Biography

Frosso Motti-Stefanidi is Professor of Psychology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is an internationally recognized scholar of immigrant and refugee youth adaptation. She has presented the social policy implications of her work at different Working Groups of the European Parliament. Frosso received her PhD from the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. She has received the Distinguished International Alumni Award from the College of Education and Human Development of the University of Minnesota, she is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and a Chen Yidan Visiting Global Fellow at the Graduate School of Education, Harvard University.

She has served as President of the European Association of Developmental Psychology, as President of the European Association of Personality Psychology, as Member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research in Child Development. She is currently the President of the International Consortium of Developmental Science Societies.

Resilient Adaptation of Immigrant Youth in the Greek School Context: Risks and Resources

Session Type: Invited Talk

Abstract

The resilient adaptation of immigrant youth is a highly important issue for multiple stakeholders because of its potential long-term significance for the well-being of migrants and the prosperity and social cohesion of receiving societies. Schools are a key social context for immigrant youth. They represent and introduce them to the culture of the host society, contributing both to their development and acculturation. A key question that will be addressed in this presentation is “Who among immigrant youth adapt well in the school context and why”? I will examine immigrant-youth adaptation through the lens of a recently developed resilience model. The focus will be on adaptation with respect to three key developmental tasks of adolescence, namely peer relations, academic achievement and the integration of cultural and personal identities. What are the risks that threaten immigrant youths’ adaptation with respect to these tasks? What are the promotive or protective influences that support their positive adaptation? These questions will be addressed using scientific evidence drawn from the Athena Studies of Resilient Adaptation project (AStRA), a two-cohort, three-wave longitudinal project on immigrant youth adaptation conducted in Greece, as well as from the international literature. Based on the observation that Greece is a highly assimilatory society, I will argue that the results presented may at least partially reflect societal attitudes toward the presence of immigrants in the country. Educational and social policy implications will be discussed.

Sub Unit

• Invited Program

Moderator

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto

Speaker

• Frosso Motti, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Introducer

• Rachel M. Hershberg, University of Washington