An ecological expansion of the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) framework to include threat and deprivation associated with U.S. immigration policies and enforcement practices: An examination of the Latinx immigrant experience.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) framework has contributed to advances in developmental science by examining the interdependent and cumulative nature of adverse childhood environmental exposures on life trajectories. Missing from the ACEs framework, however, is the role of pervasive and systematic oppression that afflicts certain racialized groups and that leads to persistent threat and deprivation. In the case of children from immigrant parents, the consequence of a limited ACEs framework is that clinicians and researchers fail to address the psychological violence inflicted on children from increasingly restrictive immigration policies, ramped up immigration enforcement, and national anti-immigration rhetoric. Drawing on the literature with Latinx children, the objective of this conceptual article is to integrate the ecological model with the dimensional model of childhood adversity and psychopathology to highlight how direct experience of detention and deportation, threat of detention and deportation, and exposure to systemic marginalization and deprivation are adverse experiences for many Latinx children in immigrant families. This article highlights that to reduce bias and improve developmental science and practice with immigrants and with U.S.-born children of immigrants, there must be an inclusion of immigration-related threat and deprivation into the ACEs framework. We conclude with a practical and ethical discussion of screening and assessing ACEs in clinical and research settings, using an expanded ecological framework that includes immigration-related threat and deprivation.

Trauma and psychological distress in Latino citizen children following parental detention and deportation.

The mental health impact of parental detention and deportation on citizen children is a topic of increasing concern. Forced parent-child separation and parental loss are potentially traumatic events (PTEs) with adverse effects on children's mental health. OBJECTIVE: This study examines posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and psychological distress among 91 Latino U.S.-born children (ages 6 to 12), living in mixed-status families with a least 1 undocumented parent at risk for detention or deportation. METHOD: Multiagent (child, parent, teacher, clinician) and standardized assessments were conducted at baseline to assess for child trauma and psychological distress. RESULTS: Analyses indicate that PTSD symptoms as reported by parent were significantly higher for children of detained and deported parents compared to citizen children whose parents were either legal permanent residents or undocumented without prior contact with immigration enforcement. Similarly, findings revealed differences in child internalizing problems associated with parental detention and deportation as reported by parent as well as differences in overall child functioning as reported by clinician. In addition, teachers reported higher externalizing for children with more exposure to PTEs. CONCLUSIONS: These findings lend support to a reconsideration and revision of immigration enforcement practices to take into consideration the best interest of Latino citizen children. Trauma-informed assessments and interventions are recommended for this special population. (PsycINFO Database Record

Morally injurious experiences and meaning in Salvadorian teachers exposed to violence.

Helping professionals working to alleviate the effects of violence and injustice can confront morally injurious experiences (MIE) that violate deeply held moral values/beliefs, placing them at risk for burnout and trauma-related problems (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]). Focusing on 257 teachers from educational departments throughout El Salvador, we incorporated structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine (1) whether exposure to MIEs for this population (e.g., betrayal, witnessing harm to an innocent student) are directly linked with higher PTSD symptomatology and work-related burnout and (2) whether MIEs contribute to these outcomes via meaning made of trauma. SEM results revealed that MIEs were in fact uniquely linked with PTSD symptoms and burnout, above and beyond rates of direct victimization and demographic factors. In addition, greater MIEs were indirectly linked with study outcomes via the extent to which teachers were able to make meaning of their identified stressors. These findings support the importance of screening for MIEs among helping professionals and also suggest that meaning making could serve as a central mediating factor for how MIEs contribute to trauma-related problems among persons working to promote peace and justice in the world.

Event centrality and posttraumatic outcomes in the context of pervasive violence: a study of teachers in El Salvador.

It is well established that the importance assigned to a trauma can affect one's recovery and psychological health in numerous ways. Event centrality is an increasingly popular construct that captures the tendency among survivors to reevaluate and possibly accommodate their worldviews posttrauma. The centrality given to trauma appears to serve as a "double-edged sword" in that this construct might factor prominently in both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Focusing on 257 violence-exposed teachers from educational departments throughout El Salvador, we examined whether the centrality assigned by the teachers to stressful life events uniquely predicted both PTSD symptomatology and PTG. Results revealed that event centrality was positively related to both PTSD and PTG, even when controlling for demographic factors, violence exposure, and depression. In addition, PTSD symptomatology and PTG were not associated with one another in this sample. In summary, these findings support the role of event centrality as a contributing factor for PTSD and PTG among persons exposed to pervasive trauma.