Six undocumented Latina/o university students, now Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals approved and themselves college graduates, were interviewed regarding several key aspects of their childhood and young adult development. These interviews focused on their life experiences and challenges, educational impediments, and the social-emotional stigma of being undocumented in their attempt to secure further education. The emotional and psychological difficulties encountered throughout the educational system for these interviewees and the development of resiliency in their management of adversity is described. Participants provided significant and relevant background history about the immigration journey as experienced by themselves or reported to them by their families. A qualitative analysis of the salient themes was conducted, revealing some meaningful findings that would support future academic success. The voices of those interviewed are reflected around selected themes that highlight salient issues and experiences as a result of growing up undocumented. Participants provided recommendations for fellow undocumented students desiring higher education.

Undocumented immigrant students face a number of structural barriers that keep most from accessing and completing college. Those attending college experience ongoing discrimination on campus, influenced by recent anti-immigrant sociopolitical hostility. The current study examined the link between everyday discrimination and anxiety among 171 undocumented college students. A serial mediation model was constructed and tested to examine the role of critical agency and vocational outcome expectations as coping mechanisms in this link. Results suggest that higher experiences of everyday discrimination were linked to higher anxiety. Additionally, critical agency and vocational outcome expectations functioned collectively as protective coping mechanisms to resist everyday discrimination and protect students' psychological well-being. We provide recommendations for mental health providers, educators and higher education leaders, community groups, and policymakers to support undocumented students in developing higher critical agency and vocational outcome expectations. Public Significance StatementThis study found that experiences of everyday discrimination are linked to higher anxiety among undocumented college students. The study also found evidence that critical agency to address social injustice and vocational outcome expectations serve as coping mechanisms to buffer the effects of discrimination. Recommendations are made for mental health providers, higher education leaders, community groups and policymakers to support undocumented students during the current period of increased hostility toward immigrants.

Existing research on trans individuals has primarily focused on their negative experiences and has disproportionately examined coming-out processes and identity development stages. Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study sought to examine facilitative coping processes among trans-identified individuals. Facilitative coping was operationalized as processes whereby individuals seek social support, learn new skills, change behaviors to positively adapt, and find alternative means to seek personal growth and acceptance. The sample included 15 participants who self-identified with a gender identity that was different from their assigned sex at birth. Results yielded a total of nine overarching themes: Accepting Support from Others, Actions to Increase Protection, Active Engagement Throughout the Transition Process, Actively Seeking Social Interactions, Engaging in Exploration, Internal Processes Leading to Self-Acceptance, Self-Efficacy, Shifts Leading to Embracing Change and Flexibility, and Utilization of Agency. Based on the analysis, a theoretical model emerged that highlighted the importance of internal and external coping processes in facilitating gender identity development and navigating stressors among trans individuals. Clinical implications focusing on how to implement facilitative coping processes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

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This mixed-methods study examined the experiences of undocumented students at a 4-year Hispanic Serving Institution. Barriers identified by these students included a lack of resources and minimal career opportunities after graduation. Faculty and staff perceived this historically underserved population as exhibiting high levels of optimism and resilience relative to educational endeavors and challenges related to students' undocumented status. Study findings include student, faculty, and staff recommendations for improving undocumented student experiences at a specific Hispanic Serving Institution. ResumenEste estudio de métodos mixtos examinó las experiencias de estudiantes indocumentados en una institución universitaria de servicio a hispanos (IUSH). Las barreras identificadas por estos estudiantes incluyen falta de recursos y oportunidades mínimas de carreras después de graduarse. Profesores y administradores perciben esta población de representación baja histórica con altos niveles de optimismo y resistencia relativa a los esfuerzos educacionales y retos relacionados al estado de indocumentado. Hallazgos incluyen recomendaciones para estudiantes, profesores y administradores para mejorar las experiencias de estudiantes indocumentados en una IUSH específica.

This study examined prejudicial attitudes toward immigrant defendants who vary on legal status, country of origin, and ethnicity. Three hundred twenty mock juror participants read a trial transcript that varied defendants' immigration status (documented or undocumented), defendant country of origin (Canada or Mexico), and defendant race/ethnicity (Caucasian or Latino). Dependent measures included verdict, sentencing, culpability ratings, and trait assessments. European American mock jurors found undocumented, Latino immigrants from Mexico guilty significantly more often, more culpable, and rated this defendant more negatively on various trait measures in comparison with all other conditions. Latino mock jurors did not demonstrate ingroup favoritism or outgroup bias. This study examines aversive racism as a factor of this bias. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Immigrants represent a numerous, and substantially underserved, community of over 44 million people in the U.S., including 700,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program (Batalova et al., 2020). Opportunities for competency training in professional psychology to serve this community, however, are scarce, both within doctoral training programs and professional development contexts (American Psychological Association [APA], 2012; Benuto et al., 2018). This article reports the results of a study assessing the impact of a 3-part web-based training series that targeted several Foundational and Functional Competency Domains as outlined by Fouad et al. (2009). Pretest assessments of 1,327 participants revealed limitations in the domains of knowledge and awareness of cultural competencies for working with immigrants. Those who completed the posttest assessments following each of the three Webinars showed significant increases in competency domains based on paired-sample t-tests. Repeated measures mixed-design analyses of variance tested the moderating effects of demographic characteristics (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender), level of training, career stage, or prior experience working with immigrants on these increases in cultural competence. Results provide valuable information regarding targeted subgroups within the larger sample. Subsequent follow-up assessments on a narrower number of participants supported the continuing impact of the trainings over time. Results are discussed in relation to the critical role of evidence-based training that targets immigrant populations in the midst of global sociopolitical and immigration challenges, and how these may inform competency training in a graduate program and professional development contexts.

The present study illuminates the emotions of mixed-status families as they anticipated the 2016 Presidential election. From a 6-year longitudinal case study of four Mexican immigrant families, we present interviews from May of 2016, prior to the presidential primaries, and from November of 2016, the day before or the day of the presidential election. Using a multiple case study method (Stake, 2006, Multiple case study analysis. Guilford Press, New York; Yin, 2014, Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Sage, Los Angeles, CA), our primary goal was to describe how immigrant Mexican adults and their preadolescent and adolescent children (or grandchildren) personally and collectively reacted emotionally to the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election, and how they managed and coped with their emotions. Our secondary goal was to explain how their emotional reactions changed over time and were influenced by age and immigration status. Initially, participants expressed concern and fear about the anti-immigration rhetoric by the conservative political movement, but largely felt reassured that such rhetoric would not prevail. In the days immediately preceding the election, a notable change seemed apparent among all participants, regardless of immigration status. They expressed having intense emotions ranging from fear and angst to disbelief, anger, and denial, which they attempted to manage through external (e.g., community involvement, activism, solidarity) and internal (e.g., family communication, cognitive strategies) actions. Older adolescents had a better understanding of the implications of the election for their family than younger adolescents did. We provide recommendations for family practice and policy aimed to support and advocate on behalf of immigrant families.