Trauma and resilience among Central American immigrant adolescents and their families

The traumatic experiences of immigrant Latino youth remain largely unacknowledged in current debates on immigration policy and family reunification. Yet, they reflect and perpetuate individual and structural inequalities. In order to meaningfully reduce such inequalities, we need to move beyond documenting trauma, to understanding how to mitigate its effects. This mixed-method study, in collaboration with a community partner, will explore trauma and resilience among immigrant Latino youth. In Phase One, we will collect interview data from Latino immigrant youth, to examine how legal liminality, family separation, and intergenerational trauma shape strategies for resilience. In Phase Two, we will develop and pilot test a measure of immigrant-specific childhood adversities that can be used to better understand health disparities for Latino immigrants.