Last week I talked about dynamics within the family and the prevailing theories surrounding them and other human interactions. This week I will talk about some specifics situations where these established relationships can begin to change. The situation I'm going to be focusing on is acculturation of families due to immigration. For those of you who may not know acculturation means according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary Application "cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture."
Acculturation can have a serious effects on a family. According to the DHS report on only illegal immigrant population there was an estimated 11.4 million illegal immigrants. These are 11.4 million people trying to adjust and adapt to a new culture and life style that differs from their own. It can be a largely stressful scenario. Many of these people may even be families, though that made clear in the report. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to adjust to an entirely new culture with a different way of thinking and acting? This report is only on illegal immigrants; can you imagine including the amount of immigrants who immigrated legally? In the reading called, "The Costs of Getting Ahead: Mexican Family System Changes After Immigration" by Martica L. Bacallao and Paul R. Smokowski; they cite another article saying, "Normative conflicts between parents and adolescents can be exacerbated by acculturation stress, creating intercultural as well as intergenerational difficulties between family members."
Speaking from experience as an immigrant who immigrated early in life; I learned a lot through this study on conflicts due to acculturation stress. My mother and I immigrated when I was about 4 years old to the United States. Acculturation was very difficult for my Mom I remember most times she was stressed and felt lonely because she only had my dad who is a white American to lean on. I don't mean to be pointed towards race when I say this I only mean to emphasize the difference in culture. On an even more personal note I came to America accustomed to living in the Philippines. Many things about the Philippines were different to be more specific the concept of Familism.
Familism according to "The Costs of Getting Ahead: Mexican Family System Changes After Immigration" by Martica L. Bacallao and Paul R. Smokowski, "involves a deeply ingrained sense of the individual being inextricably rooted in the family. The term encompasses attitudes, behavior, and family structures within an extended family system." Growing up I spent most of my time as a toddler surrounded by a village full of people I was related to. When I left, things were hard. I could only conversate with adults who knew my language and because of communication barriers I became impatient and prone to conflict and violence when I was younger. This put me in conflict with my parents for quite a while.
We see how acculturation can be quite a struggle for families moving to new countries or even just parts of their country with a different way of thinking. I lived in the southeastern United States for two years and realized quickly that people's thinking was quite different from being in the Pacific Northwest. Adjustments are hard and I want know what I can do to prevent things like this from happening. My for those of us who might be in a similar situation is; how can we recognize and resolve conflicts that could arise in our families that might be due to acculturation stress?
Personally I believe being informed on the subject can really help us identify when we might be feeling acculturation stress and also when our family members might be feeling the same. To resolve a problem we first have to identify the problem. Strengthening our family relationships is also important. Find excuses to spend time with each other regularly. I hope we can all come up with more ideas to help ourselves if we ever face situations like this.
Sources:
Baker, Bryan. “Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population ...” Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2015–January 2018, Jan. 2021, https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/Pop_Estimate/UnauthImmigrant/unauthorized_immigrant_population_estimates_2015_-_2018.pdf.
Bacallao, L. Martica, Smokowski, R. Paul. "The Costs of Getting Ahead: Mexican Family System Changes After Immigration" Jan. 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment