Consejos as a Family Process in Transnational and Mixed-Status Mayan Families

This article describes a constructivist grounded theory study about cross-border relationships within Mayan families divided between the United States and Guatemala. Nine families participated, and each included a U.S.-based undocumented migrant parent and a Guatemala-based adolescent and caregiver. Findings pertaining to the family process of consejos—defined as a communication practice in Latino families wherein older family members pass on conventional wisdom to younger family members—are discussed. Although consejos has been identified as an important cultural practice in Latino families, it has rarely been examined in Mayan families or explored as an important aspect of transnational family relationships. Findings suggest that for some transnational and mixed-status Mayan families, consejos has become an important family process and a way in which migrant parents maintain a presence in their children\u27s lives despite being physically separated. Implications for future research with transnational migrant families, and Mayan families in particular, are discussed

Character Development among Youth of Color from Low-SES Backgrounds: An Examination of Boy Scouts of America’s ScoutReach Program

This study examined character attributes associated with participation in ScoutReach, Boy Scouts of America’s recent program innovation created to deliver Scouting curriculum to underserved populations. Participants were predominantly Black/African American (72.9%; N = 266, Mage = 10.54, SD = 1.58) and resided in low-income urban communities. Youth completed surveys assessing how much they embody different character attributes (e.g., kindness, helpfulness, hopeful future expectations), and a subset of youth (n = 22) also participated in semi-structured interviews examining character-shaping experiences within the program. Results replicated an eight-factor character structure established with youth involved in traditional Scouting programs, and indicated that involvement in ScoutReach may positively contribute to the development in youth of prosocial behaviors, future career goals, tolerance beliefs, and the manifestation of character attributes across Scouting and non-Scouting contexts. Together, these findings have implications for measuring character constructs among youth of color from low-SES backgrounds, and for the conduct of youth-serving character development programs more generally

You Can Quit Me But I’m Not Going to Quit You:” A Focus Group Study of Leaders’ Perceptions of Their Positive Influences on Youth in Boy Scouts of America

As part of a longitudinal, mixed-method study with Boy Scouts of America, we conducted five focus groups with a diverse group of 46 program leaders in order to better understand their perceptions of how they influence youth. Drawing from grounded theory analysis methods, we found that leaders believed they promoted positive youth outcomes, including character and self-confidence, through caring youth-leader relationships and facilitating opportunities for youth to participate in and lead skill-building activities and apply skills in different contexts. Leaders differed in the particular outcomes that they emphasized. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed

Program Innovations and Character in Cub Scouts: Findings from Year 1 of a Mixed-Methods, Longitudinal Study

Youth development programs seek to promote positive development through mentoring and engaging youth in opportunities for individual growth and community connectedness. We present findings from the initial phase of a mixed-methods, longitudinal study aimed at assessing the impact of one such program, Cub Scouts, on character development. We assessed if Scouting, and a recent innovation in Scouting focused on program quality, are associated with the development of character and other positive youth outcomes. Participants were 1,083 Scouts and non-Scouts, aged 5-12 years. At the start of the study, there was no difference in indicators of character between Scouts and non-Scouts, once matched through propensity score analyses. Through content analyses of interviews and short- answer questionnaires administered to leaders, we found that leaders’ views of character and of their roles corresponded to those envisioned by Cub Scouts. Implications for character development, and for the role of program components in character development, are discussed

Fathering Within Transnational and Mixed-Status Mayan Families: An Exploratory Study

This study explores fathering within a small sample of Mayan transnational and mixed-status families divided between the Northeastern United States and the Quiché region of Guatemala. A positive masculinities framework informs this theoretical thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with 7 migrant fathers and 2 sons-as-fathers who were caring for younger siblings in Guatemala. Analyses sought to illuminate how the performances of fathering in the context of migration depart from and sometimes challenge hegemonic conceptions of masculinities evident in much of the migration scholarship. In total, 5 themes capturing varying performances of fathering were identified: (a) staying-at-home, (b) emotionally expressing cross-border relationality, (c) communicating within the family about return and consejos (conventional wisdom), (d) sons-as-fathers caring for family members here and there, and (e) maintaining the household intergenerationally. We discuss how the transnationalizing of these Mayan families has contributed to more diverse gendered roles and relationships, with a focus on some of the potential positive influences of this process on family relationships. Implications for future research about the various ways in which fathers and sons contribute to their transnational families, especially in difficult sociopolitical contexts, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved

Redefining family: transnational girls narrate experiences of parental migration, detention, and deportation

"Die explorative Studie, über die in diesem Beitrag berichtet wird, befasst sich mit der Lebensgeschichte von vier zentralamerikanischen Mädchen, bei denen mindestens ein Elternteil einen inoffiziellen Aufenthaltsstatus hat. Die Mädchen bzw. weiblichen Jugendlichen sind zwischen 10 und 16 Jahren und leben in transnationalen nordamerikanischen und zentralamerikanischen Familien. Ihre Erzählungen eröffnen Einblicke in transnationale Erfahrungen an den Schnittstellen zwischen Gender, Ethnizität, Familie und (il)legalem Status: Mittels einer thematischen Narrationsanalyse werden der Status des jeweiligen Mädchens in der transnationalen Herkunftsfamilie, die Erfahrungen mit dem nordamerikanischen Immigrations- und Abschiebesystem und auch mit häuslicher Gewalt herausgearbeitet. Ausgehend von den Ergebnissen der Untersuchung scheint es den Autoren dringlich, dass Sozialwissenschaftler/ innen und Pädadog/ innen sich mit solchen transnationalen Erfahrungen intensiver als bisher befassen, insbesondere auch mit der Art und Weise, wie (weibliche) Jugendliche eigenen oder familialen Migrationserfahrungen Sinn verleihen." (Autorenreferat)"This exploratory narrative inquiry examines the lives of four Central American females with one or more U.S.-based undocumented migrant parents. Each participant is between 10 and 16 years old and is part of a transnational family living between the U.S. and Central America. Their narratives provide a window into transnational girls' experiences at the intersections of gender, ethnicity, family role, and legal status. Specifically, through thematic narrative analysis we learn about each girl's position in her transnational family, her encounters with U.S. immigration and deportation systems, and her experiences with domestic abuse or male desertion. Based on findings, this study urges social scientists and educators to attend to girls' transnational family experiences, including how they contest and make meaning of their own or their relatives' migrations and returns and the gendering of familial and migration processes." (author's abstract

Familie redefinieren: Erzählungen transnationaler Mädchen über elterliche Migration, Inhaftierung und Abschiebung

This exploratory narrative inquiry examines the lives of four Central American females with one or more U.S.-based undocumented migrant parents. Each participant is between 10 and 16 years old and is part of a transnational family living between the U.S. and Central America. Their narratives provide a window into transnational girls' experiences at the intersections of gender, ethnicity, family role, and legal status. Specifically, through thematic narrative analysis we learn about each girl's position in her transnational family, her encounters with U.S. immigration and deportation systems, and her experiences with domestic abuse or male desertion. Based on findings, this study urges social scientists and educators to attend to girls' transnational family experiences, including how they contest and make meaning of their own or their relatives' migrations and returns and the gendering of familial and migration processes.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130157Esta indagación narrativa exploratoria examina la vida de cuatro chicas centro americanas con uno o más parientes indocumentados en los Estados Unidos. Cada participante tiene entre 10 y 16 años de edad y es parte de familias transnacionales que viven entre los Estados Unidos y Centro América. Sus narrativas brindan una ventana a las experiencias de chicas trasnacionales y las intercesiones de género, etnicidad, familia, estatus legal y rol. Específicamente, aprendimos por medio del análisis temático narrativo acerca de la posición de cada una de las niñas en su familia transnacional, sus encuentros con los sistemas de inmigración y deportación de los Estados Unidos y sus experiencias con abuso doméstico o deserción masculina. Con base en los hallazgos, este estudio urge a los científicos sociales y educadores para atender a las chicas con experiencias de familia transnacional, para incluir como ellas participan y generan un significado de sí mismas y de las migraciones y regresos de sus parientes y la perspectiva de género en los procesos familiares y de migración.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs130157Die explorative Studie, über die in diesem Beitrag berichtet wird, befasst sich mit der Lebensgeschichte von vier zentralamerikanischen Mädchen, bei denen mindestens ein Elternteil einen inoffiziellen Aufenthaltsstatus hat. Die Mädchen bzw. weiblichen Jugendlichen sind zwischen 10 und 16 Jahren und leben in transnationalen nordamerikanischen und zentralamerikanischen Familien. Ihre Erzählungen eröffnen Einblicke in transnationale Erfahrungen an den Schnittstellen zwischen Gender, Ethnizität, Familie und (il)legalem Status: Mittels einer thematischen Narrationsanalyse werden der Status des jeweiligen Mädchens in der transnationalen Herkunftsfamilie, die Erfahrungen mit dem nordamerikanischen Immigrations- und Abschiebesystem und auch mit häuslicher Gewalt herausgearbeitet. Ausgehend von den Ergebnissen unserer Untersuchung scheint es uns dringlich, dass Sozialwissenschaftler/innen und Pädadog/innen sich mit solchen transnationalen Erfahrungen intensiver als bisher befassen, insbesondere auch mit der Art und Weise, wie (weibliche) Jugendliche eigenen oder familialen Migrationserfahrungen Sinn verleihen.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs13015

Continuities and Discontinuities in Human Rights Violations: Historically Situating the Psychosocial Effects of Migration

Despite recent interest in the psychosocial effects of deportation, psychologists have rarely investigated the multiple forms of violence that compelled many undocumented migrants now living in the United States to “leave home.” This thematic narrative analysis of interviews with four Maya from Guatemala, part of a larger participatory and action research project, particularizes the experiences of Maya in the United States who are frequently subsumed under homogenizing constructs (e.g., “illegal aliens”) and labeled with universal psychological diagnoses that fail to reflect their complex histories, through which they give meaning to their lived experiences. Analyses focus on three major themes: violence and violation, multiple migrations, and suffering and survival. We illustrate how participants situate contemporary effects of deportation within the collective story of their people, connecting contemporary violations of human rights to earlier migrations due to extreme poverty and experiences of violence during and after 36 years of armed conflict