Latino Families Broken by Immigration: The Adolescents' Perceptions

Latino Families Broken by Immigration: The Adolescents' Perceptions
Ceres I. Artico
April 2003

ISBN-13:  978-1-931202-63-3 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / x, 218 pages

Price   $60.00

Description

Artico describes the experiences, perceptions, and memories of seven Latino adolescents reunited with their biological parents after prolonged separation during childhood because of piecemeal patterns of immigration. These children’s interpretation of the parents’ departure as abandonment or as sacrifice shaped their internal working models of self and others. Events leading to the parent’s departure and its interpretation by family members; the parent’s dependability as providers during separation; and the quality of communication upon reunification influenced how these children perceived their departure and absence. Whereas the children’s perception of caretakers as supportive or critical influenced their representational model of self, their internal working model of others was influenced by how families interpreted the parent’s absence. Such representational models, in turn, predisposed them to develop specific affective, cognitive, behavioral, and relational patterns.

About the Author

Ceres I. Artico is a licensed professional counselor and therapist working with the Fairfax County Community Services Board and in private practice. She earned her Ph.D. in 2001 from George Mason University.