on research that seek to understand different issues experienced by immigrant and refugees families and youth as well as programs that were implemented to effectively serve this populations.

Part I: immigrant and refugee families

Part I of the special issue includes seven articles that focus on diverse issues related to immigrant and refugee families. Understanding resettled refugee parents’ experiences and opportunities for support is crucial for helping professionals to provide culturally competent and sensitive service to these families. “Parenting in Transition: Refugee Populations’ Challenges in Navigating Parenting upon Resettlement” aims to study the needs of recently resettled refugee parents, specifically from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bhutan, and the obstacles that influence their parenting.

“Using Culturally-Appropriate, Trauma-Informed Support to Promote Bi-Cultural Self-Efficacy among Resettled Refugees” recognizes the pressure for resettled refugees to integrate successfully into the culture of their resettlement country within a relatively short period of time. Building on existing literature that demonstrates ethnic identity and participation in the ethnic culture of origin play a key role in supporting the mental health of resettled refugees, the author presents a model that draws on social-cognitive theory, trauma theory and models of second culture acquisition to reflect relationships between trauma, mental health and self-efficacy.

“Immigration Policies and Mental Health: Examining the Relationship between Immigration Enforcement and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress among Latino Immigrants” is a timely study that examines the impact of current immigration policies on mental health outcomes of adult Latino immigrants. The authors use legal violence as the theoretical framework to examine the relationship between personal and family suffering as a result of anti–immigrant policies and enforcement strategies and depression, anxiety and stress among Latino immigrants. Authors also discuss implications for social work practice, advocacy and research.

Increasing number of immigrants from different countries and backgrounds are now residing and working in the United Sates. “Work-Family Conflict in a Comparative Context: Immigrant and Native workers in the US” examines the relationship between job demands-resources and work–family conflict among immigrant workers and native workers using a nationally representative database of wage and salaried workers in the United States. Results indicate that some of the factors predicting work-family conflict among immigrant and native workers are dissimilar, which have useful implications for social work professionals working with immigrant populations and work-family policies.

“Social Work Practice with West Indian Migrant Fathers” describes findings of a qualitative study that seeks to understand the impact of migration on West Indian men and women’s perceptions of father involvement and the role of social work practitioners in helping West Indian migrant fathers with challenges faced in fathering. Seventy-six West Indian immigrant men and women discussed father involvement via questionnaires and/or in-depth interviews. The authors also discuss implications for social work interventions that address interpersonal and environmental issues, which hamper optimal father involvement for these migrant men.

Women of immigrant and refugee status who experience domestic violence constitute an underserved population. Through an intersectional and trauma-informed lens, “Improving Access to Domestic Violence Services for Women of Immigrant and Refugee Status: A Trauma-Informed Perspective” explores service needs and paths to help-seeking of these women through in-depth interviews with 10 survivors and 15 service providers. Authors also discuss recommendations to improve service delivery and policies.

Racial discrimination is a potential challenge to immigrant populations and has showed to have negative consequences on health, mental health and individual’s well-being. “Effects of Asian Immigrants’ Group Membership in the Association between Perceived Racial Discrimination and Psychological Well-being” explores the effects of perceived racial discrimination on participants’ psychological well-being as well as moderating effects of group membership factors. Findings indicated that immigrants’ generational status was not a significant moderating factor although young adults (ages 18–24) and Vietnamese ethnicity showed the most vulnerability when they experienced racial discrimination. The authors discuss useful implications for policy and social work practice.

Part II: immigrant and refugee youth

This section includes six articles that seek to understand immigrant and refugee children and adolescents from different perspectives on diverse issues. “When Generalized Assumptions of Young Refugees Don’t Hold” adopts an intersectional way of reading ethnographic data collected in Malta on young refugees and suggests that an intersectional way of understanding allows professionals to understand the complexity of identity and differences in constructions of them. More importantly, it is important to recognize professionals’ own positioning, patterns and understandings so that we will not reproduce stereotyped constructions and understandings when working with refugee youth.

“The Relationship between Adolescent Refugees’ Attachment Patterns and Their Experiences of Trauma” focuses on examining the relationship between adolescent refugees’ traumatic experiences and their attachment styles. Findings suggest that refugees who are securely attached have greater resilience in the face of traumatic events than refugees with insecure or disorganized attachment styles. Authors also discuss implications for treatment and future research.

Engaging in antisocial attitudes and aggression negatively impacts the mental and psychological health of immigrant children and adolescents. The third article “Anti-Social Attitude and Aggressive Behavior among Immigrant Youth: Moderating Effects of Relationships with Parents” examines the impact of parent–child relationship on behavioral problems among a sample consists mostly of Hispanic immigrant children. Findings indicated the impact of positive mother–child and father–child relationships in mitigating the negative impact of antisocial attitudes on aggressive behaviors in children.

Bhutanese refugees are a relatively new group of resettled refugees in the US since 2008. Bhutanese youths who have resettled within the United States have a unique socio-historical context as most were born or raised in refugee camps with minimal exposure to formal education. Instead of taking a deficits-based perspective and focusing on problems, “Correlates of Bhutanese Youth’s General Well-Being” seeks to understand factors that relate to the well-being of these youth. Findings of the study highlights the important role of familial social capital and ethnic identification in the general wellbeing of Bhutanese youth. The author also discusses the implications of study findings for practice and treatment.

“Staying Close to Home: The Significance of Relationships for Immigrant-origin Local College Students” is a qualitative inquiry that seeks to understand the process for college students from immigrant backgrounds to navigate existing and new obligations to family, community and school when entering college, which is an important transition in life. Findings suggest that supportive relationships with family, peers and mentors are key to helping students transition to college while maintaining existing ties, although some students also felt torn between their own needs and those of their families.

“Karen Refugee Youths’ Satisfaction with a Teen Dating Violence Prevention Program” is a pilot study that uses a mixed-method approach to examine the satisfaction of Safe Dates, an evidenced-based teen dating violence program, among Karen refugee youth. Findings indicated that the youth were satisfied with the program without any cultural adaptations although they have also provided helpful suggestions to further adapt teen dating violence prevention programs for Karen youth in view of their unique sociocultural context.

Practice corner

This special issue also includes two articles from the Practice Corner. “Dietary Adaptation of Immigrant Families and Children” raises our awareness to unique challenges immigrant families and children experienced around food. Retention of dietary tradition may become difficult when personal, psychological and social processes are involved. The author suggests that culturally competent social workers should be aware of the extent to which dietary adaptation influences optimal wellbeing of immigrant families and children.

“Creating Welcoming Communities for LGBTQ Migrants: Living Room-Style Chats for Service Providers” addresses the importance of increasing service providers’ knowledge of and attitudes about LGBTQ migrant population as a way to enhance their capacity to effectively serve these clients. The authors describe a training for service providers in the form of a “living room-style chat” and provide recommendations for replicating these living room-style chats in other communities.

This Special Issue is part of an integral effort of social work community to increase our awareness of issues pertinent to immigrant and refugee families and youth so that we can provide culturally respectfully and sensitive services and policy to this population at a time when they are navigating between their host culture and home culture in addition to dealing with challenges encountered in resettlement. Adopting a stance of cultural humility, I hope the articles in this special issue will help us to continue our dialogue around serving immigrant and refugee families and youth in a way that is informed, effective and culturally respectful.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

References

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2018 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. (2020a, January 6). Table 1. Persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status: fiscal years 1820 to 2018. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2018/table1
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2018 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. (2020b, January 6). Table 13. Refugee arrivals: Fiscal years 1980 to 2018. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2018/table13

Part 1

Immigrant and Refugee Families

Parenting in transition: refugee populations’ challenges in navigating parenting upon resettlement

Neda Moinolmolki, Frank Ridzi, Virginia Cronin, and Haji Adan

ABSTRACT

With the exception of the last three fiscal years, there has been a consistent influx of refugees being resettled to the U.S. during the last 20 years from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bhutan. Although there is existing literature examining the obstacles that recently resettled refugee families face, the ways in which these obstacles influence parenting has not been widely studied. For organizations to best serve these populations, a solid understanding of newly resettled refugee parents’ experiences and opportunities for support is crucial. The purpose of this current study was to determine the needs of newly resettled refugee parents, specifically from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bhutan, and the obstacles that influence their parenting in a Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.

Along with the rising rates of conflict, persecution, and violence worldwide, there has been a significant increase in the number of refugees being resettled into developed nations. The United States (U.S.) has admitted refugees since the wake of World War II, with the enactment of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. A preponderance of these recently resettled refugees have hailed from Asia or Africa. This is a stark contrast from earlier cohorts of refugees stemming from European descent (Rong & Preissle, 2009). This shift has presented challenges for local communities, schools, and social services in supporting the navigation of parenting and acculturation for newly resettled refugee parents (Brenner & Kia-Keating, 2016; Sarr & Mosselson, 2010). Although there is existing literature examining the obstacles that recently resettled refugee families face, the ways in which these obstacles influence parenting has not been widely studied. For organizations to best serve these populations, a solid unders...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1 Introduction: Immigrant and refugee youth and families: research and practice
• Part I: Immigrant and Refugee Families
• Part II: Immigrant and Refugee Youth
• Practice Corner
• Index