“When did I Stop being a Child?” The Subjective Feeling of Adulthood of Mexican and Central American Unaccompanied 1.25 Generation Immigrants

Abstract

Employing narrative inquiry, this paper examines how 30 Mexican and Central American young adults (ages 21 to 34) who immigrated without a parent as teenagers—the unaccompanied 1.25 generation— experienced the subjective feeling of adulthood. Structural realities pushed the unaccompanied 1.25 generation into early adult roles, independence, and social responsibility. In many cases, attainment of “adult” roles, independence, and even social responsibility was not followed by the subjective feeling of adulthood. Instead, the feeling of adulthood emerged in gendered ways, was gradual, and resulted from seeing themselves as competent, mature, and capable of thoughtful decision-making. Moreover, in some cases, traumatic events led some to early identification with adult status or disrupted their identification with adulthood. Their experiences support the idea that becoming an adult is an internal process, and raises questions on how independence and social responsibility are experienced by marginalized youth and incorporated into their sense of adulthood.

The divergent adolescent and adult transitions of Latin American undocumented minors

“…Moreover, teenage arrivals express feeling vulnerable during their adolescent and adult transitions. Although they take on adult roles—becoming financially independent and carrying heavy caretaking responsibilities—during their teenage years, they do not subjectively feel like adults (Diaz‐Strong, 2022; Martinez, 2019). Rather, engaging in these roles under necessity, they often feel unprepared for the responsibilities they take on and lament the lack of support and guidance they receive (Diaz‐Strong, 2022).…”

“Si Mis Papas Estuvieran Aquí”: Unaccompanied Youth Workers’ Emergent Frame of Reference and Health in the United States

“…With some exceptions (see Canizales 2021aCanizales , 2021bDiaz-Strong 2021), research examining undocumented youth's stressors has tended to focus on the mental and emotional health tolls of transitioning in social roles from student to worker (Gonzales 2015), from child to parent (Enriquez 2020), or in legal statuses from undocumented to DACAmented (Patler and Pirtle 2018). Common among them is the relentless fear of family separation through deportation (Dreby 2015).…”

“…Unaccompanied, undocumented youth workers who migrate during adolescence, like the study participants considered here, retain varying degrees of origin-country ties and memories (Canizales 2019; Diaz-Strong 2021). Having been workers in their home countries and lone child migrants to the United States, unaccompanied, undocumented youth workers remember well both the lives and relationships they left behind and the migration journey that forced family and community separation.…”