International students studying at higher education institutions in the United States experience challenges as they adjust to new environments. Social connectedness to American college students could mitigate such challenges and assist international students with social and cultural integration. This study, using qualitative data from interviews, examined international students’ experiences and their sense of belonging on an American college campus, including the factors that contribute to or deter from it.
Researchers in this qualitative study explored the perspectives and experiences of individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status or without authorized immigration status in a way that was strengths-based and humanizing, as opposed to critical and blaming. The researchers drew from a community cultural wealth (CCW) theoretical model in order to focus on the resilience and persistence of people who are striving and attempting to thrive in a new receiving area in the southeast U.S. Twelve Latinx participants in new immigrant communities were interviewed. An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) qualitative research design was employed and themes identified. The themes reflected participants experiences (e.g., wanting a chance to contribute, experiencing discrimination, seeking to be acknowledged as human beings, persisting in spite of adversity, being an ambassador to English speaking groups), which were organized post-hoc under the CCW framework. The discussion includes recommendations to recognize and bolster these strengths in the community as well as confronting the structural biases that undermine them. Findings in this study are significant for psychologists and other helping professionals in emerging immigrant communities who may need tools to push back on deficit-based narratives about immigrants. Public Significance StatementWe believe this article will be of interest to the readership of the journal because the perspectives and experiences of individuals with DACA status or without authorized immigration status need to be heard from a strengths-based and humanizing perspective, as opposed to critical blaming. We build upon Yosso's (2005) theory of cultural and community wealth, with some flexible application to a new regional context. It is timely at the current juncture in the political and social life of our country, when psychologists and other health care providers are seeing increased negative impacts for the Latinx immigrant community, particularly the portion that does not have permanent legal status. We hope to make a contribution by providing a pathway for the perspectives and insights of the community members to be heard, most particularly those in an understudied emerging immigrant area in the southeast.
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