Mentors, Resiliency, and Ganas

Abstract

Emerging research has explored the psychological and emotional challenges undocumented students encounter while accessing higher education, yet few studies have specifically investigated the factors that facilitate success once admitted. Semistructured interviews with former or current undocumented students suggest that factors such as mentors, individual resiliency, and the ganas to succeed affect students' navigation strategies in higher education. Interviewees suggest solutions to institutional barriers that mitigate the negative effects of immigration status. Resumen Investigación emergente ha explorado los retos psicológicos y emocionales que estudiantes indocumentados encuentran al aproximarse a la educación superior; sin embargo pocos estudios han investigado específicamente los factores que facilitan éxito despues del registro. Entrevistas semiestructuradas con estudiantes indocumentados del presente y el pasado sugieren que factores como tutores, fortaleza individual, y las ganas de tener éxito afectan estrategias de navegación en educación superior. Entrevistados sugieren soluciones a las barreras institucionales para mitigar los efectos negativos del estado migratorio.

Hope in the Shadows: Testing the Immigrant Optimism Hypothesis Among College Aspirational Latino Students

“…Future studies with qualitative approaches are needed to better capture the nature of these community assets and the mechanisms by which these meso-and exo-sytem influences support the development of hope, and other resilient characteristics, among immigrant students and undocumented students (Su arez-Orozco et al, 2011). For example, Gamez, Lopez, and Overton (2017) discuss mentors can promote resiliency and success of undocumented students in higher education.…”

Academic success and resiliency factors: A case study of unaccompanied immigrant children

“…Moreover, the outside resources of strong faculty relationships and school support systems contributed to their success as well. Recent research studies (Borjian, 2018;Gámez et al, 2017) lend support to earlier research (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005;Zimmerman, 2013) asserting that family, school, and community support systems, along with the personal motivation and inward desire to succeed, were some factors that contributed the resiliency of UIC.…”

“…Research on resiliency and immigrant students have looked at what makes these students academically successful in primary grades through college, internationally as well as in the United States. For example, a recent study by Gámez, Lopez, and Overton (2017) explored the factors influencing the success of undocumented students in higher education, They concluded in their findings that factors such as having mentors, resiliency, and ganas-"internal motivators" (p. 156) contributed to the successful navigation of college experiences for these students. Similiarly, the results of a qualitative study focusing on the academic success of eight undocumented students at a U.S. college conducted by Borjian (2018) revealed that pro-immigrant policies, institutional processes, and support, particularly from family, were important factors in developing academic resiliency of the participants.…”

“Waking Up Every Day With the Worry”: A Mixed-Methods Study of Anxiety in Undocumented Latinx College Students

“…This macrosytemic context has shaped societal attitudes toward immigrants, resources, and the opportunity structure for students (14) and has implications for a host of outcomes including educational trajectories and psychological wellbeing (23). While recognizing the extraordinary resilience of undocumented youth, the stressors they are facing at this macrosystemic level place them at heightened psychological risk (12,14,23,24).…”

“…An exception to this generalization is regards to a body of scholarship with undocumented college students who currently constitute an estimated quarter of a million students in the United States (10). While this growing and rich body of work has qualitatively explored the experience of both stress and resilience among these students (11,12), there have been few studies to date, that have attempted to gauge potential rates of anxiety amongst them [(13), for an exception].…”