Higuera Kimberly, Jiménez Tomás R
Immigration Policy Lab and Department of Sociology, Stanford University, USA.
Immigration Policy Lab and Department of Sociology, Stanford University, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jul;329:116034. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116034. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
Scholarship on undocumented immigrants has linked irregular forms of legal status to depressed mental health experiences and outcomes. The children of undocumented immigrants have also been shown to report mental health issues. More regular forms of legal status, like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), have been shown to improve psychological outcomes for migrants and their children. Though the relationship between legal status and mental well-being has appeared again and again in the literature, less work has explored the mechanisms through which legal status impacts mental well-being. This paper aims to help detail this link by drawing on 50 in-depth interviews with DACA-recipient and undocumented (DACA-ineligible) immigrants conducted from 2017 to 2018 (pre- and post-DACA rescindment). Thematic analysis identified three forms of instability (nation-state, residential and household) that mediate the influence of legal status on the mental well-being of immigrants and their families. Coping with nation-state, residential and household changes depleted immigrant's mental and emotional resources, hurting their mental well-being. More regular forms of legal status (like DACA) suppressed the occurrence of instability, bolstering the mental well-being reports of DACA-recipients compared to their undocumented counterparts. Yet the program's rescission in September 2017, spiked the threat of future instability for DACA-respondents leading their negative mental well-being reports to echo those of undocumented respondents. We propose that experiencing or even expecting these forms of instability to occur mediates the influence of legal status on mental well-being. Findings shed light on how legal status influences mental well-being and contribute to the immigrant mental health literature.
关于无证移民的学术研究将不正规的法律身份形式与心理健康经历及结果不佳联系起来。有研究表明，无证移民的子女也存在心理健康问题。而更正规的法律身份形式，如童年抵美者暂缓遣返（DACA），已被证明能改善移民及其子女的心理状况。尽管法律身份与心理健康之间的关系在文献中反复出现，但较少有研究探讨法律身份影响心理健康的机制。本文旨在通过对2017年至2018年（DACA撤销前后）对DACA受惠者和无证（不符合DACA资格）移民进行的50次深度访谈来详细阐述这种联系。主题分析确定了三种不稳定形式（民族国家、居住和家庭），这些不稳定形式在法律身份对移民及其家庭心理健康的影响中起中介作用。应对民族国家、居住和家庭的变化耗尽了移民的心理和情感资源，损害了他们的心理健康。更正规的法律身份形式（如DACA）抑制了不稳定情况的发生，与无证移民相比，增强了DACA受惠者的心理健康报告。然而，2017年９月该计划的撤销，加剧了DACA受访者未来不稳定的威胁，导致他们负面的心理健康报告与无证受访者的报告相似。我们认为，经历甚至预期这些不稳定形式的发生会在法律身份对心理健康的影响中起中介作用。研究结果揭示了法律身份如何影响心理健康，并为移民心理健康文献做出了贡献。
