Crossroads: The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century

summary of recommendations
Recommendations to ensure and maintain positive
outcomes for immigrant-origin adults (including
older adults), children and adolescents, and families
are embedded throughout this report. Positive
outcomes require stakeholders within clinical practice,
research, education, and public policy sectors to become
culturally competent as well as cognizant of an array of
diverse interacting factors (e.g., immigrant generation,
gender, race, age, sexual orientation, religion, social class,
education, English-language proficiency, and disability/
ability) that may influence immigrants’ mental health and
adjustment. Stakeholders should collaborate with family
members, community members, and one another to provide
effective and ethical mental and behavioral health and
educational support for immigrant-origin adults (including
older adults), children and adolescents, and families.
The following recommendations focus broadly on ways the
field of psychology can address the need of this population
across practice, research, education, and policy domains.
These recommendations require further communication
and collaboration within psychology and in interdisciplinary
collaboration with other fields involved in the care and
adaptation of immigrants across the life span.
research
The field of psychology should make immigrant-origin
populations a population considered in research agendas at
every phase of development. Only by doing so will the field
discover the kinds of meaningful findings needed to inform
practice and policy. To advance the mental and behavioral
health of immigrant-origin adults (including older adults),
children and adolescents, and families, the task force
recommends that APA advocate for support of research that
does the following:
• Examines the broad range of migration, acculturative,
and family stressors that can affect the mental and
behavioral health of immigrant families and identifies
culturally specific definitions of well-being, distress, and
healing, as well as coping strategies and strengths that
immigrant adults (including older adults), children and
adolescents, and families use.
• Uses qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods in a
complementary fashion to improve validity and cultural
significance of research.
• Examines the feasibility, adaptation, and efficacy
of evidence-based interventions, including clinic-,
community-, and school-based interventions and
evaluates practice-based evidence using rigorous scientific
designs for use with immigrant adults (including older
adults), children and adolescents, and families. This
research should include the role of factors that enhance
treatment access, engagement, and retention.
• Encourages culturally competent, multicultural, and
multilingual research teams to improve the validity and
cultural significance of findings.
• Uses both longitudinal and cross-sectional design
to identify trajectories of risk as well as resilience in
immigrant-origin individuals across the life span from a
variety of origins.
• Examines the ways in which various settings (e.g.,
schools, community centers, neighborhoods) serve to
enhance and impede acculturation, language acquisition,
identity development, academic performance, peer
relationships, and mental and behavioral health for
immigrant-origin individuals across the lifespan.
services and supports
Immigrant-origin adults (including older adults), children
and adolescents, and families may need supportive services to
promote and maintain health and well-being after migrating
to the United States. Such services may address a range of
needs, including basic daily living, education, and physical
78 Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration