Dissertation
A mixed-methods exploration of the impact of perceived discrimination and interior immigration enforcement experiences on the mental health of U.S.-citizen children and adolescents of Mexican immigrants
Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), Drexel University
Jun 2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001137
Abstract
Under the Trump administration, Latino immigrant communities were targeted by interior immigration enforcement and subjected to increased discrimination under an anti-immigrant climate. U.S. citizen children are victimized by these policies targeting their immigrant parents, yet little is known about these policies' impacts on their mental health. This dissertation synthesized scientific evidence regarding the mental health impacts of immigration enforcement and discrimination on Latino children in the U.S. A quantitative study was performed using survey data to explore the statistical relationship between exposure to immigration enforcement and discrimination and mental health. This dissertation includes a qualitative study of semi-structured interviews that explores children's lived experiences of discrimination, parental deportation or threat of parental deportation and perceived impacts on mental health. Quantitative results suggest that both discrimination and immigration enforcement independently and negatively affect mental health. In the qualitative interviews, children who experienced parental deportation feel traumatized and experience psychological distress, while children who anticipate deportation experience toxic stress. Children experience discrimination that targets their identities as Latinos and children of immigrants, which is also detrimental to their mental/emotional health. More longitudinal, mixed-methods research is needed to understand how immigration enforcement and discrimination shape health trajectories of Latino/x adolescents, especially citizens. Family-friendly immigration policy reform is also critical.
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Details
- Title
- A mixed-methods exploration of the impact of perceived discrimination and interior immigration enforcement experiences on the mental health of U.S.-citizen children and adolescents of Mexican immigrants
- Creators
- Jamile Tellez Lieberman
- Contributors
- Ana P. Martínez-Donate (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- viii, 175, [1] pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991018527108804721