Made in America: Perspectives on Friendship in West African Immigrant Families

Abstract

This qualitative study compared West African immigrant parents' and adolescents' perspectives on parental monitoring of adolescents' peer groups. Parents (n = 31) and adolescent children (n = 25) were interviewed using focus groups and individual interviews, and data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Parents expressed a general concern about external influences on their children, particularly their mistrust of their children's friends. Adolescents reported that they were aware of their parents' fears and described their attempts to manage their parents' concerns while simultaneously maintaining friendships with same-ethnic and other-ethnic peers. This study offers both parent and adolescent perspectives in an effort to better understand adolescents' peer socialization and parental monitoring among West African immigrant families, one of the fastest growing demographic groups in the United States. Recommendations for mental health professions are discussed.

What Happens If They Come for You? An Exploration of Mothers’ Racial Socialization on Discrimination With Black College Women

“…Compared to their mothers, the young women had a clearer understanding that their ethnicity would not protect them from anti-Black surveillance and over-policing. Yet, until more of research on racial socialization focuses on ethnically diverse Black populations in the United States, the field will have a limited understanding of how ethnicity and culture inform identity formation and family processes in Black immigrant households (Akinsulure-Smith et al, 2016).…”

“…Scholars should also build on our findings through quantitative studies of how Black mothers’ socialization practices differ by socioeconomic background. Similarly, given the significance of ethnicity in the current study, future investigations should consider the interplay between generational status (i.e., second generation student was born in the United States and parents were born abroad; Akinsulure-Smith et al, 2016) and immigrant parents’ socialization practices on racial discrimination and violence.…”

“…This report highlights differences in the socioeconomic status of native-born and Black immigrant families that may influence their day-to-day contexts, including their exposure to racial discrimination. Furthermore, mothers’ vigilance may be heightened in Black immigrant families given both the psychological (e.g., acculturative stress) and structural (e.g., neighborhood/environmental) concerns they must navigate in relation to raising a family in a foreign country (Akinsulure-Smith et al, 2016; McCabe, 2011). Researchers have highlighted a reluctance in some Black immigrant households to identify with the race-related struggles of native-born Black peoples in the United States, including the legacy of African American resistance and protest to White supremacy (Waters, 2001).…”

Migration Factors in West African Immigrant Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children's Neighborhood Safety

“…Individuals in dangerous neighborhoods are usually aware of the increased danger around them, and thus safety should be more of a concern among new immigrant groups on average than among the native-born (though perhaps not among native born in similar neighborhoods). Third, there is some evidence to suggest that immigrants from conservative cultures associate their children’s safety with liberal host country values that are transmitted through peers, and threaten their physical safety via engagement in risky behavior (Akinsulure-Smith, Mirpuri, Chu, Keatley, & Rasmussen, 2016; Bledsoe & Sow, 2011; Roubeni, De Haene, Keatley, Shah, & Rasmussen, 2015; Vaughan & Halloway, 2010).…”

“…As such, Black African immigrants are subject to rates of socioeconomic disadvantage and concentrated poverty, violence, and crime that are common to urban racial minority populations in general. There is good qualitative evidence that among the several concerns that African immigrant parents have for their children, safety is paramount, and that these safety concerns can result in family discord (Akinsulure-Smith et al, 2016; Beldsoe & Sow, 2011). Negative perceptions of neighborhood safety may result in parents restricting children’s time out of doors, resulting in children spending more time in front of computer and television screens (Rasmussen, Akinsulure-Smith, Chu, & Keatley, 2012).…”