Exploring the influence of immigration enforcement on mental health and school engagement outcomes in foreign-born and second generation Latinx youth
Dr. Jodi Berger Cardoso, Associate Professor in the Graduate College of Social Work. Dr. Berger Cardoso is a Co-Principal Investigator on a research grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that explores the influence of immigration enforcement on mental health and school engagement outcomes in foreign-born and second generation (i.e., U.S. born with an immigrant parent) Latinx youth. Foreign born and U.S. born Latinx youth in immigrant families experience significant hardship related to immigration enforcement, poverty, and exposure to violence and psychological trauma. Initial results suggest that youths’ fears and worries about their deportation and the deportation of someone they know are associated with negative mental health outcomes like posttraumatic stress and anxiety symptoms. These findings suggest that the current sociopolitical context of immigration enforcement is likely affecting the well-being of Latinx youth in clinically significant and developmentally challenging ways.
