Dreams deferred: Contextualizing the health and psychosocial needs of undocumented Asian and Pacific Islander young adults in Northern California

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThere are currently 1.5 million undocumented Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the US. Undocumented API young adults, in particular, come of age in a challenging political and social climate, but little is known about their health outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the psychosocial needs and health status of API undocumented young adults. Guided by social capital theory, this qualitative study describes the social context of API undocumented young adults (ages 18e31), including community and government perceptions, and how social relationships influence health. This study was conducted in Northern California and included four focus group discussions (FGDs) and 24 in-depth interviews (IDIs), with 32 unique participants total. FGDs used purposeful sampling by gender (two male and two female discussions) and education status (in school and out-of-school). Findings suggest low bonding and bridging social capital. Results indicate that community distrust is high, even within the API community, due to high levels of exploitation, discrimination, and threats of deportation. Participants described how documentation status is a barrier in accessing health services, particularly mental health and sexual and reproductive health services. This study identifies trusted community groups and discusses recommendations for future research, programs, and policies.

Beyond access: Psychosocial barriers to undocumented students’ use of mental health services

“…We also aimed for equal numbers of men and women. Our previous experience and other qualitative studies suggested that this sample size would be sufficient to reach data saturation (Sudhinaraset et al, 2017).…”

“…These unique stressors are themselves significantly associated with poorer overall health (Enriquez et al, 2018). Students can be potentially deterred from seeking help due to fear of being reported to authorities when accessing services, discrimination or stigma related to immigration status, and limited finances (Hacker et al, 2015;Sudhinaraset et al, 2017). Further, both documented and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. face increasingly restrictive policies and hostile political rhetoric.…”

Deconstructing Immigrant Illegality: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Stress and Health Among Undocumented College Students

“…Institutional data on undocumented students at one UC campus suggest that we oversampled Latinas/os and women, by approximately by 10% points. This is likely driven by the fact that women are more likely to respond to surveys (Smith 2008;Porter and Whitcomb 2005) and that non-Latina/o undocumented immigrants are less likely to be open about their immigration status (Enriquez Forthcoming;Sudhinaraset et al 2017). The mean age of respondents was 20.8 years and a vast majority were DACA recipients (85%).…”

Trauma Affecting Asian-Pacific Islanders in the San Francisco Bay Area

“…In order to understand Asian American community’s response to mental health problems, it is important to delve deep into the interconnectedness of health seeking-behaviors and cultural values as well as their experiences through migration and living in America [ 3 , 47 ]. Stigma/shame is intertwined with the ability to seek certain kinds of help.…”