Background There is a critical need to document the mental health effects of immigration policies and practices on children vulnerable to parental deportation. Few studies capture the differential experiences produced by U.S. citizen-children’s encounters with immigration enforcement, much less in ways that analyze mental health outcomes alongside the psychosocial contexts within which those outcomes arise. Methods We explore the psychosocial dimensions of depression in U.S. citizen-children with undocumented Mexican parents to examine differences between citizen-children affected and not affected by parental deportation. An exploratory mixed-method design was used to integrate a quantitative measure of depression symptoms (CDI-2) within qualitative data collected with 48 citizen-children aged 8 to 15 with and without experiences of parental deportation. Results Stressors elicited by citizen-children in the qualitative interview included an inability to communicate with friends, negative perceptions of Mexico, financial struggles, loss of supportive school networks, stressed relation with parent(s), and violence. Fifty percent of citizen-children with probable depression—regardless of experiences with parental deportation—cited “stressed relation with parents,” compared to 9% without depression. In contrast, themes of “loss of supportive school network” and “violence” were mentioned almost exclusively by citizen-children with probable depression and affected by parental deportation. Conclusions While citizen-children who suffer parental deportation experience the most severe consequences associated with immigration enforcement, our findings also suggest that the burden of mental health issues extends to those children concomitantly affected by immigration enforcement policies that target their undocumented parents.
Using a cross-sectional sample of 534 Latino students from middle and high schools in a large North Carolina school district, we examined the relation of general and ethnic-biased bullying to depression and the indirect pathways through depression to suicidal ideation and substance use outcomes. A structural equation model tested the direct and indirect paths. The final model fit was excellent, χ(90) = 127.6, p = .0056, RMSEA = 0.028, CFI = 0.974, TLI = 0.961. Ethnic-biased and verbal or relational bullying had a direct effect on depression, but general and physical bullying did not. Indirect effects through depression were found for ethnic-biased and verbal or relational bullying in relation to suicidal ideation, alcohol, and illicit drug use. Child nativity was marginally associated with ethnic-biased bullying, indicating foreign-born students may experience greater ethnic-biased bullying. Implications for future research and bullying prevention are discussed.
Unaccompanied minors, or “newcomer youths,” come to the United States from Mexico and Central America to escape violence and persecution, and to seek financial and academic opportunities. Many newcomer youths arrive with gaps in their formal education attributed to the immigration process and the heterogeneity of their pre-U.S. lives. Once they are enrolled in the U.S. school system, many educators struggle to accommodate the academic needs of these students. Drawing on the framework of social and cultural capital, this article aimed to expand the current knowledge on the experiences of Latino unaccompanied youths in the U.S. school system. A thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with 30 newcomer students and 10 key informants revealed six themes: socialización con los demás compañeros (getting along with the other students); poca confianza (little trust); no sé lo que decían (I do not know what they were saying); it is a hard landing; education, interrupted; and estoy agradecido (I am grateful). The article offers suggestions for school social workers and educators on how to promote academic success, student resilience, and school connectedness for a vulnerable youth population.
Objective: Despite the interest in technology-enhanced preventive interventions for suicidality, there is minimal peer-reviewed research on conversations of text message hotlines. In this largescale study, the authors explored distinct classes of users of the Crisis Text Line who reported suicidality. Classes were based on texters' presenting psychosocial issues and were explored across frequency of hotline use and conversation number.Methods: Data included 153,514 conversations from 122,909 individuals collected by the Crisis Text Line (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017). Analyses were restricted to conversations from users who mentioned current or previous suicidality and excluded texters who discussed a third party. The authors used latent class analysis to identify distinct classes of texters on the basis of crisis counselor-assigned issue tags and across subgroups reflecting whether the conversation was the first or last contact with the hotline and frequency of use (one-time, twotime, or $3-time texters).Results: Three classes emerged in all subsamples. The largest class, "lower distress," had the lowest prevalence of all issues. The second largest class, "anxious distress," had the highest prevalence of anxiety or stress and elevated depression. The smallest class, "relational distress," had the highest prevalence of depression and self-harm and higher probability of endorsing relational indicators.Conclusions: Psychological and relational issues mostly distinguished the three classes. Despite differing frequency of hotline usage, most texters who reported suicidal ideation and behaviors endorsed similar issues, and these issues did not seem to vary across conversations. Yet there appeared to be distinct subgroups of texters with different presenting issues, which may inform how crisis counselors tailor strategies for both low-and high-volume texters.
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