The impact of migration on child and adolescent development: Diversity in migration pathways and experiences

Abstract

The impact of migration on child and adolescent development: Diversity in migration pathways and experiencesMigration is a global phenomenon that is rendering contemporary societies increasingly diverse. According to the International Organization for Migration (2020), the number of international migrants has continued to increase rapidly in the last 50 years, reaching more than 270 million in 2019 (3.5% of the total population), up from approximately 84 million in 1970 (2.3% of the total population). Thus, nowadays more than 1 in every 30 people around the world has a migrant background.Understanding how migration affects children and adolescents' development is a priority for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers, and it requires the integration of multiple levels of analyses (Barbot et al., 2020). Notably, migration patterns are highly heterogeneous and include a variety of conditions, such as those of refugees, asylum seekers, first-generation and second-generation immigrants, or internal migrants moving from rural to urban areas. This special issue aims to bring together contributions that tackle such diversity in migration pathways and experiences.The issue comprises two theoretical contributions (

A multisystem perspective on immigrant children and youth risk and resilience: A commentary

“…The pressing need to better understand the diversity in the adaptation of immigrant children and youth triggered a flurry of research activity during the past decade (see Crocetti & Eckstein, 2021; Motti‐Stefanidi et al., in press). The articles of this special issue further contribute to our understanding of why some are well adapted in spite of the adversities that they encounter whereas others do less well.…”

The impact of migration on child and adolescent development: The role of socialization experiences in family and school

“…This issue consists of the second part of our double special issue on the impact of migration on child and adolescent development . While the first part (i.e., Crocetti & Eckstein, 2021) focuses on diversity in migration pathways and experiences, thereby highlighting the variety of conditions, determinants, and types of migration around the globe, the current and second part of the special issue concentrates on the role of socialization contexts. Given the fact that development always takes place in context (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), this issue pays special attention to two key developmental contexts: family, as the first and most important context of socialization among youth; and school, as an educational institution but also as a place where young people from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds meet and form intergroup friendships.…”