Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore the mental health challenges that Central American immigrant youth face before and after arriving in the United States. This population is hard to reach, marginalized, and disproportionately exposed to trauma from a young age. This paper investigates the mental health stressors experienced by Central American immigrant youth and asylum seekers, including unaccompanied minors, surveyed in the U.S. in 2017. This mixed methods study uses qualitative data from interviews along with close-ended questions and the validated PHQ-8 Questionnaire and the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS). These new migrants face numerous challenges to mental health, increased psychopathological risk exacerbated by high levels of violence and low state-capacity in their countries of origin, restrictive immigration policies, the fear of deportation for themselves and their family members, and the pressure to integrate once in the U.S. We find that Central American youth have seen improvements in their self-reported mental health after migrating to the U.S., but remain at risk of further trauma exposure, depression, and PTSD. We find that they exhibit a disproportionate likelihood of having lived through traumatizing experiences that put them at higher risk for psychological distress and disorders that may create obstacles to integration. These can, in turn, create new stressors that exacerbate PTSD, depression, and anxiety. These conditions can be minimized through programs that aid immigrant integration and mental health.
Highlights
Central American youth emigrating to escape violence, poverty, family separation, and abuse may have a high risk for developing mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder
Taking a sociological approach to the social determinants of health [3,9], this paper argues that the migration and integration processes present unique stressors that mold mental health outcomes
The project from which this paper derives, “Household Contexts and School Integration of Resettled Migrant Youth,” included: semi-structured interviews with 23 social service providers, school staff, and community experts in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region; a structured interview with 41 parents or sponsors of minors who arrived in the region; as well as a structured interview with closed- and open-ended questions and two mental health symptom scales applied to 58 Central American participants who arrived in the United States as minors a few years before the time of the interview (2017)
Summary
Central American youth emigrating to escape violence, poverty, family separation, and abuse may have a high risk for developing mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder Upon settling in their new community, immigrants grapple with cultural, social, and economic challenges. One may accumulate acculturative stress, or the stress of trying to integrate into a new country’s culture while seeking to retain one’s values, traditions, and beliefs derived from home country experiences [2]. This unique type of stress that immigrants face upon their arrival can be more difficult to manage by those who have already experienced trauma. Post-migration stressors may inhibit immigrants’ recovery from pre-migration trauma, which prolongs and worsens mental health problems [3]
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