Acts of Resistance: An Asset-Based Approach to Examine Agency and Mental Health Among Undocumented Students

• In Event: Resilience in Challenging Times: Insights from the Sociology of Mental Health

Abstract

Immigration laws and policies (or immigrant illegality) have been established as a source of social stratification, making them consequential for undocumented college students’ mental health. While recent work has examined the adverse mental health outcomes associated with immigrant illegality, there is still limited work that has directed attention to investigating what factors promote their well-being. Namely, how agency informs their mental health experiences – specifically their psychological well-being (positive outcomes). In this paper, I deploy an asset-based approach in which I examine undocumented students’ acts of resistance. I conceptualize acts of resistance as actions taken by students to resist the structural constraints of exclusionary immigration laws and theorize these as a unique dimension of their stress processes. While stress process theory focuses on coping as a critical pathway to protect mental health, acts of resistance are unique actions taken to mitigate legal vulnerabilities which I argue can also support students in promoting their psychological well-being. I find four acts of resistance: undocumented student program usage, political engagement, critical consciousness raising, and self-care. These actions can be personal or collective, and they promote wellbeing by demystifying the constraints imposed by exclusionary immigration laws. Through employment of acts of resistance, students build their social networks and are exposed to resources which support them in finding solutions to the challenges created by their status. This then empowers students and supports them in their personal reframing of their negative thoughts about themselves and their circumstances. These findings reaffirm the need to explore not only what reduces detrimental health outcomes, but also to consider how individual agency can also protect and support mental health.

Author

• Martha Morales Hernandez, University of California, Merced