In actuality, the kids go to school and the parents go to work outside of the house,” he said. But: “That’s a very Western way of looking at things. Zamarripa said that many clinicians talk about first-generation trauma within the context of the family - family relationships and the strife within them.

Instead of acknowledging their feelings, the child is unintentionally taught to push it aside. In Pezo’s work, clients have said their parents have responded to their emotional distress by saying “te calmas o te calmo” which translates to “calm down or I’ll calm you down.” Or a parent might respond by telling the child “Por que lloras? No llores.” - Why are you crying? Don’t cry. “It could be feeling like their needs weren’t met appropriately, not getting emotional support, not feeling as if there was the ability to really connect and feel safe within those relationships maybe because of environmental stressors that were existing at the time,” she said. Someone who frequently juggles two very different versions of themselves to get by at work, for example, could start to feel emotionally exhausted.Īttachment trauma: This refers to trauma that can occur within family relationships, Pezo explained. Code-switching: Rivas explained code-switching as a person changing the way they speak, act, or interact with others in specific settings, such as the workplace.Agueda Rivas, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said when a child of immigrants begins to navigate the world outside their parents’ home - at school or at a friend’s house, for example - they start to question their parents’ cultural teachings in order to fit in, which can lead to disagreements at home.

Assimilation: The Migration Policy Institute explains assimilation as the integration of people or culture into a dominant culture and society.

While the classes helped, they still relied on Gonzalez to translate documents that came in the mail or from the doctor. In the U.S., they took English classes at night. Gonzalez said before her parents came to the U.S., her mother was studying to be a nurse and her father was a civil engineer in Guadalajara, Mexico, but they didn’t speak English. “There is a lot of pressure to be that person for your family, so later on, a lot of folks, like first-generation professionals, really struggle with asking for help,” Vanessa Pezo, a licensed trauma therapist based in Long Beach, said. Parentification: This is when a child is obliged to act as a parent to their own parent or sibling, perhaps translating at a doctor’s appointment or filing taxes for a parent who doesn’t speak English. Here are some common experiences of children of immigrants that can contribute to first-generation trauma or stress:

Intergenerational trauma ted