Understanding the Impacts of a Latinx Parent's Undocumented Immigration Status for Their College-Enrolled Children

Date

8-12-2020 12:30 PM

Abstract

Previous research has shown the significance of immigration on educational attainment. Researchers have found that immigrants, and children of immigrants, outperform their native counterparts (Keller & Tillman, 2008). However, several of these studies do not account for undocumented students or students with undocumented parents; it is important to understand this distinction, particularly when researching the success and social wellbeing of Latinx students. Current theoretical frameworks on educational competencies of ethnic minority children understand that outside influences, such as family, impact children’s development and their abilities in school settings (Marks & Coll, 2018). There is also an emerging body of literature that analyzes psychosocial effects of a parent’s undocumented status on Latinx adolescents and children. Both the threat and actual deportation of parents have shown to elicit trauma and stressors for citizen children (Gulbas et al., 2016). However, researchers have yet to look at the possible long-term effects this has on Latinx students pursuing post-secondary education. Accordingly, the present study explores the following question: What are the psychological effects of a parent’s undocumented immigration status on Latinx students’ pursuing post-secondary education? Participants will be Latinx students from a university in the Pacific Northwest with at least one undocumented parent. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with approximately 10 participants and interview transcripts will be qualitatively coded. Connections between possible stressors or psychosocial effects among the participants and practices within higher education will be discussed.

Biographies

Luz Maria Anaya Major: Psychology
Luz Maria Anaya is a psychology major. She works at the Center for Student Health and Counseling clinic at Portland State University, with the intention of one day working in healthcare. Her research interests include understanding the psychological effects of immigration on students of color pursuing higher education. She hopes that her research could potentially help clinicians in university settings better understand possible trauma and anxiety seen in those students. She would like to obtain her PhD in clinical psychology in order to facilitate her research and also become a therapist. Her ultimate goal is to one day offer low-cost psychotherapy for undocumented individuals at her own clinic.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karlyn Adams-Wiggins
Karlyn Adams-Wiggins (Ph.D., Rutgers University; B.A., Lafayette College) is an educational and developmental psychologist, broadly interested in the intersection of academic achievement motivation and identity, with a specific focus on how adolescents’ identities are negotiated in social interactions. They have served on the executive boards of the Scholarly Consortium for Innovative Psychology in Education (SCIPIE) and the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Adolescence & Youth Development SIG. Karlyn was previously faculty at the University of Texas - Tyler’s School of Education. Karlyn’s current work addresses social interaction and identity construction through two primary research themes: 1) achievement motivation from a situative perspective in reform-oriented science learning environments and 2) Black/African diaspora youths’ construction of identities in context. In Karlyn’s science education research, marginal identities are conceptualized as reflecting power relations in the local social context as well as in broader social systems (Adams-Wiggins, 2020; Adams-Wiggins et al., 2020). Their newer work examines Black/African-diaspora youths’ identity development using a critical and sociohistorical lens to address themes of coloniality as a classed phenomenon in youths’ lived experience.

Disciplines

Counseling | Psychology

Rights

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/33587

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Aug 12th, 12:30 PM

Understanding the Impacts of a Latinx Parent's Undocumented Immigration Status for Their College-Enrolled Children

Previous research has shown the significance of immigration on educational attainment. Researchers have found that immigrants, and children of immigrants, outperform their native counterparts (Keller & Tillman, 2008). However, several of these studies do not account for undocumented students or students with undocumented parents; it is important to understand this distinction, particularly when researching the success and social wellbeing of Latinx students. Current theoretical frameworks on educational competencies of ethnic minority children understand that outside influences, such as family, impact children’s development and their abilities in school settings (Marks & Coll, 2018). There is also an emerging body of literature that analyzes psychosocial effects of a parent’s undocumented status on Latinx adolescents and children. Both the threat and actual deportation of parents have shown to elicit trauma and stressors for citizen children (Gulbas et al., 2016). However, researchers have yet to look at the possible long-term effects this has on Latinx students pursuing post-secondary education. Accordingly, the present study explores the following question: What are the psychological effects of a parent’s undocumented immigration status on Latinx students’ pursuing post-secondary education? Participants will be Latinx students from a university in the Pacific Northwest with at least one undocumented parent. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with approximately 10 participants and interview transcripts will be qualitatively coded. Connections between possible stressors or psychosocial effects among the participants and practices within higher education will be discussed.