Many children of immigrants have shown to be extremely resilient despite risk and adversity 86. While many immigrant families and their children face the multiple risk factors already discussed, they also bring with them a number of characteristics that may serve as protective factors such as religion, community, optimism, dual frame of reference, and high valuing of education 51. The immigrant paradoxĪ multidimensional perspective on psychosocial strengths, rather than a narrow, exclusive focus on deficit and pathology, is fundamental in gaining a deeper understanding of the mental health and functioning of Latino children of immigrants. Protective Processes and Resilience in children of immigrants. While there is important overlap between psychopathology and negative educational outcomes (for instance, depression and conduct and antisocial disorders are associated with low educational achievement), the extent to which mental health factors contribute to high-school dropout rates and educational failure in Latino youth is unknown. Educational and socioeconomic status are linked to health in general and to mental health in particular 2. As a consequence, Latino children as a group are more likely to become or remain poor. Latino children are six times more likely to be placed in special education services. They lag behind African-, European- and Asian- Americans, in high school completion, high tech education and college admission. Latinos as a group have extremely low high-school graduation rates (53%) 91, college graduation rates, and achievement and reading scores 108, 143 (at grade 11, they average grade 8 achievement levels), but the causes of such alarming educational outcomes are not fully understood. that may place Latinos at risk for psychological disorders and suicidal behaviors?” 22. This has led two prominent Latino researchers to ask the question: “What is it about living in the U.S. U.S.-born Latinos may have higher behavioral problem prevalence 111 and, in large epidemiological studies, higher lifetime prevalence of mental disorders (32% to 24%) 4 than foreign-born Latinos (see discussion about the immigrant paradox below). Latino teenagers have the highest rates of illegal injection drug abuse, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and cocaine 46. Most indicators of violence (carrying/being threatened with a weapon or being in a physical fight while on school property, missing school due to safety concerns, carrying a gun and/or weapon) are higher in Latino than in white and black youth 46. When compared to European- and African- Americans, Latino youth (both boys and girls) present the highest prevalence of indicators of depression (36%) 46 and suicidality, including having made a suicide plan (14.5%) or attempt (11%), with this risk being astonishingly high among Latino girls 46, 148. Despite their young age and growing numbers, empirical research addressing the development, wellbeing and mental health of children of immigrants is lacking, with most of the work focused on adolescents and adults 25.ĭepression, Violence and Substance Abuse Risk Indicators Latino youth are young (median age 12.8) and from the second generation (52%) 50, 122. to one or two foreign-born parents most U.S. The majority of children from immigrant families are “second-generation immigrants”, that is, born in the U.S. Latino children are already the largest minority group in schools 149. The past three decades have seen a rapid increase in Latinos in the U.S, with their numbers more than tripling from 1970 (10 million) to 2000 (35 million) 137. Most immigrant families speak a language other than English at home (most commonly Spanish) and a large proportion of children in America grow up using two languages.
The majority of Latino children come from immigrant families, and most immigrant families and children in the U.S. There is a significant three-way overlap between Latino, dual language, and immigrant children in the United States.
One out of seven children was from an immigrant family in 1990, more than one out of five children has such a background in 2010, and it is estimated that these figures will rise to one out of three children by the year 2020 87. Children of immigrants constitute the largest minority and the fastest growing segment of the U.S.
Demographic significance of child immigrationĪmerica is currently experiencing the largest wave of child immigration in its history.