Crossroads: The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century

As individuals negotiate their identities in a new cultural
environment and find ways to cope with immigrationrelated
stress, they may experience increasing tensions among
family members. Intergenerational conflicts are common
in immigrant households, reflective of an acculturation gap
between parents and children and spouses and partners
(Birman, 2006). Some manifestations of these conflicts are
verbal arguments between parents and children regarding
friendships, dating, marriage, and career choices and
between spouses about gender role expectations (Varghese
& Jenkins, 2009). In some cases, second-generation children
and adolescents may experience role reversal when they
are in a position to translate for their parents from their
native language to English or to help their parents and/or
grandparents navigate mainstream culture (C. Suárez-Orozco
et al., 2008). Many older adult immigrants, particularly
those who immigrate late in life and have limited English
proficiency, experience loneliness and isolation related to
difficulties in navigating a cultural context in which they
may no longer be revered or sought out as respected elders
by family and younger members of their communities
(McCaffrey, 2008; Ponce, Hays, & Cunningham, 2006).
Intergenerational conflict can be experienced as a threat to
the parent–child relationship, particularly when collectivism
and interdependence within the family unit are valued.
Several studies reveal that greater conflict with parents,
particularly mothers, is associated with psychological distress,
such as depressive symptoms (Varghese & Jenkins, 2009).
Acculturative conflicts are often at the root of what brings
immigrant families into treatment.
Trauma-Based Presenting Problems
A significant number of immigrants have had previous,
recent, and/or ongoing experiences with traumatic, stressful
immigration-related situations. Traumatic experiences
can occur at various stages of the immigration process:
premigration trauma or events that are experienced just
before migrating; traumatic events that are experienced during
the transit to the new country; ongoing traumatic experiences
in the new country; and substandard living conditions in the
new country due to unemployment, inadequate supports, and
discrimination and/or persecution (Foster, 2001). Any of these
traumatic events can affect the ways in which immigrants
adjust to their new cultural context. For example, a woman
who leaves her country of origin with her children to escape
ongoing community violence and poverty and is raped
while in transit faces not only the challenges of adjusting to
a new cultural context and caring for her children but also
the traumatic aftermath of the rape, involving overwhelming
states of anxiety and hypervigilance.
Research on interpersonal violence among immigrant
communities in the United States has focused primarily
on intimate partner violence (Raj & Silverman, 2003).
Several studies with immigrant women have documented
the relatively low rate for reporting domestic violence. The
likelihood of reporting abuse incidents and seeking help
may increase only when the violence reaches a severe level
(Abraham, 2000; Krishnan, Hilbert, & VanLeeuwen, 2001).
Other studies indicate that immigrant women experiencing
more severe abuse may be the least likely to disclose the abuse
to others (Yoshioka, Gilbert, El-Bassel, & Baig-Amin, 2003).
These divergent findings may be accounted for, at least in part,
by the prevalent use of shelter samples and the tendency to
lump together groups of ethnically diverse women (e.g., using
a Vietnamese sample to represent Asian Americans as a group)
(Liang, Goodman, Tummala-Narra, & Weintraub, 2005).
Aside from emerging research in the area of domestic
violence, research on childhood sexual abuse, physical
abuse, rape, and political and racial trauma in immigrant
communities is sparse. Traumatic experiences place
immigrants at risk for mental health problems, including
depression and anxiety disorders, and particularly
posttraumatic stress disorder (Maddern, 2004; Radan,
2007). Risk factors affecting the degree of symptomatology
and impairment include poverty, education, subsequent
unemployment, low self-esteem, and poor physical health
(E. Hsu, Davies, & Hansen, 2004). The research and clinical
literature has noted the ways in which interpersonal and
collective violence compromises immigrant adults’ and
children’s identifications with both the country of origin
and the adopted country. In addition, such violence can
impact the way psychological distress is manifested in
culturally specific ways (e.g., anxiety can be expressed
through somatic symptoms) (Radan, 2007; Tummala-Narra,
2007a). Culture-bound illness expression, culture-bound
syndromes, and cultural bereavement in response to the
stresses of the acculturation process are significant problems
that can resemble, but are distinct from, Western-oriented
psychiatric symptoms and disorders (Davis, 2000).
Undocumented immigrant children and youth are
frequently subject to particularly traumatic experiences
(Capps et al., 2007), including racial profiling, ongoing
discrimination (Parra-Cardona, Bulock, Imig, Villarruel,
64 Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration