Adaptation Trajectories During a Great Economic Recession: A Cohort Study of Greek and Immigrant Youth

• In Event: 1-076 - Unpacking Heterogeneity in the Immigrant Paradox: Evidence from Canada, the US, and Greece

Integrative Statement

During the last decade many countries in the world experienced a great economic recession. Families experience such shocks through unemployment and a decrease in income, which may become insufficient to meet their financial needs. The resulting economic pressure often increases parental anxiety and depression, and relatedly family conflict, thus altering in a negative direction youth’ s developmental context (Conger et al.,1992). These changes have the potential to disrupt and do permanent damage to the adaptation and development of young people. What is at stake in the long run is the development of healthy, productive, and effective adults (Lundberg & Wuermli, 2012).

The present study compares longitudinally two cohorts of middle school immigrant students, and their Greek classmates. One cohort was studied before the Greek economic crisis and the other during the crisis. The first goal is to compare level and change between the two cohorts in families’ economic problems and youth’s adaptation and wellbeing. The second goal is to examine whether and how differences between the two cohorts hold equally for immigrants and Greeks.

Assessed were 1,057 pre-crisis-cohort (age M = 12.7 years; 53% male, 50% immigrants) and 1,052 crisis-cohort (age M = 12.6 years; 53% male, 65% immigrants) students who attended 103 middle-school grade 1 classes. Measures: Economic problems in the family: cumulative risk index of parents’ employment status. School adjustment: a) School Grades and Absenteeism (school records) and b) Behavioral School Engagement and Positive Conduct (teacher-rated). Wellbeing indices (self-rated): (a) Self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965) and (b) Self-efficacy (Bandura et al., 1996).

The two cohorts were matched on these variables for Wave 1 at both the levels of students and classrooms (e.g., classrooms were matched regarding their ethnic composition), using Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPTW). To address the research questions, two-level growth curve analyses were estimated using MPlus 7 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2012).

Overall, the two cohorts differed initially as follows: The crisis cohort had higher school achievement, but also more economic problems, worse conduct, more absences, lower self-efficacy and self-esteem compared to the pre-crisis-cohort. School engagement did not differ between the two cohorts. Immigrant students of both cohorts had across the board worse adaptation and wellbeing compared to their Greek classmates. For change, four significant cohort effects on change were found. School engagement decreased more during the crisis; positive conduct decreased before the crisis but increased during the crisis, absences increased more over time during the crisis, and self-esteem decreased during the crisis but remained largely constant before. These overall cohort effects on change were consistent between Greeks and immigrants because all cohort × immigrant status interactions were non-significant.

Thus, initially, a mixture of risk and resilience is observed during the economic crisis in both immigrant and non-immigrant groups. However, the initial results are often reversed in the following years of middle school. In general, immigrants of both cohorts did significantly worse compared to their Greek peers, which shows that the immigrant paradox (Garcia Coll & Marks, 2012) does not hold in Greece.

Authors

• Frosso Motti, University of Athens
  Presenting Author

• Adriana Umaña-Taylor, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Olga Kornienko, George Mason University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jens Asendorpf, Humboldt University
  Non-Presenting Author