Cumulative Grief, Xuan Pham

Masters Theses

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition Cumulative Grief, in which the artist's personal and familial narrative explores the complexity and nuances of racial grief.

It Is Time To Get Back To Basics On The Border, Donna Coltharp

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Legislation, Linguistics, And Location: Exploring Attitudes On Unauthorized Immigration, David A. Caicedo, Vivienne Badaan

Publications and Research

Contemporary discourse on domestic immigration policy varies widely based on political affiliation, linguistics, and regional differences. This experimental study aimed to concurrently investigate three social psychological bases of attitudes towards unauthorized immigrants in the United States: political ideology, social labels, and social context. Participants were 744 adults, recruited from “New York Community College” (“NYCC”/urban) and “New Jersey Community College” (“NJCC”/suburban), who were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: “illegal” vs. “undocumented”. Participants completed a scale measuring their attitudes towards unauthorized immigrants with the embedded label manipulation, followed by the General System Justification scale, and culminating with demographic items. …

Exploration Of The Link Between Migration And Acculturation Related-Stress, Attachment Style, And Psychological Distress In Arab Immigrants, Refugees, And Asylees, Hayat Nadar Psy.D.

Dissertations

Abstract

The migration process is fraught with experiences of ethnic discrimination and has been linked to heightened levels of psychological and acculturative stress. Interestingly, earlier research revealed a higher prevalence of insecure attachment in migrant compared to non-migrant populations. Attachment style may be influenced by sociocultural and sociopolitical forces and the associated prejudice and discrimination experienced by a particular migrant population. The current study was conducted to explore whether higher levels of sociocultural adversity were associated with increased psychological distress and attachment insecurity and to test attachment as a mediator between sociocultural adversity and psychological distress. Using a cross-sectional design, …

A Tale Of Two Crises: The Compounded Effect Of Covid-19 And Anti-Immigration Policy In The United States, Luz M. Garcini, Melanie M. Domenech Rodriguez, Alfonso Mercado, Manuel Paris

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting some important sources of health disparities that assail our society’s most vulnerable people, particularly undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. The focus of this commentary is on uncovering those sources of health disparities and making a call for action.

The Nigerian-American Immigration Experience: Overcoming Adversity Through Resilence., K. Chinwe Idigo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nigerian-Americans are a fast-growing population in the United States, when compared to other immigrant groups. Despite growing numbers there is limited empirical research examining pathways that facilitate success among this immigrant population. This study addresses the dearth in literature by proposing and testing a modified ABCX model of family resilience among Nigerian-Americans. It is hypothesized that similar to other immigrant, and racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States, NigerianAmericans employ protective factors such as ethnic identity and resilience to buffer the effects of acculturative stress and perceived discrimination on well-being and psychological distress. Regression analyses suggest some consistency with the …

Migrant Dreams, Egyptian Workers In The Gulf States, Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Migrant Dreams is about the hopes and aspirations on which migrant workers thrive to achieve their goals. The first version of this book was published in 2017 in Arabic with the title Hatta yantahi al-naft (Until the End of Oil). Based on over a decade of fieldwork, observations and conversations, Samuli Schielke gives a detailed overview of the life of low-income Egyptian migrant laborers who relocated to the Arab Gulf States on temporary contracts, returned, then migrated again. The book focuses mostly on the story of Tawfik, an intelligent Egyptian young man from rural backgrounds who is compelled to achieve …

Power For The Powerless: How Donald Trump Used Voters’ Anxieties To Win In 2016, Nathaniel Stekler

Honors Theses

Previous research has attempted to explain the results of the 2016 presidential election, and has concluded that a jaded and anxious electorate propelled Trump to the White House. The current research examines what psychological processes might have been at play. When people feel powerless in their day-to-day lives but are made to feel powerful it leads to behavior that goes against standard moral beliefs (e.g., supporting a presidential candidate who makes offensive comments that one might not explicitly endorse). I hypothesize that a feeling of powerfulness among a subset of the population used to feeling powerless will increase their support …

America’S Second-Class Children: An Examination Of President Trump’S Immigration Policies On Migrant Children And Inquiry On Justice Through The Catholic Perspective, Gabriel Sáenz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Sin Papeles: The Experiences Of Undocumented Central American Immigrants In The United States, Elizabeth Jarquin

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

In the United States, the topic of immigration represents a source of intense debate, which has escalated in recent years. Research indicates that Latinx immigrants are negatively impacted by current immigration policies— they are feeling afraid, angry, exhausted, defeated, overwhelmed, and concerned about themselves and their family (Castrellón, Rivarola, & López, 2017; Wray-Lake et al., 2018). This research, however, has largely neglected the Central American subgroup and the experiences of undocumented immigrants. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of undocumented Central American immigrants and their families within the current sociopolitical context. I utilized interpretative phenomenological analysis …

Legal Status Effects On Parent-Child Relationships And Parent Well-Being, Isis Garcia-Rodriguez, Tamara Ribas-Camargo, Ronald L. Blackwell, Amy K. Marks

Graduate Research Posters

Despite heightened levels of parenting stress and psychological distress experienced by many immigrant-origin families in the United States, little is known about the resiliency of Latinx families, particularly in today’s political climate. This research presents the results of a pilot study examining the effects of legal stressors on parent-child relationships and parent well-being in Latinx immigrant families. Taken from the Latinx Immigrant Family Stories and Strengths project, this mixed-methods study was informed by the integrative risk and resilience model for understanding the adaptation of immigrant-origin children and youth (Suarez-Orozco, Motti- Stefanidi, Marks, & Katsiaficas, 2018). The pilot included a sample …

Perceived Competence And Agreeableness Predict Positive Behaviors Toward Mexican Immigrants: Less Acculturated Hispanics Are More Welcoming Of Immigrants, Elia Hilda Bueno, Roque V. Mendez

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

The resettlement of immigrants who have fled their countries because of dire consequences at home and better opportunities elsewhere, has given rise to a range of prejudices toward them in their host countries. We examined prejudices and discrimination toward immigrants, specifically Mexican immigrants, as a function of their perceived competence and warmth within the context of the Stereotype Content Model. We also examined perceiver’s agreeableness, openness to experience, attitudes and acculturation level, and their links with prejudices toward immigrants. We found that an immigrant’s competence elicited strong and more positive feelings and responses than warmth. More competent immigrants were more …

Attitudes Towards Immigration-Relevant Decision-Making: The Roles Of Fairness Judgements And National Identity, Tessa Phipps

Theses : Honours

The worldwide movement of migrants has increased rapidly in recent years and the resulting increase in cultural diversity can lead to tensions in receiving societies. In the Australian context, while negative attitudes towards Australia’s immigration intake remain the minority, such attitudes have increased over the past two years. Concepts of fairness, both procedural and distributive, have been shown to be important factors in attitudes towards immigrants and the very nature of the immigration context brings to the fore concepts of in- and out-group dynamics and national identity. This study created a reliable procedural fairness scale for utilisation in the immigration …