Introduction
In 2018, the Trump Administration implemented a “zero-tolerance” policy for undocumented migrant families whereby children were detained separately from their parents. Over a five-week period, 2,300 children were separated from their parents due to this policy (Kullar&Chokshi, 2019). Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and the United Nations Human Rights Council deemed the regulation as a moral and public health emergency. This literature review only includes research articles that examine the effect of this current policy, as well as previous U.S. immigration policies, on migrant children’s mental health. The articles examined mental health outcomes including behavioral issues, increased prevalence of mental illnesses such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and increased health care costs. Research articles were extracted from Monroe College Library’s ProQuest, EBSCO Host databases, and Google Scholar. The search terms used to find the articles were: migrant children, U.S. border, mental health, immigration, and family separation.
Compare and Contrast
- What articles have similarities in each section below?
- Methodology
MacLean et al. (2019) and Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) used UCLA’s PTSD- RI to evaluate the presence of PTSD symptoms in migrant children. The authors of these two articles also conducted their studies over 2 months among families that were in an immigration detention center or had recently been released from one at the time of the study. Both articles had small sample sizes; MacLean et al. (2019) collected 150 responses and Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) collected 77 responses. All three articles used quantitative methodologies, in the forms of surveys or questionnaires (MacLean et al. 2019; Mattingly et al., 2020; Sidamon-Eristoff et al., 2021)
- Findings
Mc Lean et al. (2019) and Sidamon and Eristoff et al. (2021) found higher rates of mental health problems among migrant children compared to their American counterparts. Sidamon-Eristoff et al (2021) found that 97.4% of children had at least one traumatic experience compared to 60-62% of adolescents in the United States. MacLean et al. (2019) and Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) found a higher prevalence of PTSD symptoms among migrant children (17% and 6.49% respectively) compared to American adolescents (4.7%).
- Recommendations
All authors recommended humanely treating migrant children and condemned recent immigration policies (MacLean et al. 2019; Mattingly et al., 2020; Sidamon-Eristoff et al., 2021).
- What articles have differences in each section below?
- Methodology
Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) also had a qualitative component although the results were not published in the article. MacLean et al. (2019) had children complete the PTSD-RI, while Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) had the parents complete the questionnaire about their children. Furthermore, MacLean et al. (2019) had migrant mothers complete the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) on their children. Mattingly et al. (2020) used a nationwide data source where data was not collected in detention centers.
- Findings
Sidamon-Eristoff et al. (2021) found lower percentages of PTSD symptoms (6.49%) compared to MacLean et al. (2019) (17%). Mattingly et al.’s (2020) research found a higher prevalence of PTSD (42.58%) given the larger sample size (458) and longer study period (2004-2012).
- Recommendations
Mattingly et al. (2020) underscored the financial costs of immigration policies.
References:
Khullar, D., &Chokshi, D. A. (2019). Challenges for immigrant health in the USA—the road to crisis. The Lancet, 393(10186), 2168-2174. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30035-2
MacLean, S.A., Agyeman, P.O., Walther, J., Singer, E.K., Baranowski, K.A., & Katz, C.L.
(2019). Mental health of children held at a United States immigration detention center. Social Science & Medicine, 230(2019), 303-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.013
Mattingly, T.J., II, Kiser, L., Hill, S., Briggs, E.C., Trunzo, C.P., Zafari, Z., & Betancourt, T.S.
(2020), Unseen costs: The direct and indirect impact of U.S. immigration policies on child and adolescent health and well-being. Journal Of Traumatic Stress, 33(6), 873-881. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22576
Sidamon-Eristoff, A. E., Cohodes, E. M., Gee, D. G., & Peña, C. J. (2021). Trauma exposure and
mental health outcomes among Central American and Mexican children held in immigration detention at the United States–Mexico border. Developmental Psychobiology, 64(1), e22227. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22227