Many academic and public policies promote rapid immigrant assimilation. Yet, researchers have recently identified an emerging pattern, known as the immigrant paradox, in which assimilated children of immigrants experience diminishing developmental outcomes and educational achievements. This volume examines these controversial findings by asking how and why highly acculturated youth may fare worse academically and developmentally than their less assimilated peers, and under what circumstances this pattern is disrupted. This timely compilation of original research is aimed at understanding how acculturation affects immigrant child and adolescent development. Chapters explore the question "Is Becoming American a Developmental Risk?" through a variety of lenses--psychological, sociological, educational, and economic. Contributors compare differential health, behavioral, and educational outcomes for foreign- and native-born children of immigrants across generations. While economic and social disparities continue to present challenges impeding child and adolescent development, particularly for U.S.-born children of immigrants, findings in this book point to numerous benefits of biculturalism and bilingualism to preserve immigrants' strengths.

Winner Best Edited Book Award presented by the Society for Research on Adolescence Immigration to the United States has reached historic numbers— 25 percent of children under the age of 18 have an immigrant parent, and this number is projected to grow to one in three by 2050. These children have become a significant part of our national tapestry, and how they fare is deeply intertwined with the future of our nation. Immigrant children and the children of immigrants face unique developmental challenges. Navigating two distinct cultures at once, immigrant-origin children have no expert guides to lead them through the process. Instead, they find themselves acting as guides for their parents. How are immigrant children like all other children, and how are they unique? What challenges as well as what opportunities do their circumstances present for their development? What characteristics are they likely to share because they have immigrant parents, and what characteristics are unique to specific groups of origin? How are children of first-generation immigrants different from those of second-generation immigrants? Transitions offers comprehensive coverage of the field’s best scholarship on the development of immigrant children, providing an overview of what the field needs to know—or at least systematically begin to ask—about the immigrant child and adolescent from a developmental perspective. This book takes an interdisciplinary perspective to consider how personal, social, and structural factors interact to determine a variety of trajectories of development. The editors have curated contributions from experts across a carefully selected variety of topics covering ecologies, processes, and outcomes of development pertinent to immigrant origin children.

Immigrant children and youth are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, and so their prospects bear heavily on the well-being of the country. Children of Immigrants represents some of the very best and most extensive research efforts to date on the circumstances, health, and development of children in immigrant families and the delivery of health and social services to these children and their families. This book presents new, detailed analyses of more than a dozen existing datasets that constitute a large share of the national system for monitoring the health and well-being of the U.S. population. Prior to these new analyses, few of these datasets had been used to assess the circumstances of children in immigrant families. The analyses enormously expand the available knowledge about the physical and mental health status and risk behaviors, educational experiences and outcomes, and socioeconomic and demographic circumstances of first- and second-generation immigrant children, compared with children with U.S.-born parents.

Explores the impact of immigration in a global context All over the world families migrate, and with them so do their children. Probing the question of what being an immigrant' means, this publication brings together theory and empirical findings to highlight the impact of immigration on child development in a global context. Discussed is the impact of these processes on children and adolescents in a variety of different countries and social contexts to determine both universal and culturally specific aspects of the experience of immigration as it becomes a pervasive reality of the modern world. This publication is appropriate for anyone who is interested in the process of migration/immigration and how it affects human development. Both students and scholars as well as real-world practitioners and policy makers in education, psychology, sociology, anthropology, ethnic and cultural studies, immigration studies, government and public policy will find this book a valuable source of information about the present and the way in which the next generation develops in response to the immigrant experience.

The success and well-being of immigrant youth has become a vital issue for many receiving societies in North America and Europe as a result of global migration. This volume brings together leading scholars on immigrant youth to discuss current research and its implications for education, policy, and intervention.

Immigrant Stories portrays the contexts and academic trajectories of development of three unique immigrant groups: Cambodian, Dominican and Portuguese. The children of immigrant families - or second generation youth - are the fastest growing population of school children in the US. However, very little is known about these children's academic and psychological development during middle childhood. We examine the previously under-explored intricacies of children's emerging cultural attitudes and identities, academic engagement, and academic achievement. These processes are studied alongside a myriad of factors in the family and school environment that combine to shape children's academic psychological functioning during this important period. Through a three-year longitudinal study, including interviews with teachers, parents and children, this book presents a fascinating look at the community, school, and family contexts of child development among second-generation children. Both pre-immigration and post-immigration characteristics are explored as critical factors for understanding children of immigrants' development. In the current climate of US immigration policy debate, we offer research findings that may inform educators and administrators about the sources of community strengths and challenges facing our newest immigrant generations.

Global Perspectives on Well-Being in Immigrant Families addresses how immigrant families and their children cope with the demands of a new country in relation to psychological well-being, adjustment, and cultural maintenance. The book identifies cultural and contextual factors that contribute to well-being during a family’s migratory transition to ensure successful outcomes for children and youth. In addition, the findings presented in this book outline issues for future policy and practice including preventive practices that might allow for early intervention and increased cultural sensitivity among practitioners, school staff, and researchers.​

The Classic Edition of 'Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition', first published in 2006, includes a new introduction by the editors, describing the ongoing relevance of this volume in the context of future challenges for this vital field of study. It emphasizes the importance of continued actions and policies to improve the quality of interactions between multiple ethno-cultural groups, and highlights how these issues have developed the field of cross-cultural psychology. In the original text, an international team of psychologists with interests in acculturation, identity, and development describes the experience and adaptation of immigrant youth, using data from over 7,000 immigrant youth from diverse cultural backgrounds and national youth living in 13 countries of settlement. They explore the way in which immigrant adolescents carry out their lives at the intersection of two cultures (those of their heritage group and the national society), and how well these youth are adapting to their intercultural experience. It explores four distinct patterns followed by youth during their acculturation: *an integration pattern, in which youth orient themselves to, and identify with both cultures; *an ethnic pattern, in which youth are oriented mainly to their own group; *a national pattern, in which youth look primarily to the national society; and *a diffuse pattern, in which youth are uncertain and confused about how to live interculturally. The study shows the variation in both the psychological adaptation and the sociocultural adaptation among youth, with most adapting well. This Classic Edition continues to be highly valuable reading for researchers, graduate students, and public policy makers who have an interest in public health, psychology, anthropology, sociology, demography, education, and psychiatry.

This Handbook presents current research on children and youth in ethnic minority families. It reflects the development currently taking place in the field of social sciences research to highlight the positive adaptation of minority children and youth. It offers a succinct synthesis of where the field is and where it needs to go. It brings together an international group of leading researchers, and, in view of globalization and increased migration and immigration, it addresses what aspects of children and youth growing in ethnic minority families are universal across contexts and what aspects are more context-specific. The Handbook examines the individual, family, peers, and neighborhood/policy factors that protect children and promote positive adaptation. It examines the factors that support children’s social integration, psychosocial adaptation, and external functioning. Finally, it looks at the mechanisms that explain why social adaptation occurs.

The Development of Children and Adolescents, by Penny Hauser-Cram, J. Kevin Nugent, Kathleen Thies, and John F. Travers, provides an integrated view of child development. Presenting the most pertinent research for each developmental stage and linking this to practical applications in the areas of Parenting, Policy, and Practice, this balanced approach emphasizes the relationship between research and theory and applications. The rich media program, including WileyPLUS with Real Development promotes active learning and allows for increased understanding and comprehension of the course content. Real Development, authored by Nicole Barnes, Ph.D., Montclair State University and Christine Hatchard, Psy.D., Monmouth University, uses authentic video showcasing real families, along with activities and assessments that put students in the place of a professional, to gain an understanding of key concepts. Through the combination of text and media, students are engaged in meaningful learning that deepens and enriches their understanding of developmental concepts. WileyPLUS sold separately from text.