Suchergebnisse

Acculturation styles have important associations with future adjustment among immigrants and refugees, yet less is known about the individual and interpersonal factors that influence the strategy an individual adopts. High rates of discrimination may signal the receiving community's rejection of one's ethnic group, increasing pressure to assimilate and suppress one's heritage identity. Within a sample of Somali young adults (18–30, N = 185) resettled in North America, this study tested whether two acculturation styles (assimilation and integration) longitudinally mediate the relation between discrimination and three mental health outcomes (i.e., anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder), and whether gender moderated these relations. Discrimination had a direct, positive relation with future mental health symptoms for females, which was not mediated by acculturation strategy. By contrast, the association between discrimination and mental health outcomes for males was fully mediated by increased endorsement of assimilation, but not integration. Experiences of marginalization may erode connections to both the Somali community and to the nation of resettlement, which have been identified as particularly strong protective forces within this community. Interventions targeted at the receiving community to reduce the rates of discrimination toward immigrants and refugees and interventions to strengthen youth's sense of belonging in both the predominant culture and their culture of origin may improve transdiagnostic mental health outcomes.

AbstractOf the estimated 35.3 million refugees around the world (UNHCR, Figures at a Glance, 2022), approximately 50% are children under the age of 18. Refugee adolescents represent a unique group as they navigate developmental tasks in an unstable and often threatening environment or in resettlement contexts in which they often face marginalization. In addition to physiological, social, and psychological changes that mark adolescence, refugee youth often face traumatic experiences, acculturative stress, discrimination, and a lack of basic resources. In this consensus statement, we examine research on refugee adolescents' developmental tasks, acculturative tasks, and psychological adjustment using Suárez‐Orozco and colleague's integrative risk and resilience model for immigrant‐origin children and youth proposed by Suárez‐Orozco et al. Finally, we discuss recommendations—moving from proximal to more distal contexts.