Tri-level Identity Crisis

Children of First-Generation Immigrants

Tapiwa N. Mucherera, Chris Kiesling

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781725249240
• Topic: Psicología
• Subtopic: Psicología del desarrollo

This text captures the profound unacknowledged crisis that is unique to children of first-generation immigrants, by virtue of their being caught in a world of their parents' culture of origin and their social experience in the United States. The book makes the case for three levels of adolescent crisis unique to this population, namely, the general developmental crisis experienced by all adolescents as articulated by developmental theories; the cultural identity crises experienced by ethnic minority persons as they encounter the layered racialization of American history; and, finally, the unique crisis that arises from conflicting cultural values and morals when first-generation immigrant parents, wanting to preserve native values, clash with their children, who seek belonging in the Western context in which they currently reside.The book traces the psychological, emotional, and social roots of the crisis. The authors, representing immigrants from different continents, portray the unique, ethnic minority challenges they encounter in coming to the US, exemplifying further the tri-level crisis. Finally, the book offers ways that parents can be proactive in helping their children navigate the potential tri-level crisis through ITAV (It Takes a Village) camps and family palavers.

1

Introduction

General Identity Crisis and Its Implication to Immigrants’ Identity Development

—Chris Kiesling, Anne Kiome Gatobu, and Tapiwa N. Mucherera

The moment an immigrant child (other than from Europe or born to Caucasian parents) steps on the North American soil, s/he is automatically considered a minority. A child of similar age who migrates from Europe, born of Caucasian parents, is automatically placed with the majority group. The current set up of the North American system is such that Caucasians (Whites) who are in power make the majority group, and those who come from places such as Africa, Asia, or Latin America—because of their birth place, accent or skin color—are readily categorized into the minority group. These immigrants do not fit the North American born minority model, because they are bringing with them some pre-determined cultural values that are usually in conflict with the North American values. The immigrant children, as any other minority in North America, have to deal with much racism and prejudice as inescapable as the air they breathe. Usually most new immigrants are oblivious to the racism and prejudices because it is not a default worldview from where they come. Soon enough they realize it is their new reality. They must contend with racism as they can neither escape their heritage nor the way the majority perceives them.

It does not matter what class these immigrant minorities belonged to in their country of origin, in North America they now acquire a new identity of being a minority. These children now have to deal with an identity development based on their status of being minorities in a majority culture. A few months after landing in North American, minority children find that they are also on a collision course of cultural and moral values.

In the following discussion, we establish the general identity crisis of all adolescent children irrespective of geographical location or cultural context. This is followed by a brief discussion of the identity crisis of minority persons living in a majority culture. Immigrant children experience the general identity crisis as part of their developmental maturity. They also experience being a minority within majority culture that favors those of white privilege. But to compound this further, they are also navigating between values of their native country embedded in what their parents and grandparents hold sacred, and the value system embedded in Western cultural institutions. It is this compounding of forces in the matrix of American immigrants that we believe manifests in a unique experience of dissonance—a phenomenon that we have chosen to refer to as a Tri-Level Identity Crisis.

General Identity Crisis and Its Implication for Ethnic-Immigrant Identity Formation

Erik Erikson posited that the central psychosocial task presented to adolescents in the West is the formation of a consolidated ego identity. With good resolution of this identity, a young adult could enter the various domains of adult engagement (occupational, educational, familial, political, religious) with a secure sense of competence, meaning, and purpose. Erikson in fact, described identity as a secure sense of personal sameness and historical continuity, yielding the ability to transcend any particular moment or circumstance.1 The necessity of identity consolidation he believed would be prompted naturally as young adults moved through various familial and societal engagements. If early childhood deficits or lack of social support during these years hampered identity formation; psychological, emotional, and social maladjustment could occur resulting in negative developmental outcomes. But what happens when historical continuity is disrupted? When an immigrant teenager experiences themselves differently in the presence of parents than with peers? And when movement between family and societal contexts makes any sense of identity consolidation seem elusive?

One of the most widely used conceptualizations for studying identity formation among adolescence in the West over the past fifty years has been a model proposed by Jim Marcia.2 Marcia suggested that the identity status of an individual could be measured based on two dimensions: (1) exploration—the presence or absence of a crisis indicated by the degree of an active period of deliberately considering and experimenting with alternatives; and (2) commitment—the presence or absence of movement toward ideological and interpersonal convictions. Marcia’s design offers four quadrants or categories of identity status:

Diffused—characterized by an absence of both exploration and commitment, a disabling of the capacities needed for identity formation

Foreclosed—defined by commitment based on parental or societal imposition of values without a period of exploration

Moratorium—indicative of involvement in active deliberation without yet having arrived at sustained commitments

Achieved—determined by clear commitment that follows an active period of searching resulting in internalization and owning of commitments for oneself.3

A good body of research now exists that supports a progressive movement over time from diffusion or foreclosure toward identity achievement. Identity achievement and moratorium have shown significant correlation with adaptability, higher levels of moral reasoning, reflectivity in decision-making, satisfaction in relationships and capacity for cognitive complexity. By contrast, research shows that the foreclosed status correlates with difficulties in problem solving, lower self-esteem, high need for social approval, and rigidity in belief system. Further, identity diffusion shows outcomes more consistent with lower levels of moral reasoning, avoidance of coping with problems, and higher levels of compulsivity.4

The importance of this research for immigrant populations living in the West is three-fold. It gives description to the normative ego developmental process for all teenagers—what we regard as first level identity crisis. It also provides theoretical conceptualization for processes through which minority culture youth fashion an identity amidst majority culture—what we regard as second level identity crisis, and it offers key insight into the development of ethnic identity formation distinct to immigrants—what we regard as third level identity crisis. Ethnic minority individuals progress from a state of unexamined ethnicity (diffusion or foreclosure) through a period of exploration into the meaning and implications of their group membership (moratorium), moving finally to an achieved ethnic identity characterized by the development of a secure sense of oneself as a member of an ethnic group.5 For the ethnic minority teenager in the US the question “who am I?” inevitably includes aspects of race, color and history associated with one’s ancestry. By ethnic identity we are here referring to “one’s sense of belonging to an ethnic group in the part of one’s thinking, perceptions, feelings and behavior that is due to ethnic group membership.”6 Hence for minority youth, questions of identity carry the rider, “Who am I as an African American?”; “Asian American?”; “Native American?”; etc.

Navigating the waters of ethnic identity formation can be especially turbulent for immigrant children from more traditional cultures. The clash between Western individualism and collective, communal expectations create conflicting sets of identification models, role expectations, and socio-cultural norms that leave diaspora teens and young adults especially susceptible to identity problems.7 The developmental task communicated to children and teens in Western culture is to develop mastery over one’s environment and move progressively toward greater autonomy and self-reliance. The hallmark of this development is typically a process of increased separation from parents and family toward achieving a sense of individuality and differentiation. This is usually accompanied by such things as experimentation with changing vocational aspirations; encouragement to socialize with new peer groups; becoming financially independent; involvement in romantic relationships; and making one’s own decisions about religious involvement and political orientation. Hence, adolescence and emerging adulthood in the West often requires a renegotiation of one’s connectedness to the family, with both the young adult and the parents accommodating to the expectation that the process of deciding who a young adult will be or become is now increasingly in the domain of the individual.8

In more collectivist cultures, identity may largely already be defined by role expectations that exist within a more extended familial and cultural community. In these cultures, the shift from childhood to adulthood (note the absence of adolescence as a recognized distinct stage of the life) may not be concerned with separation from family for the sake of increased individuation. Instead, development assumes the acceptance of greater responsibility for one’s place within the family or clan itself.9 Rather than the emphasi...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Chapter 1: Introduction General Identity Crisis and Its Implication to Immigrants’ Identity Developmen
• Chapter 2: Experiences of Immigrant Families in the West, with Special Reference to the USA
• Chapter 3: Children of African Immigrants
• Chapter 4: Children of Asian Immigrants
• Chapter 5: Children of Hispanic/Latin American Immigrants104
• Chapter 6: Child-Rearing Challenges for Undocumented Mexican Parents in Detroit
• Chapter 7: Caribbean Immigrants
• Chapter 8: “It Takes A Village” (ITAV) Camps
• Chapter 9: Immigrant Family Palavers or Indabas in Diaspora
• Chapter 10: Concluding Observations
• Bibliography
• List ofContributors
• About the Editors