Summary and Critique of the Article Immigration and Families: Treating Acculturative Stress

Transcription

1 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 1 Summary and Critique of the Article Immigration and Families: Treating Acculturative Stress form a Systemic Framework, authored by Nancy L Beckerman and Lynn Corbett Miguel Angel Ruiz Biscayne College, St. Thomas University, Miami Gardens, Florida Author Note Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Miguel Angel Ruiz, 3900 NW 79 Ave, Suite 731, Doral, Florida 33166, maruiz22@bellsouth.net

2 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 2 Abstract In this paper the student will do a summary of an article published by Nancy L Beckerman; Lynn Corbett in the ProQuest Psychology Journals, 2008, in which, from the structural point of view, the authors exposed the hardship that immigrant families encounter. In this summary the student will focus in the following main ideas: 1 st : Stages of Immigration, 2 nd Notion of Acculturation, 3 rd Most Common Acculturative Problems, and 4 th the Student personal view about the article.

3 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 3 Introduction Immigration is one of the most challenging situations a family could face. Immigration has been and will always be a field in which marriage and family therapists must focus their attention and skills toward and be extremely sensitive in order to effectively help immigrant families. Immigration is something that most of us have experienced. Being Afro-American, Irish, Italian, German, South American, Spaniard, Haitian, etc. at some point in our family history, one of our ancestors immigrated to this country. In a certain way, immigration touches us all, challenges us all and marks us all. For the Catholic Church, immigration is a front-runner issue. Popes and Bishops throughout the twenty century and in this century have written important messages and apostolic letters about immigration. Pope Pius XII expressed his empathy and understanding about this issue when he wrote in 1952: The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants and taking refuge in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are the model, the example and the support of all emigrants and pilgrims of every age and every country, of all refugees of any condition who, compelled by persecution and need, are forced to abandon their homeland, their beloved relatives, their neighbors, their dear friends, and move to a foreign land. Pope John Paul II (2005) gave to Catholics a clear philosophical principal they should use when helping immigrants. He said: integration is not an assimilation that leads migrants to suppress or to forget their own cultural identity. Rather, contact with others leads to discovering their "secret", to being open to them in order to welcome their valid aspects and thus contribute to knowing each one better. This is a lengthy process that aims to shape societies and cultures,

4 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 4 making them more and more a reflection of the multi-faceted gifts of God to human beings. In this process the migrant is intent on taking the necessary steps towards social inclusion, such as learning the national language and complying with the laws and requirements at work, so as to avoid the occurrence of exasperated differentiation. This principle taught by John Paul II is in certain way, similar to the integrateacculturation which the authors of the article explained on page 65. More recently Benedict XIV (2008) clearly stated the necessity of working with immigrants especially in the psychological/emotional field of what he calls the difficulty of dual belonging : For the young migrants, the problems of the so-called difficulty of dual belonging seem to be felt in a particular way: on the one hand, they feel a strong need to not lose their culture of origin, while on the other, the understandable desire emerges in them to be inserted organically into the society that receives them, but without this implying a complete assimilation and the resulting loss of their ancestral traditions. The student sees in this concept of difficulty of dual belonging a similarity with the concept of acculturative dissonance explained by Beckerman & Corbett on page 67. In this article, Nancy Beckerman and Lynn Corbett, have presented the most recent literature about immigration issues. The authors have exposed the notions of acculturative stress, immigrant trauma and the range of systemic challenges to the recently immigrated family from the perspective of the Structural Family Therapy. It is the student intent to summarize the basic concepts presented by the authors in this article and give his personal opinion about them. Beckerman and Corbet (2008) describe the following aspects of immigration: a) the stages of immigration, b) the acculturation, and c) the major mental health problems related to immigration.

5 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 5 Stages of Immigration. Immigration does not begin the day a family step out of the plane at Miami International Airport. Immigration, understood as a process, begins far before this day. The process begins with experiences (see Dejarlais et al., 1995) that may have determined the need for relocation, such as war, economic crisis, company relocation, etc. The process continuous in how this family prepares for the move, if the move has been prepared for a long time or if it was done in a short period, if relatives emotionally support the family or not, etc. The third stage is the immigration itself, how and when they arrived to this country, if there were other relatives or friends waiting for them, etc. Finally the fourth stage is the Post-migratory or Acculturative stage in which the family faces the process of accommodating to the host country. Acculturation. The authors used the definition given by J. Berry (1980) who defines acculturation as the process of changes in beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors resulting from contact with another culture. There are four ways ethnic group members acculturate (Berry et al., 1988): a) Assimilate: by identifying solely with the dominant culture and sever ties to their own culture. b) Marginalize: by rejecting both cultures, their own and the host. c) Separate: by identifying solely with their own culture and rejecting the host culture. d) Integrate: by a process of combination, in which the immigrant identifies with both their own ethnic group and with the host culture. He/she maintains some traditions and simultaneously acquired some characteristics of the host culture. The major mental health problems related to immigration are: Acculturative Stress, Immigrant Trauma and Acculturative Dissonance. The authors noted recent researches that suggest many factors which may affect the process of acculturation. According to Marsella, Bornemann, Ekbald, & Orley (1994) some of these factors are: Reason for immigrating, length of residence in the United States, age at immigration and contact with homeland. According to

6 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 6 Ponterotto (1987) some of the factors are: Language preferences, place of birth, generation level, socioeconomic status and social support. All or some of these factors may contribute to create a tense process of immigration that is called acculturative stress (Berry et al., 1988). The authors pointed out that this acculturative stress may appear in any immigrant member at several different points in time. This stress has been correlated with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and behavior difficulties. This acculturative stress may turn into a profound or incapacitating sense of loss, disassociation, flashbacks or nightmares about separation from the home land or family of origin (p. 66). This is when this acculturative stress becomes an immigrant trauma. When the family of immigrants has children, the most common problem they will face is how the two generation (parents children) will acculturate. Usually, parents rely upon their children as the translator and interpreter of the new culture. In many cases children are burdened with a heavy responsibility that increases the family stress. That is what Rumbaut and Portes (2002) called acculturative dissonance. Student Personal View about the Article It is the personal view of the student, that the article written by Beckerman and Corbett (2008) it is an excellent tool for today s therapists. The drama of immigration it s so widely spread that is necessary for all therapists to improve their skills in addressing acculturative stress and immigrant trauma. It is essential for therapists to know how to assess with a cultural sensitivity perspective. The authors clearly exposed the steps that should be followed to have a comprehensive assessment of the immigrant family (see p. 66), and how culturally sensitive the therapist should be when perceiving some native cultural norms as maladaptive or dysfunctional (p. 70).

7 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 7 They mentioned as well the importance of the careful assessment of the occurrence of unacceptable forms of discipline or child labor that may not be considered problematic in the homeland but are illegal in the U.S. The case study presented on page 71 it is an excellent example of Structural Family Therapy that illuminated the understanding of the student. It helped the student to learn how to do an assessment, how to reframe the presenting problem, how to inquire about the family system and from that information obtain insights about how the presenting problem is just one aspect of a relational problem that is affecting the entire family system. The student also learned how specific interventions (see p. 75) of the Structural Family Therapy Model helped the family grow to a new level of homeostasis. This article has been very helpful for the student s understanding of many situations he has gone through being himself an immigrant. It helped him to see in a new way many attitudes he has noticed among friends who have also immigrated to the US. It has given him the tools to be able to help families that eventually will come in search for help. Finally, it has given him the desire to keep studying and the insight that he needs to learn a lot more in order to be a good therapist.

8 Running Head: A REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION AND FAMILY 8 References Beckerman N.L., & Corbett, L. (2008) Immigration and families: Treating acculturative stress from a systemic framework. Family Therapy; 35, 2. ProQuest Psychology Journals. Benedict XVI, Message for the 94 th World day of migrants and refuge, Retrieved April 2, 2009 from The Vatican Official Web Page: John Paul II, Message for the 91 st World day of migrants and refugee. Retrieved April 2, 2009 from The Vatican Official Web Page: Pius XII, (1952). Apostolic Constitution Exsul Familia Nazarethana, Retrieved April 2, 2009 from the Papal Encyclicals Online: