Crossroads: The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century

documented the problems caused by acculturation gaps
in studies with Asian (Buki, Ma, Strom, & Strom, 2003;
Costigan & Dokis, 2006; Farver, Bhadha, & Narang, 2002;
Ho & Birman, 2010; R. M. Lee, Choe, Kim, & Ngo, 2000),
Latino (C. R. Martinez, 2006; Schofield, Parke, Kim, &
Coltrane, 2008; Smokowski, Rose, & Bacallao, 2008), and
European (Birman, 2006) immigrant families.
social Trust and Civic Engagement
A marker of whether new immigrants feel welcomed and
accepted in U.S. society is whether they are able to develop
social trust and become civically engaged.
Social Trust
Democratic societies require citizens to interact regularly
with each other for political,
economic, and social reasons
(Gardner, 2007; Hardin, 2002;
Portes, 1998; Putnam, 2000).
For this interaction to occur,
individuals must be willing to
extend a certain level of trust
to those with whom they
come in contact. Thus, social
trust and civic participation
are inextricably linked (Cook, 2001; C. Flanagan, 2003;
Levine, 2008; Putnam, 2000). Without such trust, people will
close themselves off from others as a means of protection.
When people refuse to “talk to strangers” (Allen, 2004),
democratic society suffers (Putnam, 2000; Uslaner, 2000).
The current atmosphere of general social distrust in the
United States (Putnam, 2000; Putnam & Feldstein, 2004)
coincides with, and is complicated by, the highest levels of
immigration since the last great wave of migration from
1880 to 1920.
Civic Engagement
The ways in which immigrant-origin youth are integrated
into U.S. society and participate civically will no doubt
affect the kind of society the United States will become in
the next decades (Stepick, Stepick, & Labissiere, 2008). To
date, research on the civic engagement of immigrant-origin
youth has been conspicuously sparse (Jensen & Flanagan,
2008). While civic engagement has historically been defined
as voting, it is now conceptualized as a more complex and
differentiated phenomenon. Definitions of civic engagement
The ways in which immigrant-origin
youth are integrated into U.S. society
and participate civically will no doubt
affect the kind of society the United
States will become in the next decades.
include attitudes toward political participation, knowledge
about government, commitment to society, activities that
help those in need, and collective action to fight for social
justice (C. Flanagan, Gallay, Gill, Gallay, & Nti, 2005; Metz &
Youniss, 2005; Morsillo & Prilleltensky, 2007; Torney-Purta,
Barber, & Wilkenfeld, 2007). For immigrant individuals,
such involvement in U.S. society, politics, and communities
represents successful integration into the life of the country.
Some researchers, including Huntington (2004), have
claimed that the immigrant population represents a threat
to American civil society because of its alleged divided
loyalties. Yet the few existing studies suggest these fears
may be misplaced. Children born in the United States
to immigrant parents show levels of civic engagement
that “match or exceed those of natives” (M. H. Lopez &
Marcelo, 2008, p. 66). Similarly, South Asian and Latino/a
immigrant youth were
found to be highly civically
engaged and view this
engagement as an important
part of their identities
(Jensen, 2008). Likewise,
immigrant civic engagement
was found to be similar
to that of nonimmigrant
college freshmen in a large
comparative mixed-methods study (Stepick et al., 2008).
It is important to note that immigrant civic engagement
may be underestimated in many studies because immigrantspecific
forms of civic engagement, such as interpreting,
translating, advocating, and filling out official documents, are
often overlooked in traditional measures in the field (Jensen
& Flanagan, 2008; Stepick et al., 2008). As is true of other
marginalized groups, immigrants may become engaged
in their own ethnic communities (Bedolla, 2000; Hill &
Moreno, 1996; Rhoads, Lee, & Yamada, 2002) through
acts of civil protest or by working in local community
organizations rather than engaging with mainstream
institutions where they may not feel welcomed.
Although non-naturalized immigrant adults cannot vote, they
can be involved in an array of civic projects. With citizenship
and second-generation status come greater civic and political
participation (M. H. Lopez & Marcelo, 2008; Stoll & Wong,
2007). Not speaking English blocks participation in some
activities for the first generation. On the other hand, bilingual
competencies can serve as tools for civic engagement among
30 Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration