project

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Warda Alaisari

Ms. Groves

FYS 112

20 April 2021

Social Support, Stress, and Adaptation in Immigrant Youth

The proposed research was designed and carried out to make sure that it addresses two

major problems: the lack of knowledge on how students, especially those who are not from the

USA, can adapt as soon as possible to continue learning. The other challenge is that there is a lack

of information and communication on how students can be helped if they have experienced

discrimination. Lack of information is from both the materials, which they are reading, there are

other economic and social stressors and thus the support system which is supposed to be talking to

the students about what they are supposed to do they are swamped trying to check and see how

they can make ends meet. Therefore, complaints from the students are the least of their concerns.

The focus of the study will be through a holistic approach whereby the paper looked at the

behavioral, emotional, academic and how students can make physical adaptations. According to

the Fuligni study, the participants were students; however, the report incorporating students from

different age groups. This was to check on whether age does affect how their adaptation measures

are. The method used was interviewing such students with the consent of their parents and

themselves. This was after the issue of confidentiality has been solved. There were two

assessments and there will also be other assessments that will be the reviewing of how the progress

is. There are some high levels of stress amongst many people in society, which can have low

economic impact and results. This was very important, especially to the children and those who are

in the adolescent stages.

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A child's education, especially in their first year, usually positively impacts how the child

will proceed in their career education (Suárez-Orozco, 780). It creates a foundation of how the

student is going to see school life at their early age. The first impression is vital, and children at

this stage are supposed to be handled with a lot of care (Suárez-Orozco, 780). Through this, the

students get convinced on how they will conceive their whole interaction and with the entire

community at large as well. In the United States of America, there are many immigrants were

some of whom are aged eight years. Through this, there may be discrimination against these

children (Suárez-Orozco, 780). This has negative impacts on these children; for instance, there

may be negative psychological, negative culture, and there may be negative impacts for the

community. Some students are very confident about their identity and ethnic identity, which may

affect their well-being (Suárez-Orozco, 780).

Also, young children can face challenges when it comes to how they are relating with their

peers. This can be attributed to where they have come from (Buchanan 112). Discrimination may

be in terms of the names they are being called, critical comments criticizing how the students

appear, and the accent from their local languages (Buchanan 112). If such students may not express

themselves so much, they can be bullied, and in most cases, the teachers may lose patience with

them. Through all these things that the student is going through, they tend to lose thrive and drive

in their studies. Students must be given a safe, stress-free, and relaxed environment that will make

them succeed in their education (Buchanan 112).

As well, students can also face discrimination, which happens due to the structure and the

economic status. This is regarding social-economical and also how the school has been segregated.

Students may experience engagement from their parents, making those who need special

education, especially those who would require special attention, not experience learning to be as

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attractive as it should be (Sirin 104). Some factors may lead to discrimination against the

immigrants at a personal level, which includes teachers lacking adequate preparation for such

students, especially those who are immigrants, having a weak staff connection, which may impact

how they are going to perform in school (Sirin 104). There is also discrimination regarding low

recruitment levels of some culturally sensitive content about the USA and its people. This is

because they are regarded as intruders (Sirin 104).

The issue of discrimination has become very rampant in the USA, especially to those who

are immigrants. There are ways of addressing that the government has put in place to address these

problems (Xu 204). This problem exists because there is a lack of knowledge on how students,

especially those who are not from the USA, can adapt as soon as possible to their new environment

so that they can continue learning (Xu 204). The other challenge is that there is no proper structure

of information and communication on how much students can be helped if they have experienced

discrimination (Xu 204).

However, the purpose of the study is to ensure that it addressed all the significant

knowledge deficits regarding how immigrants can adapt to a highly discriminative environment.

This is mainly for the students studying in the USA, and they are not from the states (Fuligni 99).

The study focuses on many aspects, including emotional, behavioral, and academic adjustments,

which can be done in immigrant children and adolescents. This ensures that there is no stress, and

any social support has been given to those who are immigrants in the USA (Fuligni 99). The

hypothesis of the study is, when there is much stress in the family and lower social support, there

are usually very poor adjustments to immigration adjustments (Fuligni 99). There are many

sources about post-migration stress and how they can be examined by studying general life stress,

studying economic hardship, and studying discrimination issues (Fuligni 99).

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According to the latest review, some children have adapted very successfully and are

continuing well with their studies (Buchanan 105). However, for the majority, this has been a

challenge because they do not know how well they can adapt. After all, there is not much

information about the students, especially those of different ages and grade levels (Buchanan 105).

Therefore, they do not get longitudinal data that they may know how well they can get adjusted.

They are supposed to know which areas they are supposed to study, so that they are in a position to

open up (Buchanan 105). Through this, they will know which are the effects of immigration on

themselves, their families, how that can affect the social disruption of everything that is happening,

and the consequences of discrimination, amongst other things (Buchanan 105). When they learn

about all that kind of impact, they will see what they can do regarding that and know what and how

they can cope with such effects (Buchanan 105).

Also, some adjustments can be made to the immigrants. This includes either in the family

or knowing that there are leaving issues of language difficulties and then coming up with the best

way to deal with this is essential (Schotte 20). There may be some changes according to ethnic

identification and the conditions of migration. The social, economic status, and social and financial

situation are considered to be addressed (Schotte 20). The other vital issues that should be handled

are the issues of the child's age and temperament, accumulation, and the problem of solving the

conflict that may arise from the parents (Schotte 20).

The education system should be worked on. This is because students go to school, so they

are in a position to learn and make their lives better, and thus the system is not supposed to work

against them (Xu 204). Confrontation of such events is supposed to be done to ensure that such

activities are not done in school. This is because of the negative impacts which they have regarding

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the following. This can be done and the learners are supposed to start being embraced as being the

assets through changing the existing policies, and the mindsets, which exist nowadays (Xu 204).

Moreover, Diversity and inclusion across the borders have been on the rise over the years,

it has been in existence, and no one can deny this since it is a fact. However, people, even though

they are from the same cultural; setting, does not mean that they usually behave the same way

(Suárez-Orozco, 781). For instance, in Latin America, it does not offer the same achievement over

all the people who are there. This is because some students have dropped out of school while

others have continued with their studies. It can also be said that the extended the students stay in

the USA, the more deterioration of their results happens (Suárez-Orozco, 781). Some students are a

poor minority, and many others want to assimilate what others in the middle class are doing, which

has made them messed up, and their results have continued to deteriorate (Suárez-Orozco, 782)

According to Fuligni's study, the total sample was 600 children. All the students were from

three grades which were grades 3, 6, and 9. The selection of the participants was random.

However, they had to be immigrants this is because of the population of interest according to the

data collected (Fuligni 99). However, this was achieved after all have signed up their consent

forms. Their parents helped with this. This is because there are ethical considerations in the

research, and researchers tried as much as they can to be ethically correct (Fuligni 99). There were

other personnel and other key actors who they will be utilized to ensure that the process is a

success and the objective, and the aim of the project has been obtained (Fuligni 99).

The research aims to ensure that there is as much confidentiality as possible. This will be

achieved by not putting the names of the participants when doing data entry (Fuligni 100). During

data collection time, it was optional for the participants to write their names or anything, that can

be used to identify themselves regarding the data which they have given. In the research, there was

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only an interviewing code that was being used (Fuligni 100). Before the participants undertake the

process, the researchers ensured confidentiality, and therefore they were supposed to provide as

genuine answers as possible (Fuligni 100).

The guardians and the parents were required to have a meeting to discussing how the

students will be participating. This is because it is not ethical to randomly choose students without

their parents' consent (Cobb 258). The parents must be told what is happening and also give their

views on whether their children can be in a position to participate in the ongoing research (Cobb

258). Letters were sent to the parents providing explanations and other consent forms. Parents were

also required to send those letters by mail. Through this, age-appropriate gifts for participation

were sent to them (Fuligni 100).

The interview was used to collect data that was utilized when the student joined the school

in their first year. After the interview, there was a follow-up, which involving interviewing them

again after two years. The interview location took place in private schools (Fuligni 100). There

were assigned interviews across many students from different cultural settings, and there will be all

students from all the grades and levels of schools (Fuligni 100). However, the number of students

was balanced across the gender. Academic performance and any other relevant information were

obtained from the school records—ratings of adaptations and having psychological adjustment

after each year were conducted (Fuligni 100).

The measures were translated to make it very easy for all the participants to understand

what is happening. This was facilitated by having speakers in the background that they can use in

translating if there is something that people do not understand (Fuligni 100).

Social support: the use of children's convoy mapping procedure was used to obtain

information concerning social support. There was the use of the Children Convoy Mapping

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procedure, which is essential in ensuring that the social support and related information have been

obtained (Fuligni 100). Farther directions were provided where students were required to drawing

a diagram indicating some people who are very close to them in their inner circle and those who

are far from them in terms of relationship will be in the outer ring (Fuligni 100). There was a need

for them to identify at least persons in that diagram to ensure they can provide them with at least

six support activities (Fuligni 100). All those functions that will be placed and will be from those

people will be further used for analysis (Fuligni 100).

Stress, acculturation conflict, and perceived discrimination measures: this utilizes the use

of a checklist of stressful life events to measure the overall family life stress. When it comes to

stress accumulation and conflict, some perceived measures and life stress can be measured to have

been estimated through using a checklist (Fuligni 100). The checklist contained some of the most

stressful events. For the perceived discrimination, the tool for measuring will be through using

scales developed by two scholars, namely (Sachdev 47).

Adjustment measures: this was used to measure the indices of emotional adjustment, which

entails the Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form (CDI-S). Some indices were an emotional

adjustment for the adjustment measures, including using an inventory for Children's Depression

(Fuligni 100). For the issue of self-perception profile. Some scales have been used as indices in

adjustments for school-aged children. This ensured that there is validity and reliability of the data

(Fuligni 101). Data was obtained from each student, and this was centralized by using the school

grades and records. Through this assessment of the steps will be standardized using the

achievement tests (Fuligni 101). However, for the research to get robust data, there will be a need

to yields some of the overall measures; this can be through reading knowing the grades they have

scored in mathematics.

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There were behavioral adjustments, which the teachers completed. This is because they are

the ones who know the progress of their students in a better way (Fuligni 101). The teachers were

required to use report forms from the students on the 1123 items about the child's behavior in a

checklist. There was also the use of 14 things, which was a School Adaption scale (Fuligni 101).

There was the need to confirm whether the data ease reliable and how valid the data was

before proceeding to the analyses. This is in all the immigrant groups and is essential in ensuring

no violation of test assumptions statistically (Fuligni 101). Some factors may likely influence the

results. This included demographic characteristics, which may consist of the parent's education,

marital status, and many other factors under this category. However, the results were subjected to

further analyses (Fuligni 101). There was a comparison that will be done for the retained and the

students who are omitted. This was done before the races of research, which were important in

determining some systematic differences. This is because in between the interviews, there is

expected to be attrition (Fuligni 101).

The results were analyzed and multiplied using regression analyses to check whether the

research has a positive or null hypothesis. After those adjustments measures for two years, this

criterion was used for separate regression analyses as this will be performed from each index of

regression (Schotte 21). Other factors were categorized as predators, including the age of the

students and measures of managing stress and social support system.

Consequently, the project brought a lot of positive impacts (Fuligni 101). This is both in

terms of theoretical aspects and understanding the support process and how these impact outcomes

of education. This is important in providing the necessary information. The information is critical

for both the social and educational planners (Fuligni 101). This is because they will ensure that

they are coping with a large and ever-growing number of children and adolescents. When students,

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almost all immigrants, get their way into the USA, the only thing that welcomes them is the issue

of discrimination (Motti-Stefanidi 106).

Through this, they are in a position to know how they will adapt to be able to cope and

learn just like their other counterparts (Fuligni 103). The research has also tried to check how

understanding students, and their ages might impact how they deal with psychosocial and

academic aspects (Fuligni 103). This is through knowing about the various post-mitigation

ecology. Provisioning the guidelines on how immigrant students can be identified, especially those

at high risk of suffering from maladaptive outcomes (Fuligni 103). This includes being low

achievers, dropping out of school for various reasons, and having general emotional distress

(Fuligni 103).

In conclusion, the need for a smooth adaptation by immigrant youths continues to increase

as the level of discrimination continues to increase. Some of these students may not be in a position

to express what they are feeling. Sometimes, language barriers may make it a challenge to pass

instructions, especially for the immigrant. The immigrants might also not be able to communicate

effectively because their local support system does not allow them to express themselves nor give

them some tips on how well they can be helpful when it comes to expressing themselves. Solutions

for these challenges can be achieved by building their confidence and informing them that they are

like any other human being. Hence, it is not good to be discriminated against. Some of the support

systems may not be present during the hard times faced by immigrants' times this is because, at one

point or another, they may be fighting and trying to overcome other stressors facing them, which

include struggling with how they can make their ends meet and at the same time how they can

improve their economic status and also dealing with other legal problems. Such issues must be

supposed to be dealt with so that the case of discrimination can be handled.

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Works Cited

Buchanan, Zachary E., et al. "Perceived discrimination, language proficiencies, and adaptation:

Comparisons between refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth in

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Australia." International journal of intercultural relations 63 (2018): 105-112.

From https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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Cobb, Cory L., et al. "Acculturation, discrimination, and depression among unauthorized

Latinos/as in the United States." Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 23.2

(2017): 258. From,https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Cobb

%2C+C.%2C+Xie%2C+D.%2C+Meca%2C+A.+and+Schwartz%2C+S.

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%2C+and+Depression+Among+UnauthorizedLatinos

%2Fas+in+the+United+States&btnG=

Fuligni, Andrew J. "The adjustment of children from immigrant families." Current directions in

psychological science 7.4 (1998): 99-103. From, https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=+

%22The+adjustment+of+children+from+immigrant+families.&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

Motti-Stefanidi, Frosso. "Resilience among immigrant youth: The role of culture, development and

acculturation." Developmental Review 50 (2018): 99-109.

From, https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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Sachdev, Itesh. "Language and identity: Ethnolinguistic vitality of aboriginal peoples in Canada."

The London Journal of Canadian Studies 11.41 (1995): 41-59.

From,https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sachdev,+I.,+%26+Bourhis,+R.+Y.

+(1995)&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

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Schotte, Kristin, Petra Stanat, and Aileen Edele. "Is integration always most adaptive? The role of

cultural identity in academic achievement and in psychological adaptation of immigrant

students in Germany." Journal of youth and adolescence 47.1 (2018): 16-37.

From https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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nG=

Sirin, Selcuk R., et al. "Understanding the role of social support in trajectories of mental health

symptoms for immigrant adolescents." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 34.5

(2013): 199-207. From, https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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Suárez-Orozco, Carola, et al. "An integrative risk and resilience model for understanding the

adaptation of immigrant-origin children and youth." American Psychologist 73.6 (2018):

781. From,https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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Xu, Ling, and Iris Chi. "Acculturative stress and depressive symptoms among Asian immigrants in

the United States: The roles of social support and negative interaction." Asian American

Journal of Psychology 4.3 (2013): 217. From, https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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