The Experience of Ethnic and Racial Group Membership Among Immigrant-Origin Adolescents

Abstract

Immigrant-origin adolescents in the United States face a number of stressors across different social contexts (e.g., home, school), and yet, distress related to these stressors often goes unnoticed and access to resources is limited. This study examined how racial minority immigrant-origin adolescents in an urban setting construct and negotiate experiences of their ethnic and racial group membership, acculturative stress, and approaches to coping with acculturative stress. Guided by an integrative contextual framework of minority youth development, semistructured group interviews were conducted with 64 adolescents (35 girls and 29 boys) at an urban public high school located in the Northeastern part of the United States. Participants were either immigrants or children of immigrants from Afro-Caribbean (e.g., Haitian), Asian, Latino/a, and South Asian backgrounds. Analyses of the group interview data revealed four major domains related to experiences of ethnicity and race: (a) pride in and connection with heritage culture and language, (b) difficulties in cultural adjustment, (c) stereotypes and discrimination, and (d) coping and relational contexts, along with several

A Qualitative Exploration of Parental Separation and Coping: Attachment Disruptions Among Newcomer Immigrant Adolescents

“…Stress and coping are inevitable aspects of newcomer immigrant adolescents’ experience. Evidence for the harmful effects of stress and family separation is well-documented; however, little is known about the nuanced ways in which newcomer immigrant adolescents cope with the many challenges they face (Tummala-Narra & Sathasivan-Rueckert, 2016). Despite theoretical advancements that have placed an increased emphasis on cultural factors within the context of coping, there is minimal research on coping among Latino/Latina Americans, Africans, and other cultural and ethnic groups such as Arabic and Middle Easterners (Kuo, 2011).…”

Identity and difference – re-thinking UK South Asian entrepreneurship

“…Two emerging themes that appear to be gaining momentum within the ethnic entrepreneurship literature finds a number of studies that lean towards either an economic or psychological perspective. For example, the notion of ‘identity’ is introduced as part of an individual’s sense of ‘self’ and their ‘utility function’ that affects economic outcome (Akerlof and Kranton, 2000; Schuller, 2015; Tummala-Narra and Sathasivam-Rueckert, 2016). Thus, identity is associated with different social categories and how people within ought to behave.…”

“…To bring together these various lines of enquiry, Tummala-Narra and Sathasivam-Rueckert (2016) draw upon the work of Suárez-Orozco (2000). Here the authors coin the term ‘social mirroring’ to describe the messages provided in interactions with those beyond their parents, such as relatives, siblings, peers, and the like.…”

“…This social mirroring can either have a positive or negative effect on any perceived ‘bicultural identity.’ For instance, messages from the external world that they, the second-generation, are valued members of society is thought to be an important factor in the negotiation of bicultural identity. In contrast, negotiating identity in an environment that is characterised by negative social mirroring can impose challenges to a positive sense of self (Suárez-Orozco, 2000 cited in Tummala-Narra and Sathasivam-Rueckert, 2016), Essentially, this underscores the importance that for any development of a bicultural identity in the psychological well-being of the second-generation, a positive connection with the heritage culture and the adoption of the new culture as to be maintained (Tummala-Narra and Sathasivam-Rueckert, 2016). As Phinney and Ong (2007) purport, both social psychological and developmental perspectives provide important insights into ethnic identity.…”

“…For example, the notion of 'identity' is introduced as part of an individual's sense of 'self' and their 'utility function' that affects economic outcome (Akerlof and Kranton, 2000;Schuller, 2015;Tummala-Narra and Sathasivam-Rueckert, 2016). Thus identity is associated with different social categories and how people within ought to behave.…”