Psychology Of Immigration Research Articles

Unpackaging the Psychology of Immigration

Unpackaging the Psychology of Immigration

Latinas/os and immigration reform: A commentary to “Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century”—The report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration.

As immigration reform discussions reach a fever-pitch in Washington, DC, Dr. Melba J. T. Vasquez and the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration released their report, Crossroads: The Psychology of Immigration in the New Century. Vasquez was the first Latina and first woman of color to be president of the American Psychological Association, and we commend her for commissioning this Task Force as part of her presidential initiatives. We also note the contributions of J. Manuel Casas to the report, as he is a member of the National Latina/o Psychological Association. This report is an important step for psychologists as we continue to balance the dialogues and discourse around immigration today in the United States. The report aims to describe the demography and experiences of immigrants and second-generation individuals, and takes a balanced approach in highlighting the strengths of this population and their contributions, as well as identifying key challenges, including issues of xenophobia, discrimination, and educational and clinical service limitations that adequately address their unique needs. The report underscores the importance of social, political, and economic contexts as a backdrop to understanding the challenges of immigrant communities, and provides a framework for reducing the educational, research, and applied disparities within psychology. Although the Task Force’s report focuses on all immigrant communities, this commentary highlights specific aspects that address the processes associated with Latina/o communities, while also identifying specific issues that warrant further consideration.

Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century.

Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century.

Transnational Families and Social Technologies: Reassessing Immigration Psychology

Social technologies—mobile phones, the wide availability of international phone calls, and the mainstreaming of Internet connectivity and social media—are becoming a cornerstone of the immigrant family experience. Information communication technologies (ICTs) are supporting the transformation of family networks into transnational ones, with potentially significant consequences in the psychology of immigration and family mental health. Social technologies may be influencing and mainstreaming the transnational experiences while families are finding resilient ways to confront the difficulties posed by immigration. Computer-mediated communications among transnational families are a source of compelling opportunities and a challenge for clinicians to adopt an ecosystemic perspective and address these new circumstances.

The Deliberative Poll as a Method for Generating Informed Opinion on Immigration

The articles in this collection broadly address the social psychology of immigration and explore ways to improve relationships between natives and nonnatives in the United States. In this comment, we propose the Deliberative Poll as an additional tool for the study of opinion on immigration and for improving relationships among the groups.

Understanding Immigrants’ Experiences: Reflections on Ken Dion's Research Contributions

This article focuses on Ken Dion's contributions to a central issue for understanding the psychology of immigration: namely, intergroup relations and immigrants’ experiences. Immigrants face many challenges, including the experience of prejudice and discrimination directed toward them by others already residing in the society to which they have immigrated. Ken's research focused on the perspective of those who are the targets of discrimination. After briefly describing his early seminal work on the social psychology of reported discrimination, his later contributions to this area are discussed, in particular, his involvement in interdisciplinary collaborative research pertaining to immigration which provided unique opportunities to further develop and test his ideas.

Inside-Out and Outside-In: Exploring Differences—Response to Discussants

The author is grateful for the thoughtful discussions by four wonderful thinkers and writers, Ken Corbett, Frank M. Lachmann, Joye Weisel-Barth and Michael Pariser. Each offers a different lens through which to consider this analytic process that is so embedded in the psychology of immigration. The complexity of immigration and its psychological sequelae are considered anew as the author re-emphasizes the importance of considering the phenomenon from the inside out rather than the outside in. Issues of shame, loss and mourning assume centre stage as they must in order to begin to process the associated trauma involved.

Cultural psychology of immigrants

Cultural psychology of immigrants

A Psychology of Immigration

The discipline of psychology has much to contribute to our understanding of immigrants and the process of immigration. A framework is proposed that lays out two complementary domains of psychological research, both rooted in contextual factors, and both leading to policy and program development. The first (acculturation) stems from research in anthropology and is now a central part of cross‐ cultural psychology; the second (intergroup relations) stems from sociology and is now a core feature of social psychology. Both domains are concerned with two fundamental issues that face immigrants and the society of settlement: maintenance of group characteristics and contact between groups. The intersection of these issues creates an intercultural space, within which members of both groups develop their cultural boundaries and social relationships. A case is made for the benefits of integration as a strategy for immigrants and for multiculturalism as a policy for the larger society. The articles in this issue are then discussed in relation to these conceptual frameworks and empirical findings.

Book Review: Women Crossing Boundaries: A Psychology of Immigration and Transformations of Sexuality. By Olivia M. Espín

Book Review: Women Crossing Boundaries: A Psychology of Immigration and Transformations of Sexuality. By Olivia M. Espín