Examining how the unique experiences of acculturation affect adolescent development is important because this is a period when identity development is central (Sirin et al., 2013). During adolescence, migrant youth are actively exploring the extent to which they identify with their ethnic culture (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006; García Coll & Marks, 2009). For CALD adolescents, identity development may hold unique tasks and challenges such as dealing with discrimination, and/or navigating competing cultural demands (Fine & Sirin, 2007; García Coll & Marks, 2009). Youth who are immersed in the process of acculturating may be experiencing acculturative stress and it is important to examine the extent to which this leads to internalising mental health symptoms.
To assess a child or young person’s acculturation level see the CALD Assessment Tool for Children and Adolescents in the Assessing Migrant and Refugee Children and Adolescents section. The questions are useful for exploring the cultural and ethnic identify; and explanatory models of health and mental health issues in CALD children and young people.
Sirin et al. (2013a) in a longitudinal American study of mental health symptoms for migrant adolescents found that greater exposure to acculturative stress predicts significantly more withdrawn, somatic, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Although for many families the process of migration results in opportunity, there is significant stress involved in the journey, with profound implications for the psychological development and identity formation of migrant youth (Sirin et al., 2013a). Broadly defined, acculturation is the process of negotiating social and cultural norms between two or more cultures that typically involve home (country of origin) and host cultures (Berry, Poortinga, Segall, & Dasen, 1992; Graves, 1967). Acculturative stress refers to the potential challenges migrants face when they negotiate differences between their home and host cultures (Berry, 1997; Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006). Such stress arises from multiple aspects of the acculturation process, such as learning new and sometimes confusing cultural rules and expectations, dealing with experiences of prejudice and discrimination, and managing overarching conflict between maintaining elements of the old culture while incorporating those of the new (Berry, 1997; Sua´rez-Orozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 2001).
Acculturative stress also arises from negative stereotypes and attitudes that the host culture might harbour about migrants in general (Mahalingam, 2006; Rumbaut & Portes, 2001). Studies of racism and discrimination in New Zealand and internationally, have provided strong empirical evidence that youth who experience minority stress during the identity formation process are at greater risk for depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic complaints (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Lorenzo, Frost, & Reinherz, 2000; Romero & Roberts, 2003; Scragg, 2016).
As levels of acculturative stress increase, internalising mental health symptoms increase as well (Sirin et al., 2013a). Acculturative stress is a critical component of mental health for migrant youth. Sirin et al’s (2013a) study found that toward the later high school years, (around 17-18) there is an increase in anxiety/depression and somatic symptoms in migrant youth. There are gender and generational differences in mental health symptoms. Girls reported more anxious/depressed and somatic symptoms in the 15-18 age groups and more withdrawn/depressed symptoms in 15-18 years age groups than boys did. Generational differences are also evident in acculturative stress. First-generation youth experience higher levels of acculturative stress than second-generation youth do overall (Garcı´a Coll & Magnuson, 1997; Sua´rez-Orozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 2001).
Mental health professionals should be aware of both the stressful effect of acculturative stress, but also the important role that social support plays in buffering this effect. Without such consideration, it is more likely that a professional could see the adolescent's mental health symptoms as pathological, rather than as a normal reaction to external pressures (Sirin et al., 2013b). Putting strong social support in place for students who are experiencing negative mental health symptoms and/or high acculturative stress could be an effective aspect of intervention. Mental health practitioners, as well as being a source of social support, can help identify other sources of support as well, whether through increasing family connections with family therapy, increasing friendships through groups or interventions to improve social skills, or by directing clients to community services they may not be aware of (see the Resources section).