“I am affected in all the ways … ”: A phenomenographic analysis of Latinx adolescents’ perceptions of family separations at the border.

Abstract

Objectives: This phenomenographic analysis examines how news of family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border shaped variations of experience and perceptions among U.S. Latinx adolescents across parental residency status. Method: In 2018-2019, 340 15-18-year-old Latinx adolescents in the Washington D.C. area participated in a study on immigration actions and responded to an open-ended question detailing how news of family separations at the border affected them and their families. The sample was comprised of equivalent numbers of adolescents whose parents had U.S. citizenship, permanent residency, temporary protected status, or were undocumented. Utilizing a phenomenographic analysis, we compared data across the participants' parental residency status. Results: Three categories captured the complex influences that news of family separations had on Latinx adolescents not directly affected. Perceptual Experiencing described the sympathetic and vicarious emotions produced by the news of family separations. Lived Experiencing described the tangible effects experienced by participants, including incidents of increased racism and fear. Catalyzing effects described spillover effects of the first two themes where internalized feelings induced fear and catalyzed family behaviors. All themes were noted across residency status; however, the third was most strongly supported by those whose parents had precarious statuses. Conclusions: Findings suggest Latinx families across residency statuses can be negatively affected by news of the adversities experienced by a subgroup. Service and healthcare providers, and educators must be prepared to support Latinx youth faced with fear, discrimination, and isolation arising from exposure to news on immigration actions. Public Significance StatementThis study advances the idea of spillover effects-the possible harmful consequences that can, in effect, spillover from one intended group into another. Specifically, in this study, we found that Latinx adolescents and their families responded to news of border separations with fear, sadness, and an altered family life that contributed to isolating behaviors and decreased service usage. Unique to this study is the finding that Latinx communities, regardless of residency and immigration status, have experienced similar spillover effects from immigration actions.

“It was really painful to watch:” Latinx young adults’ experiences of proximal and collective witnessing.

“…Incidents such as the separations at the border and certainly the shooting in El Paso—a border town—may have been more poignant for these participants than for Latinx young adults in other locations. With that being said, another study (e.g., Jordan et al, 2021) found that Latinx adolescents deeply internalized the pain of families separated at the border in 2018 despite living nearly 2,000 miles away.…”

“…For example, the participant in Theme 1 (proximal witnessing) who described witnessing his parents work difficult jobs with long hours did not mention the experience of feeling alone as a child or anything related to his own privation; rather, he focused on how painful it was to watch his parents go through hardship, indicating an experience that is inherently vicarious and empathy based. Only this study and a few select others have explored specifically the experience of bearing witness to an event and the effects of such witnessing among Latinx communities (e.g., N. Heard-Garris et al, 2021;Jordan et al, 2021). The work that has been done documenting the experience of witnessing has included Black persons witnessing the beating of Rodney King (Alexander, 1994) and Jewish persons witnessing depictions of the Holocaust (Keats, 2005).…”

“…Only this study and a few select others have explored specifically the experience of bearing witness to an event and the effects of such witnessing among Latinx communities (e.g., N. Heard-Garris et al, 2021; Jordan et al, 2021). The work that has been done documenting the experience of witnessing has included Black persons witnessing the beating of Rodney King (Alexander, 1994) and Jewish persons witnessing depictions of the Holocaust (Keats, 2005).…”

“…Heard-Garris et al, 2021). Jordan et al (2021) found that Latinx adolescents internalized the pain of the 2018 family separations at the border brought about by the zero tolerance policy and that this internalization even resulted in behavioral changes for some. Another study of Latinx adolescents found vicarious trauma through witnessing was prominent, especially for adolescents with parents holding a more protected status who did not experience direct fear or social exclusion in the same way as adolescents with undocumented or temporary protected status parents (Walsdorf et al, 2022).…”

Latinx parents’ perceptions of how the changing immigration climate has affected their adolescent children.

“…Literature to this point has explored the consequences of witnessing violence and police brutality against Black people in the United States (Alexander, 1994). To our knowledge, only one other study has specifically documented similar effects of vicarious witnessing within Latinx adolescents who observed family separations at the border in 2018 through the media (Jordan et al, 2021). More research is needed to parse out how "spillover effects" (Aranda et al, 2014) or a "culture of fear" (Vargas et al, 2017) may be similar or different from vicarious witnessing, such as in a study of Latina mothers which found that birth outcomes were affected following a local ICE raid (Novak et al, 2017).…”