Research highlights that immigrant children often assume adult roles, known as parentification, which can adversely affect their mental health and development. This role reversal, often driven by acculturative stress, results in children acting as caregivers or parental figures to immigrant parents. While this dynamic is rooted in collectivist values, it may create an environment where individual needs are neglected. Such patterns can hinder proper adult functioning and are often perpetuated across generations, emphasizing the need for a balance to promote healthier developmental frameworks for immigrant families.
Survival skills that immigrant children develop in youth can block adult growth if unchecked.
Parentification-being put in the 'parent' position-harms development and mental health in immigrant children.
Children of immigrants may learn to 'mind read,' anticipating their parents' unspoken needs.
The term 'sink or swim' may resonate with immigrant communities because they've had to do just that, sometimes as children.
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