An examination of adversity and the unique mental health needs of Black crossover immigrant and refugee youth (IRY)

The capacity to conduct psychology research online has expanded more quickly than have ethics guidelines for digital research. We argue that researchers must proactively plan ways to engage ethically in online psychological research with vulnerable groups, including marginalized and immigrant youth and families. To that end, this article describes the ethical use of internet and cell phone technologies in psychological research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families, which demands efforts to both deepen and extend the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. We describe and apply four research frameworks-community-based participatory research, transdisciplinary team science, representational ethics, and cross-cultural psychology-that can be integrated to offer practical solutions to ethical challenges in digital research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families. Then, as an illustration, we provide a case example of this approach using the Food, Culture, and Health Study conducted with Black Jamaican American and Somali American youth and families, who experience tridimensional acculturation due to their race and have been disproportionately impacted by the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racism/Whiteness. We offer this article as a road map for other researchers seeking to conduct ethical digital community-based psychological research with Black immigrant youth and families and other marginalized communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Background/Context Immigrants are described as somewhat fixed in their geographical locations and activities in the world, having made a permanent move from their nation of origin to a new homeland. In contrast, transnational people are defined as those who live their lives across two or more nations and hold strong, multiple attachments to their nation-states. Frameworks of race are often centered in studies of the language and literacy practices of immigrant youth while transnational theories are typically prioritized in studies of transnational youths’ language and literacy practices. Research Questions/Participants This article explores extant research on the language and literacy practices and experiences of Black immigrant and Black transnational youth of Caribbean origin for whom the U.S. is a home. The purpose is to uncover similarities, differences, and nuances that may exist between the language and literacy practices and experiences of these populations. Research Design The extant research was analyzed through theoretical concepts such as micro-cultures, ethnoracial assignment and ethnoracial identity, raciolinguistics, and language and literacy as social practices. Findings Literacies prominent for both Black immigrant and Black transnational youth include reading, writing, the performing arts, and digital literacies. Analysis found that Black immigrant and Black transnational youth, through their language and literacy practices, undertake significant work in deconstructing Blackness as a monolithic racial category. The youths’ motivations for language and literacy use and transformation are conceptualized as efforts to make visible multiple ethnoracial identities and micro-cultural practices within an overarching racial category of Blackness. Analysis further found that Black immigrant and Black transnational youths’ experiences with racial, cultural, and linguistic discrimination lead many to subsume their original linguistic and literacy practices beneath the language and literacy practices of dominant ethnoracial groups in their new nations. In the case of Black transnationals, analysis found that they hold thick bonds to their countries of origin and new nations. Further, some transnationals have opportunities to spend extended time and employ their culturally influenced languages and literacies to a fuller degree in nations that hold appreciative perspectives on these repertoires. Such circumstances appear to promote Black transnationals’ abilities to continue developing and valuing their unique ethnoracial identities and ethnoculturally diverse language and literacy practices. Analysis further found that the multiple language and literacy practices of many Black immigrant youth are motivated by their longings to belong to diverse communities and connect to multicultural groups. However, these desires of youths’ were not oriented solely toward their new nation-states. Rather many Black immigrant youth actively seek out connection and consolidation of their homelands of origin and their new nations through language, literacy, and cultural practices. Analysis confirmed that this is a primary motivation for language and literacy development and use in transnational youth. Conclusion This article challenges the binary categories of immigrant and transnational using the cases of Black youth of Caribbean origin and their language and literacy practices. Its findings call for a more dynamic reconceptualization of the relationships among racial, immigrant, and transnational youth identities, literacies, and languages. Given the similarity of goals in the identity, language, and literacy practices of Black immigrant and Black transnational youth, this analysis argues that literacy research knowledge about Black immigrant youth can be enhanced by applying transnational as well as racial frameworks. Likewise, the article proposes that given the similarities of language and literacy goals, practices, and experiences, including racial and ethnic discrimination, shared by Black immigrant and Black transnational youth, future literacy research can undertake more explicit investigations of transnational youth's experiences through racial frameworks. The article suggests that knowledge of this kind can support scholars and educators in theorizing and designing educational spaces and curricula that enable all youth, notwithstanding their self- or other-assigned racial or sociopolitical categorization as native-born, immigrant, or transnational, to actualize while critically analyzing, the full range and diversity of their identities, languages, and literacies.

Problem statement: The interest in immigrant children and children of immigrants has been growing recently. There is a gap in the literature on current knowledge on the integration and adaptation conditions of the new second generation of immigrants. For teenage youth growing up in diaspora settings, the issue of identity becomes paramount. Approach: They come to define themselves, as well as how others define them, had important implications for social work practice. Immigrant children and youth were the fastest growing component of child and youth population in Canada. Results: We explored the pertinent issue of identity construction as a significant variable in the integration and settlement challenges that Black immigrant youth face in Canadian society. Conclusion: The article is based on an ethnographic study of a number of Black immigrant youth in two of Canada’s largest cities, Montreal and Toronto, the popular settlement points for many new immigrants to Canada.

This study explored the Youth Leadership/Peer Tutoring program at Refugee and Immigrant Transitions (RIT), a community-based non-profit organization in Northern California. It includes 12 semi-structured interviews with refugee and immigrant youth leaders. Bringing together works on Community Cultural Wealth (with the addition of Migration Capital) and Critical Refugee Studies collectively as a conceptual framework, this study highlights three themes: (a) commitment to community, family, and giving back; (b) encouraging communication and cultivating a pan-newcomer community; and (c) leadership as commitment to community and positive, collective futurities. Data support a strengths-based framework when working with refugee and immigrant youth as they transition and adjust to their new school environments and communities. All 12 participants were refugee and immigrant newcomer youth who participated as youth leaders/peer tutors in RIT’s Youth Leaders/Peer Tutoring program. Countries of origin included Burma (Karen), Bhutan, Nepal, China, and El Salvador. As scholars and practitioners in the field, we are seeing an increased need and demand for more scholarship in this area through a strengths-based lens, as evidenced by calls from educators and school/district administrators requesting support and resources. We submit this article at a time of growing numbers of immigrant and refugee youth in schools in the United States, including non-diverse school environments that are unprepared (and sometimes unwilling) to receive newcomer youth. Our hope is for this study to reveal possibilities for extending welcome and mutual support through a strengths-based lens within diverse newcomer peer learning environments.

Resettlement and mental health services are critical support systems for refugee and immigrant youth (RIY) as they navigate the complexities of settling into their new homes. These services play a vital role in meeting the needs of RIY and helping them feel welcomed into Canadian society. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into RIY’s experiences with resettlement and mental health service providers in Montreal, Canada. Adopting a descriptive quantitative research approach, this study utilized online surveys to gather data. The findings indicate that cultural and linguistic barriers are the major obstacles faced by refugee and immigrant youth when accessing resettlement and mental health services in Montreal. Protective resources, such as family, friends, and ethnic communities, were identified as important facilitators of successful integration into Canadian society. To improve services, cultural sensitivity should be a priority for providers, as recommended by this study. By acknowledging the significance of cultural barriers in accessing resettlement and mental health services, this study emphasizes the need for service providers to prioritize cultural sensitivity in their efforts to improve services.

Immigrant and refugee youth have higher rates of trauma than youth who are not transnational. While youth are incredibly resilient, trauma and toxic stress can result in poor health outcomes that persist throughout life. However, clinical interventions can promote resilience and decrease the negative impact of trauma. This article will review the principles of trauma-informed care and its application for the care of immigrant and refugee youth and their families by sharing concrete and feasible strategies for primary care providers and systems.

Refugee youth in Kampala, Uganda, face a unique sexual reproductive health and mental health risk environment requiring focused interventions. Resource limitations and access barriers complicate the provision of relevant supports. Few studies have engaged refugee youth's recommendations for satisfying their sexual and mental health needs. This cross-sectional, qualitative study aimed to identify urban refugee youth's sexual and mental health promotion preferences. We administered a structured survey to refugee youth in Kampala (n = 54) between July and November 2023 using the qualitative data collection platform, Sensemaker and analyzed survey responses using inductive thematic analysis (ITA). Two themes emerged: health promotion and youth empowerment. Participants proposed sexual and mental health promotion recommendations directed at distinct stakeholder groups including policymakers/service providers and peers. There were several points of overlap between the sexual and mental health promotion recommendations, including calls for counseling services, health education, and employment opportunities. Youth empowerment was a central theme underwriting both sexual and mental health recommendations. By differentiating between recommendations directed at distinct stakeholder groups, this study identified opportunities for non-governmental actors to contribute to promoting the sexual and mental health of refugee youth in Kampala. Participant insights show how engagement with urban refugee youth's health promotion recommendations can empower youth and ensure that service design and delivery is consistent with their knowledge, needs, and preferences.

Immigrant and refugee youth are faced with many transitional processes pertaining to adapting to a new country and culture, along with navigating the changing decisions and roadblocks that accompany the adolescent and young adult phases of life. Identifying these transitional processes and factors is important to understanding and supporting the transition to adulthood for immigrant and refugee youth. Furthermore, while many transitional processes can be understood as inherently involving the goal-directed action of the youth themselves, no current reviews have examined the transition to adulthood from this perspective. The present narrative review examines the research literature published from the year 2000 onward concerning transition to adulthood processes for immigrant and refugee youth. Forty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. Key themes identified in the findings related to both processes and outcomes of immigrant and refugee youth transitions include: (a) relationships, (b) integration, (c) self and identity, (d) academics, (e) mental health, and (f) skills. These findings are discussed using the perspective of goal-directed action offered by contextual action theory. This perspective discusses the goals, functional steps, and manifest behavior and resources of young adult immigrants and refugees. These actions reflect the transitional processes in which immigrant and refugee youth engage. This review resulted in the assertion that the transition processes of immigrant and refugee youth can be profitably understood from the perspective of goal-directed action and projects. Moreover, the perspective provides a favorable conceptual framework to incorporate the agency and intentionality of the youth in research and interventions on these processes.

Perceived discrimination, language proficiencies, and adaptation: Comparisons between refugee and non-refugee immigrant youth in Australia

Immigrant youth come to Canada with enormous potential to make a significant, positive contribution to the future of their adopted country. In many cases, this potential is realised; in others, it is not. The ease with which immigrant youth and their families integrate into Canadian society has a strong impact on their futures; those who become marginalised during this process risk becoming alienated or involved with the criminal justice system. Interviews were conducted with 12 stakeholders (including representatives from social service agencies, community groups and the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems) who frequently come into contact with immigrant and refugee youth involved in criminal and/or gang activity. Based on the family, individual, peer, school and community risk and protective factors reported to have an influence on immigrant and refugee youth, recommendations are made for bridging gaps in programming and policy initiatives to support at-risk youth.

Given the prevalence of overweight and obesity among immigrant and refugee children and youth in America, there is a growing need for physical education, physical activity and sports professionals to incorporate culturally and socially responsive strategies into their programs and activities According to Ike-Chinaka (2013), obesity has been identified as a chronic disease that emerges among immigrant populations after they settled in the United States of America. This chapter will focus on the challenges of newly arrived immigrants and refugee youth, and determinants of participation in physical activity and sports. Additionally, the chapter offers some culturally and socially sensitive tips and strategies that professionals in physical education, physical activity and sports can incorporate into their programs and activities so as to increase the participation among newly arrived immigrants and refugee youth.

Given the prevalence of overweight and obesity among immigrant and refugee children and youth in America, there is a growing need for physical education, physical activity and sports professionals to incorporate culturally and socially responsive strategies into their programs and activities According to Ike-Chinaka (2013), obesity has been identified as a chronic disease that emerges among immigrant populations after they settled in the United States of America. This chapter will focus on the challenges of newly arrived immigrants and refugee youth, and determinants of participation in physical activity and sports. Additionally, the chapter offers some culturally and socially sensitive tips and strategies that professionals in physical education, physical activity and sports can incorporate into their programs and activities so as to increase the participation among newly arrived immigrants and refugee youth.

This article undertakes a textual analysis of an autobiographically informed novel, American Street, to analyze the process of identity formation of a Black Haitian immigrant youth in the United States. Black immigrant youth remain an understudied demographic in literacy research compared with their Latinx and Asian immigrant counterparts. The goal of this analysis is to provide insights into the role of languages and literacies for Black immigrant youth in (re)constructing their identities in nations like the United States. Analysis revealed the significance of one youth’s resistance to raciolinguistic ideologies, reliance on her Haitian faith literacies, and deployment of multiliteracy practices in (re)constructing her identity. We call for increased research that illuminates the complexity of the language and literacy processes involved in Black immigrant youth’s negotiations with identity in new homelands, and offer textual analysis as an underutilized but promising inquiry method for generating such knowledge. The article also offers pedagogical implications.

OBJECTIVES. The Office of Family Assistance funds organizations to provide relationship education for youth. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is one such organization. The purpose of this study was to pilot a new USCRI curriculum, GROW Together, with immigrant and refugee youth. The program was designed to help young people develop important life skills and become successful in their new country. METHODS. Refugee and immigrant youth enrolled in the study. Participants received an interactive 12-hour relationship education (RE) program. We measured changes in four outcome measures 1) Communication skills; 2) Conflict resolution/conflict management skills; 3) Healthy marriage and relationship skills, and 4) Attitudes toward finances. Participants also received case management services. All participants completed self-report questionnaires prior to the beginning of the program. After the completion of this pretest questionnaire participants received the 12-hour curriculum. At the end of the program participants completed a posttest questionnaire. RESULTS. When pretest scores were compared with posttest scores (441 matched) there were statistically significant improvements for: Communication skills and Attitudes toward finances. Female participants improved their scores more than males on conflict resolution skills. Those over 18, improved their scores more than younger participants on Conflict resolution skills and Attitude toward finances. Younger participants improved their scores more than older participants on Healthy marriage and relationship skills. CONCLUSIONS. These findings are encouraging and set the stage for a more rigorous evaluation of the curriculum. Future researchers may also examine the effects of the curriculum on health and health behavior outcomes.

With the growing worldwide refugee crisis, there is a need for evidence-based interventions that specifically deal with the consequences of cumulative trauma-exposure in refugee youth. Refugee children have unique service needs and differ from their non-refugee peers in terms of sociocultural trauma, language, culture, and educational barriers. This article explains the complexities associated with understanding refugee youth and presents a proposal for studying the possible benefits of Tree of Life therapy. At the present time, Tree of Life therapy has no evidence-base because the published studies of Tree of Life with refugee and/or immigrant youth have sample sizes of one, six, eight, and twenty-nine. As a culturally-grounded, strength-based group counseling approach, Tree of Life therapy addresses traumatic experiences, recognizes participants' cultural differences, highlights individual skills, and aids in instilling both confidence and hope for the future. Ncazelo Ncube, the co-founder and main developer of Tree of Life, describes this therapy as a collective narrative practice that considers cultural beliefs and values (2006, 2010, 2018, 2019). The proposed research design is to study the effectiveness of the Tree of Life in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. The research plan is to use pragmatic, group-randomized controlled trials in the "real world" settings of schools and agencies in each of the four countries. In addition, the article describes the development of the Roots and Wings Questionnaire for Children and Youth, a culturally relevant, child-friendly questionnaire. The Tree of Life is a readily available therapy with great potential for helping traumatized refugee youth as well as other trauma-impacted young people worldwide.