“El nombre de nuestro país está en nuestros corazones”: exploring the impact of school-based identity messaging in Central American immigrant youth

Abstract

ABSTRACT For immigrant youth, the development of a bicultural identity is associated with well-being and academic achievement. The institutional and social contexts of the receiving society, including public schools, shape processes of bicultural identity development. This exploratory qualitative study, which employed a phenomenological design, explored the experiences and perspectives of 20 Central American immigrant youth, with specific attention paid to messaging received about their identities of origin in the educational milieu. Despite experiences of both positive and negative identity messaging, all participants described an enduring sense of pride from and a strong desire to retain a meaningful connection to their identities of origin. Building on these participant perspectives, this study offers a preliminary exploration of identity resilience in this population of immigrant youth. These perspectives challenge previous theoretical models and empirical work related to the effects of acculturative stress, negative identity messaging, and collective identity trauma on connection to identity of origin.