Accumulation of Adversity Following Parental Detention and Deportation: Stressful Life Events and Mental Health Outcomes

• In Event: 2-178 - Children of Immigrants' Health: Mobilizing Research, Policy and Practice in a Time of Crisis

Integrative Statement

The long-term and deleterious impact of parental detention and deportation on the psychological health and overall wellbeing of children is a matter of growing concern. This study investigated the effects of parental detention and deportation on endorsement of stressful life events (SLEs), and internalizing and externalizing problems among Latino citizen children across time. Ninety-seven U.S.-born Latino children (ages 6 to 12) from mixed-status families and their caregivers participated in the current research investigation. Standardized assessments were conducted at Time 1 (baseline) and Time 2 (6-month follow-up) to determine psychological distress, and SLEs. Parent report of child internalizing and externalizing problems (BASC-2 PRS-C) and number of SLEs, by parental immigration status, were examined through repeated measures ANOVAs. Both, Time 1 and Time 2 assessments, indicate that children who had experienced parental detention and deportation endorsed a greater number of SLEs across time than children of unauthorized parents with no contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and children of parents with legal permanent residency (LPRs). Notably, parents of detained or deported status reported an increase in SLEs over time, while parents of LPRs and unauthorized status without ICE contact, reported a decrease in SLEs. There was also a significant main effect of time on child internalizing and externalizing symptoms in all children, regardless of parental immigration status. This significant reduction in symptoms across groups, however, does not obscure the significant difference between groups. That is, even as children of detained and deported parents improve, their functioning remained poorer than of children in the two other groups. These findings call for a revision of immigration enforcement policies and practices to minimize long-term detrimental effects on the health and psychological wellbeing of Latino U.S.-citizen children.

Authors

• Lisseth Rojas-Flores, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology
  Presenting Author

• Larisa Grams-Benitez, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karina Muro, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology
  Non-Presenting Author