Immigration is a critical topic in countries worldwide, with more and more people leaving their home countries to start anew in places as varied as cities, rural areas, and everything in between.
Regardless of why someone becomes an immigrant—whether it be for educational opportunities, economic benefits, or factors beyond their control—the undeniable fact remains that migrants universally have unique experiences that many who have never been through this process will not fully understand.
Immigrants can often struggle to adapt to their new home while also trying to maintain part of their traditional cultures; this dilemma significantly impacts young immigrants whose lives are so heavily shaped by socialization within their family’s context. Consequently, navigating cultural expectations on top of educational, familial, and personal pressures can create feelings of confusion and isolation among immigrant youth.
In this post, we will explore the reality immigrant youth face and what resources can ease this transition for them.
What is Acculturation?
Acculturation is a necessary process to consider when looking at abrupt cultural changes. According to Colleen Ward, a prominent expert on the topic, it’s the changes in an individual’s values, practices, and identity due to contact with another culture. Acculturation isn’t as black and white as forgoing the home culture for a new one. Instead, it is a complex multidimensional process that can affect a young person’s psychological well-being.
In the past, individuals were categorized into groups according to their orientation towards their original or settlement culture. However, this method doesn’t consider all of the complexities of acculturation due to its focus on dichotomizing between cultures. Thankfully, modern research surrounding acculturation considers this complexity and allows individuals undergoing this process a platform to express their experiences in their own way.
Factors Affecting Acculturation in Youth
For young people migrating to a new country, the experience of transition and adaptation can be hindered by certain factors, such as the school system, social exclusion, and limited support. Acculturating can undoubtedly be a challenge for youth immigrants, but proper understanding and awareness within their new community have made the transition smoother and more manageable.
According to our research, the following main themes play into social exclusion.
Perceived Discrimination
One of the factors that affect acculturation for young people is perceived discrimination. Unfortunately, many young immigrants face discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, and skin color in public places, society, and schools.
This can create significant barriers to success in their new country and leave them feeling isolated. It’s essential to be aware of this issue so we can all work together to create a more inclusive environment where everyone feels heard and accepted.
Lack of Guidance
Without parents proficient in the language or familiar with the new culture’s educational system, young people have limited access to the appropriate resources to help them adjust. As if that weren’t enough, not having elders around to provide mentorship or to introduce them to meaningful hobbies only makes transitioning that much harder.
Acculturation has far-reaching effects, and it’s clear why immigrant adolescents can really benefit from supportive adults as they first start to integrate into their new society.
Language Barriers
Many immigrant adolescents feel frustrated because of the inadequate language proficiency that hinders their efforts to adjust to school and their new environment. This can lead to isolation and despair. Acculturating successfully requires communication with the new society.
Unfortunately, this can be difficult when newcomers are excluded from social interactions and language learning opportunities. Language barriers further challenge those who must acclimate in a new country due to factors out of their control.
Cultural In-Betweenness
For immigrant adolescents, acculturation is more than just adapting to new cultural norms. They often find themselves stuck between two countries and cultures, feeling disconnected from both. This sense of cultural in-betweenness can be observed in their behaviors, clothes, and appearance, which do not fit neatly into the culture of either their home country or the one they have migrated to.
This experience leads them to feel as if they do not truly belong anywhere and contributes further to an already tricky acculturation process.
How Can We Support Healthy Acculturation in Immigrant Youth?
Socialization with Peers
Acculturation for immigrant youth can be encouraged by supporting social and cultural immersion. Immigrant adolescents often express the need to adapt and feel part of their new home, studying with native children being one of their suggested solutions.
By interacting more with the established community, children can spot similarities between cultures while upholding the values they brought from their own culture.
Acculturation needs to be seen as a two-way process, allowing both sides to learn from each other and find common ground. Through fostering acculturation, foreign and native individuals gain an understanding of one another’s culture, creating a more inviting environment for newcomer youth.
Support from Teachers and Parents
While every situation can have its own specific needs and considerations, teachers and parents play a critical role in helping immigrant youth lead successful lives.
Working together through collaborative engagement can help immigrant youth feel safe, supported, and motivated to thrive in their new environment.
It allows those involved – from language teachers to native teachers to family members – to recognize the unique strengths of each child and guide them in finding ways for those strengths to make a positive contribution on their journey of acculturation.
Introducing Healthy Coping Mechanisms
To support healthy acculturation, we must focus on also supporting adolescents’ abilities to cope with these challenges. The strategies that immigrant youth use to cope can vary, but the first step is typically accepting that there will be difficulties they must face while adapting.
We owe it to the immigrant youth of our communities to provide them with the emotional and mental tools needed to manage the acculturation process and allow them to thrive in their new environment.
Summing It Up
While immigrant youth have to grapple with navigating cultural expectations, there are multiple ways parents and teachers can help them acculturate healthily.
