Young Immigrants: a Psychosocial Development Perspective. ENCOUNTER
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Young Immigrants A Psychosocial Development Perspective Glen Milstein and Luka Luci e reside in New York City, which is currently Young immigrants are Wexperiencing a wave of immigration not seen since the beginning of the last century. Ac- caught between parents who cording to the 2000 Census, 36% of New York City’s communicate the enculturative population is foreign born (Buckner 2003; Kinetz 2002). This percentage is even higher in some parts of message of their homeland, the city. For example, 46% of Queens, one of New York’s five boroughs, is foreign born, and 56% and teachers who communicate speaks English less than “very well” (U.S. Census the acculturative message of the Bureau 2004). In New York City schools, 48% of all students come from immigrant-headed households receiving society. (Landale and Oropesa 1995). The pattern of immi- gration is similar across the nation. Currently the population of the United States includes 32.5 million people who are foreign born, representing 11.5% of the population (Schmidley 2003). One in five of all school age children in the United States are immi- grants (Hernandez 1999), and these numbers are likely to increase in the near future. Teachers and parents do not always share the same values and views about priorities for chil- dren’s education. The potential grounds for conflict include disciplinary rules, gender roles, racial ste- reotypes, work habits, and occupational choices; all of which can be exacerbated by cross-cultural mis- understanding and miscommunication. It is there- fore essential to address the questions which arise from the increasing cultural diversity in our public schools, brought about through immigration Readers are invited to download a study guide for this article at (Phinney et al. 2001). <www.great-ideas.org/Milstein.htm>. GLEN MILSTEIN is Assistant Professor of Psy- LUKA LUCIC is a first year graduate student chology at the City College of the City Uni- at the City University of New York’s doc- versity of New York. Trained in clinical toral program in developmental psychol- psychology, Dr. Milstein studies the role of ogy. Luka, who came to the United States community and ritual in meeting people’s from Serbia at the age of 16, is interested emotional needs. in the developmental and social aspects of the immigrant experience. Volume 17, Number 3 (Autumn 2004) 25 One way to understand these conflicts is as a dis- Through common themes that we heard from ruption engendered by the disparate developmental CCNY students, we became interested in the inter- processes of enculturation and acculturation. Encul- play of personal and social forces, which can lead to a turation describes the process whereby we acquire relatively easy adjustment for some immigrants, but the values, norms, and skills that enable us to func- cause enormous hurdles and impediments for oth- tion within our own cultural groups (Ho 1995). Each ers. Using the stage theory of Erik Erikson as a con- culture is unique, specific, and adapted to function ceptual framework to guide our efforts, we chose to within its own community, which results in differ- examine how the disruptions of migration might in- ences of customs, communal organizations, educa- terfere with the psychosocial development of mi- tional systems, and the distribution of economic re- grants to the United States. We asked which develop- sources. Enculturation is mediated through interac- mental stages are more vulnerable to these disrup- tion with one’s significant relations, whom Erik tions than others. Erikson calls “counterplayers” (e.g., parents, family, teachers, friends, progeny) (Erikson and Erikson Erikson’s Contributions 1997, 48-49). Acculturation, in contrast, refers to the process of acquiring the values and behaviors appro- Erik Erikson was a student of Sigmund and Anna priate to a new culture (Redfield, Linton, and Freud. He developed his theory of psychosocial de- Herskovits 1936, 149). velopment by extending the Freudian theory of psychosexual development with its emphasis on the Migration and relocation disrupt the developmen- internal processes of libidinization of primary body tal processes being engendered from within one’s zones to include the corresponding ego modes as own culture, as the immigrant necessarily accultu- well as environmental and interpersonal influences, rates to the usually very different mores of the receiv- resulting in his theory of psychosocial development ing society. Upon entering the public school system, (Crain 2000). Erikson’s theory follows an epigenetic the immigrant child becomes exposed to a whole principle that states that “anything that grows has a new set of cultural rules, roles, norms, and demands ground plan, and that out of this ground plan the that represent the acculturative messages of the re- parts arise, each part having its time of special ascen- ceiving society. When young immigrants’ processes dancy, until all parts have arisen to form a function- of enculturation and acculturation are neither in con- ing whole.” (Erikson 1968, 52). cert nor complementary—but rather clash with each Across our lifespan we ascend through eight other—there is a potential that this conflict will hin- stages of psychosocial development, one invariably der the development of immigrant children. following another. Within each stage we encounter a We became interested in the psychology of immi- novel and unique developmental crisis or task. The gration—particularly in the adaptation and adjust- outcomes of the eight crises result in strengths and ment of immigrants within the context of their host deficits, which in turn influence subsequent devel- society—because of the community where we live opment. The stages themselves, according to Erik- and work. Students at our school, The City College of son, are universal, but each culture organizes the ex- The City University of New York (CCNY), come perience of its members. Therefore, the development from 147 countries and speak 91 different languages of the individual is a function of psychological matu- (Silverman 2004). Enveloped in such a diverse envi- ration through social interactions. These interactions ronment and surrounded by many personal tales of involve an expanding radius of influential counter- immigrant experience, we became aware of the wide players. It begins with the maternal person and at array of outcomes that follow the immigration pro- each successive stage expands to include a new seg- cess. Some immigrants adjusted relatively easily, ment of society, which the maturing person encoun- while others struggled to learn rules, roles, and ters while moving from one stage to the next. At each norms as they internalized the moral and social rules stage, the circle includes the persons or groups of of conduct that governed their new society. people who can provide the necessary interactions 26 ENCOUNTER: Education for Meaning and Social Justice for the successful resolution of each specific develop- At the same time, there is the potential for feel- mental crisis/task. ings of inferiority. Erikson warns about the societal prejudices that, if rooted deeply in the structure of Birth to 6 Years: the society, can create a hostile environment for Infancy, Early Childhood, and Play Age children of these ages, both immigrant and non-immigrant alike. He points out that there is In the first three stages of psychosocial develop- “the danger threatening individual and society ment, from birth to age six (Evans 1967), the growing where the schoolchild begins to feel that the color child is passing through the developmental crises of of his skin, the background of his parents, or the Trust vs. Mistrust; Autonomy vs. Shame, Doubt; Initia- fashion of his clothes rather than his wish and his tive vs. Guilt. The most significant relationships in a will to learn will decide his worth as an appren- young child’s world are those within the nuclear tice” (Erikson 1963, 260). family, beginning with the maternal and parental persons and then the basic family. Parents at this time Adolescence assume a primary role within the child’s social life and become a platform from which all subsequent re- During the stage of Identity vs. Identity Confu- lationships will have an opportunity to emerge. Even sion, the task of adolescence is to integrate the iden- in the first stage of life, that of Trust vs. Mistrust, the tifications and skills from early childhood with society of the parents matters. Erikson says parents growing expectations of what the future may hold create a sense of trust in their children by a kind of and what the adolescent wants to be and become. “administration which in its quality combines sensi- From successful integration and incorporation of tive care of the baby’s individual needs and a firm the future expectations into one’s scheme of self, sense of personal trustworthiness within the trusted an adolescent will acquire the basic sense of iden- framework of their community’s lifestyle” (Erikson tity. Although the child needs to receive behavioral 1968). In these early stages it is the child’s family that and emotional guidance, the adolescent instead provides cultural guidance for social functioning seeks out models of behavior to contemplate as within their shared community. possible choices for self-identification. The avail- ability and type of models the adolescent encoun- Age 6 to 12: School Age ters can influence whether this stage is resolved through formation of an independent identity or During the stage of Industry vs. Inferiority, the ra- results in identity confusion. dius of counterplayers expands to include not only The majority of role models necessary for the de- the basic family but also same age playmates—as velopment of identity are found within the radius of well as adults outside the family—from their neigh- social interactions, which in early adolescence pri- borhood and school. Immigrant children might be- marily includes peer groups and out-groups.