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ABSTRACT
With over 200 million international migrants, immigration is a phenomenon expanding globally at unprecedented rates, having central implications for education and psychosocial wellbeing. In this paper, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods from The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (L.I.S.A.) we analyze different patterns of interplay of achievement and affinitive themes in narratives of 400 recently arrived immigrant children from a variety of backgrounds - Chinese, Central American, Dominican, Haitian and Mexican. The Thematic Apperception Test, Card 1 and 2, is used as a tool to generate narrative data. The method for administering, coding and analyzing the narratives is described. We draw conclusions about the changing interpersonal concerns, anxieties, aspirations and definitions of achievement and success of the immigrant youth.
KEYWORDS: projected narratives, immigrant youth, achievement motivation, mixed methods.
IMMIGRANT CHILDREN
Immigration is an arduous journey - it often means breaking family ties and social networks in the country of origin and entering a society that often does not welcome the new arrivals. The motivations of immigrants are closely tied to their aspirations and hopes for a better future and ensuring a better education for their children ( C. Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001). Recent data from a variety of studies using different methodological and analytical strategies, however, demonstrate disturbing trends-physical and psychological health, as well as academic achievement and aspirations of immigrant children can significantly decline with increased length of residency in the US. The optimism and determination that many families and children bring with them in coming to the US dissipate during the years of adapting to the US society, a trend that continues for the second generation (Kao & Tienda, 1995; Rumbaut & Cornelius, 1995; Steinberg, 1996; C. Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001; Vernez, Abrahamse, & Quigley, 1996).
With over 200 million international migrants, immigration is a phenomenon expanding globally at unprecedented rates, having central implications for education and psychosocial wellbeing. For example, by the middle of the 21st century, it is projected that the children of immigrants will make up a third of the school age population in the United States (Hernández, Denton, & Macartney, 2007). Therefore, there is a clear need to gain an understanding of the way in which the children themselves conceptualize their transitions to new...