MOVING STORIES: THE CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY OF IMMIGRANT YOUTH

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MOVING STORIES THE CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY OF
IMMIGRANT YOUTH

• CAROLA SUÁREZ-OROZCO, Ph.D.
• MARCELO SUÁREZ-OROZCO, Ph.D.
• Co-Directors Immigration Studies _at_ NYU
• NYU Steinhardt School of Education
• www.nyu.education/immigration/
• Boston College -- October 5th, 2005

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Why Do People Migrate? The largest
emigration wave in history is structured by
globalization's emerging regime. Transnational
labor recruiting networks, wage differentials,
and family reunification (Love and Work), and
War, are behind new migratory practices that
cannot be easily contained by the state.
Globalization is predicated on the 1)
internationalization of production and
distribution of goods, services, and consumption
that is fueled by growing levels of international
trade, foreign direct investment, and capital
market flows 2) the emergence of borderless
information and communication technologies that
stimulate the traffic of data, symbols, and
desire and that place a premium on knowledge
intensive work and 3) ever growing,
uncontainable waves of world-wide migration.
These phenomena give an unprecedented momentum to
todays global order.
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• We are all Exceptionalists Now or Why All the
  Families of the Post-Industrial World are Unhappy
  the Same Way
• 175 Million Immigrants Refugees Worldwide.
• Leicester, England, will be the first European
  City with non-white majority. Frankfurt today is
  roughly 30 immigrant Rotterdam is 45
  immigrant. Amsterdam will by yr. 2015 be 50
  immigrant. Sweden has 1 million immigrants. China
  alone has over 150 million internal immigrants.
• Since 1990 about a million new immigrants per
  annum have come to the US There are well over
  34 million immigrants, the largest number in
  history (larger than the entire Canadian
  population) but proportionally less than in the
  previous eras of large-scale immigration.

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World Migration

• Projections

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Immigrants Admitted to the United States 1821-1996
Adapted from INS, 2000
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Foreign Born Population

• It grew by 57 between 1990 and 2000
• Over 18 million are now from Latin America
• 8.5 million are now from Asia
• 9 of the top 10 leading countries are Latin
  American or Asian
• More than 30 of the foreign born population now
  is Mexican 53 is of Latino origin
• More than 50 of the foreign born settled in 3
  states CA, TX, NY

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Percent Distribution of Foreign Bornby World
Region of Birth 2003 Source Current Population
Survey
Other Regions 8.0
Europe 13.7
Latin America 53.3
Asia 25.0
Source Current Population Survey, Annual
Social and Economic Supplement, 2003
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• Latinos are now the nations largest ethnic group
• If we add Puerto Rico and count undocumented
  immigrants to the US, there are now over 43
  million Latinos in the US more than there are
  people in Spain, Colombia, Argentina and any
  other Spanish speaking country except for
  Mexico
• One in six babies born today have a Latina mother
  
• By 2050 the US will have over 100 Million
  Latinos
• The Latino GDP at 600 billion dollars is now
  larger than the GDP of Spain and Mexico. By 2010
  it will reach a trillion dollars.

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NEW DIVERSITY

• Economic Backgrounds
• Some are amongst the most educated and affluent
• Others have limited education and are the
  working poor
• Linguistic backgrounds
• Over 199 countries in New York Public Schools
• Over 90 languages in Los Angeles Public Schools
• Five Top Languages Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese,
  Korean, Tagalog
• Ethnicity, Race, Color
• Nearly 80 are of color

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CHILDREN OF IMMIGRATION The Best of Times/ The
Worst of Times

• Immigration Research Theory is largely focused
  on Adults
• One in Five Children in the U.S. is the Child of
  an Immigrant
• Fastest Growing Sector of U.S. Child Population
• Social Adaptation
• Three Pathways
• Some Outperform Native Born
• Some Overlap with Native Born
• Some Achieve Below Native Born
• Princeton-Prison/Yale/Jail

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• The Epidemiological Paradox
• Birth Outcomes
• Mental Health NRC Study -- Hernandez Charney
  1998 (lower prevalence of depression, suicidal
  ideation, drug abuse, etc. etc. )
• Risk Behaviors NRC Study -- Hernandez Charney
  1998
• Academic Outcomes
• Aspirations GPA
• Sociological study of 5,000 highs school students
  in Dade County Florida San Diego California
  Rumbaut Portes, 1995
• Schooling Behaviors, GPA, Risk Behaviors,
  Mental Health
• Psychological study of 20,000 adolescents from 9
  high schools Steinberg, Brown, Dornbusch 1996
• Similar findings emerging in Canada, the
  Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and France
  Beiser, Hou, Hyman Tousignant 1999,

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Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study

• Longitudinal interdisciplinary, comparative
• Documenting continuities and discontinuities in
  immigrant youths educational attitudes and
  adaptations over time
• Youth originated in Central America, China, the
  Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico
• Ages 9 14 at beginning of study
• Recruited from 51 schools in 7 school districts
  in the Boston San Francisco areas
  Ethnographic observations occur in 20 schools
• Thirty graduate level bicultural and
  multi-lingual research assistants
• Funded to date by the National Science
  Foundation, the W.T. Grant Foundation and The
  Spencer Foundation.

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Overarching Research Questions

• How are immigrant youth engaged in
  schoolcognitively, socially, and
  behaviorallyand how does this change over time?
• What are the characteristics of the networks of
  social relations of immigrant youth and how are
  they implicated in their adaptation and their
  academic experience and outcomes?
• Search for common denominator experiences as well
  as country of origin specificities

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Key Finding FAMILY SEPARATIONSFrom Whom Was
Child Separated During Immigration?
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From Whom Was Child Separated?
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Coming Together, Coming Apart Classic Family
Issues

• The Centripetal Paradigm
• Complications of Reunifications
• Parental sacrifice
• Fiercely protective against perceived dangers
  of Americanization (Instrumental and Expressive
  Acculturation)
• The Centrifugal Paradigm
• Differential rates of assimilation for adults
  children
• Potentials for miscommunication secondary to
  language issues
• Relative unavailability of parents
  (psychological long work hours)
• Mutual Shame
• Be careful what you wish for

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Challenge of Identity Formation

• Synthesizing incorporating elements of
• Culture of origin
• Receiving culture
• - Majority
• - Minority
• Imposed/ascribed identities
• - Social mirror
• - Peers
• Global youth culture

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Educational Challenges to Immigrant Youth

• Students Challenges
• Language Acquisition
• Interrupted Schooling
• Parents
• Unfamiliarity with American school culture and
  expectations
• Low parental education (in many cases)
• Parents difficulty assisting with homework
• Little control over work schedules

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School Context Challenges

• Poorest districts often face greatest infusions
  of immigrant children
• Insufficient Classroom materials designed for
  English Language Learners
• Dearth of Certified Teachers adequately trained
  to address these childrens special needs
• Disconcerting quality of day-to day educational
  experiences

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Critical Importance of Engaging Students

• Behavioral Engagement
• Immigrant students often start out highly
  behaviorally engaged
• Cognitive Engagement
• How do we keep students engaged intellectually
  when language gap makes access to content
  challenging?
• Relational Engagement
• The importance of learning communities and
  mentors

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Functions of Relations

• Information
• Jobs Housing schools
• Tangible Help
• Loans a place to live translation child care
  Social Cohesion/Belonging
• Social Cohesion
• Social Control
• Standards of behavior sanctions
• Emotional Support
• Affirmation Caring Respect Someone to talk to

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School Interventions

• Supporting School Based Relationships
• Homeroom assignments
• Advisory groups
• Team teaching
• Multi-year school assignments
• Smaller student groupings
• After-school learning communities

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Fostering Robust Learning Communities

• Nurture supportive relationships
• Between teachers and students
• Between teachers and parents
• Between students
• Maintain high but realistic expectations
• Build on strengths while recognizing transient
  English language limitations
• Mediate learning in a variety of ways
• Scaffold on all available linguistic and cultural
  resources
• Recognize diversity as a resource for learning
• Embrace immigrant childrens hopes and harness
  their energies