Diverse Experience of Immigrant Children: How Do Separation and Reunification Shape Their Development?

• DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13171
• Publication Date: 2018-10-19T15:39:08Z
• Authors: Yao Lu; Qian He; Jeanne Brooks‐Gunn
• Keywords: Male; Immigrant families; 330; Adolescent; 4. Education; Immigrant children; 05 social sciences; Emigrants and Immigrants; 300; United States; Child Development; Humans; Female; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Parent-Child Relations; Child; 10. No inequality; Emigration and immigration; Child development; Separation (Psychology) in children

Although many immigrant children to the United States arrive with their parents, a notable proportion are first separated and later reunited with their parents. How do the experiences of separation and reunification shape the well‐being of immigrant children? Data were from a national survey of legal adult immigrants and their families, the New Immigrant Survey from 2003 to 2004 (for academic achievement, age 6–12, N = 876; for psychosocial well‐being, age 6–17, N = 1,084). Results indicated that immigrant children who were once separated from their parents exhibited poorer literacy and higher risk of emotional and behavioral problems than those who migrated with parents. A protracted period of separation and previous undocumented status of parents amplified the disadvantages experienced by these children.