Coming to America- Stress and Impact of Migration The decision to migrate to the United States for many parents is a decision fueled by goals and dreams that they could not fulfill in their home countries because of societal factors such as poverty and war (Perreria, Chapman, & Stein, 2006). Perreria et al. (2006) conducted 18 in depth semi-structured interviews in which at least 13 of the participants considered their migration to the United States a parenting and economic decision to improve their children’s education, economic future, and the environment. All of these 13 individuals stated that the benefits outweighed the cost. Some of the costs that were identified during the interviews were the change in social position, loss of social support networks, loss of status or class, and the loss of familiar social roles (Perreria et al., 2009). For many immigrant families, the migration experience denotes a significant life crisis since the act of leaving one’s own country and entering the United States can be a dangerous journey. The migration experience can be traumatizing as many immigrants experience violence, robbery, and sexual assault on their journey. These experiences can lead to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (Caplan, 2007; Dettlaff & Earner, 2012; Dettlaff, Earner, & Phillips, 2009). Once in the United States, immigrants face the everyday stress of adjusting to a new language, culture, and customs, with the constant fear and anxiety of being deported at the forefront of their interactions (Arbona, Olvera, Rodriguez, Hagan, Linares, & Wiesner, 2010). Arbona et al. (2010) interviewed 420 immigrants using a semi-structured interview; it was found
