Exploring acculturative stress and family dynamics in African immigrant students in the US: implications for mental health

ABSTRACT

Objectives

African immigrants represent a rapidly growing immigrant group in the US, yet relatively little is known about influences on the health of this group. This is a particularly important oversight since adaptation to life in the United States can have deleterious effects on health due to the stress associated with immigrant and minority status as well as separation from family abroad. The present study explores how African immigrants experience acculturative stress – the stress-inducing elements of life as an immigrant – and the mental health implications of these experiences in light of home country values and conceptions of health.

Design

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of sub-Saharan African immigrant students attending a metropolitan university in the northeastern United States (N = 26). Data were analyzed thematically using NVivo 12.

Results

African immigrant students first experience acculturative stress through schools and neighborhoods where they encounter othering processes, including discrimination and racism. Family responsibilities to loved ones in the US and Africa also represent a source of stress that contributes to feelings of isolation and depression experienced while managing college responsibilities. Since these emotional and mental states are not within the purview of how health is viewed in their home countries, many suffer and may not get the care they need to effectively manage their mental health.

Conclusion

Findings emphasize shared experiences of navigating cultural dynamics, family pressures, and discrimination that contribute to the stress experienced by African immigrants. Findings also underscore the need for the development of culturally sensitive interventions in university settings so that African immigrant students can be upwardly mobile and healthy in the long-term.

KEYWORDS:

• Acculturative stress
• African immigrant
• Adaptation
• Mental health
• International migration
• Racism

Acknowledgements

The authors have no acknowledgements to make at this point in time.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical statement

The initial protocol as well as the modified COVID-19 protocol were approved by the principal investigator’s institutional review board (IRB) prior to initial data collection and the change to online interviewing (West Chester University Institutional Review Board, IRB#: IRB00005030, Approved Protocol ID #20190708A-Rev1). All participants provided written consent prior to participating.

Notes

1 Acculturation and adaptation will be used interchangeably in this article.

2 International students on F-1Visas for study in the United States (n = 4) categorically did not send remittances home. This behavior was concentrated in students who were US citizens (n = 14; 82.3% of this group) and to a lesser extent in students who had legal permanent resident status (n = 1; 25% of this group).

Additional information

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support to conduct this research: West Chester University Innovation in Diversity & Inclusion Grant.