Immigration Identity: Acculturation and Complex Mental Status

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Immigration is a complex process that results in a transformation of identity. Depending on contextual, individual, and societal differences this transformation can have either positive or detrimental results. Initially, the immigrant will be faced with an intense culture shock while settling into a new country. During this time, cognitive functioning becomes increasingly jumbled amidst the new context, resulting in immense identity confusion. This process of acculturation involves two specific issues regarding identity for each individual. These two issues include the delicate balance between remaining ethnically distinct by retaining their cultural identity and the desire to maintain positive relations with the new society. A variety of risk factors can contribute to the success or failure at effectively acculturating. Thus, those that directly experience more risk factors experience an even more delicate and complex transition often resulting in high levels of stress, confusion, social anxiety, and declined mental health. December 4th, 1969, the wait was finally over. As they left the immigration camp and headed towards the airplane that would take them to New York, they couldn't help but think of everything they were leaving behind. Their farm, their valuables, their friends and family, their memories, were all swept away into the past. Communism had taken over Serbia and there was nothing left to do but run towards freedom (Meiller 2014). As the flight took them 4,500 miles away from the only place they ever considered home, they looked for a sign of welcoming and happiness. Rozia, who was four years old at the time, remembers peering out the plane window and seeing it swiftly standing tall; the Statue of Liberty welcomed t... ... middle of paper ... ...290.x . Anzaldua, Gloria. “The Homeland, Aztlan.” Borderlands: La Frontera. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1999. 23-35. Print Dow, Helena D. "The Acculturation Processes: The Strategies and Factors Affecting the Degree of Acculturation." Home Health Care Management and Practice (2011): 221-227. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. https://vpn.lib.ucdavis.edu/,DanaInfo=dx.doi.org+10.1177 . Meiller, Rebecca. Personal Interview with Rozia Ivasku. 2 February 2014. Simich, Laura, Maiter, Sarah, Ochocka, Joanna. “From Social Liminality to Cultural Negotiation: Transformative Processes in immigrant Mental Wellbeing.” Anthropology and Medicine (2009): 253-266. Web. 2 March 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13648470903249296 . Yoon, Eunju, et al. “A Meta- Analysis of Acculturation/Enculturation and Mental Health.” Journal of Counseling Psychology 50.1 (2013): 15-30. Web. 2 March 2014.

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