immigrant youth

Immigrant youth refers to first generation adolescents who settle in a country that is different from the country of their birth. As both adolescents and immigrants, immigrant youth experience acculturative change—processes resulting from continuous contact with individuals from different cultures—while simultaneously undergoing the same general developmental processes as all youth, including facing developmental tasks and biological, psychological, social, and societal factors that drive change across the lifespan. Acculturative experiences may differ in their effects depending on the developmental stage in which individuals encounter them, with certain periods of development characterized by higher susceptibility to risk factors. Understanding immigrant youth development requires integration of both acculturative and developmental perspectives.

Sources: Titzmann & Jugert (2024)