Ethical Care for Vulnerable Populations Receiving Psychotropic Treatment

The increasing use of pharmacotherapy raises specific ethical concerns for psychologists working with vulnerable populations. Due to a shortage of trained specialists, professionals without training in mental health, such as primary care providers, are increasingly prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medications. Vulnerable populations (e.g., older adults, people currently low in social status, immigrants, and racial/ethnic minorities) face additional barriers to mental health treatment and are at heightened risk when these factors intersect. Hence, these patients experience unique barriers to receiving optimal psychopharmacological care and are differentially vulnerable to deleterious outcomes associated with misdiagnosis and overmedication. Taken together, these factors fuel inequities in the access, quality, and utilization of mental health care. Psychologists working with these patients are ethically mandated to protect patients from harm and ensure equitable care across patient populations. Specifically, psychologists must respond to the dilemma of how to effectively treat patients within these vulnerable populations who have been misdiagnosed or poorly medicated while remaining within the bounds of their competence. This article recommends pathways to address these dilemmas through education, training, research, and advocacy.     

Performance boosts in the classroom: Stereotype endorsement and prejudice moderate stereotype lift

The present study (N = 293) examined whether stereotype endorsement and prejudice moderate stereotype lift (i.e., a performance boost caused by the salience of a negative out-group stereotype in the testing situation). The stereotype in the focus of inquiry was the belief that immigrant students have lower intellectual ability than native students. French native high school students performed an intellectual test in a condition of low stereotype salience (the test was presented as assessing individual differences) or in a condition of high stereotype salience (the test was presented as assessing group differences between African immigrants and native students). As expected, results indicated that native students high in stereotype endorsement and those high in prejudice performed better in the high than in the low stereotype salience condition, whereas those low on these constructs did not. By identifying two moderators of stereotype lift, this study sheds new light on the achievement gap between immigrant and native students in educational institutions.     

It’s security,stupid! Voters’ perceptions of immigrants as a security risk predicted support for Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election

We analyzed two datasets to determine the predictive validity of four explanations of support for Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election: (a) security concerns regarding immigrants, (b) economic concerns regarding immigrants, (c) cultural concerns regarding immigrants, and (d) social dominance orientation. Results of a two‐phase study (N = 354) suggested that perceiving immigrants as a security concern was predictive of increased support for and greater odds of voting for Donald Trump three weeks later. Perceiving immigrants as an economic threat predicted odds of voting for Donald Trump, but only among liberals and there was no evidence of cultural concern or social dominance orientation (SDO) predicting support for Donald Trump or odds of voting for Trump. A follow‐up analysis of the cross‐sectional ANES survey corroborated that security concerns were an important correlate of voting for Trump, but also that SDO was correlated with having previously voted for Donald Trump. While our two‐phase study has the benefit of prediction, the cross‐sectional ANES data does not—“predictors” in these data were collected up to two months post‐election.     

Using Liberation Psychology and Dialectical Humanism to Understand Latinx Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction and Depressive Symptoms

The authors conducted a study to examine how the presence of meaning in life, search for meaning in life, hope, family importance, and enculturation influenced Latinx adolescent students’ depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Two regression models revealed there was a statistically significant relationship between predictor variables, life satisfaction, and depression. The article concludes with a discussion regarding the importance of these findings and recommendations for practice and research. Los autores llevaron a cabo un estudio para examinar cómo la presencia de sentido en la vida, la búsqueda de sentido en la vida, la esperanza, la importancia de la familia y la enculturación influyeron en los síntomas depresivos y satisfacción vital de estudiantes adolescentes Latinx. Dos modelos de regresión revelaron que existe una relación estadísticamente significativa entre las variables de predicción, la satisfacción vital y la depresión. Este artículo concluye con una discusión en torno a la importancia de estos hallazgos, así como recomendaciones para la práctica y la investigación.     

Adolescents with Turkish background in Norway and Sweden: a comparative study of their psychological adaptation

Using a questionnaire survey, this study compared psychological adaptation (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and mental health problems) of Turkish adolescents in Norway and Sweden, and examined to what extent ethnic and majority identities, acculturation strategies, and perceived discrimination accounted for adaptation among Turkish adolescents. The samples consisted of 407 Turks (111 in Norway and 296 in Sweden) with a mean age of 15.2 years and 433 host adolescents (207 in Norway, 226 in Sweden) with a mean age of 15.6 years. Turks in Norway reported poorer psychological adaptation than Turks in Sweden. Predictors of good adaptation were Turkish identity and integration, whereas poor adaptation was related to marginalization and perceived discrimination. The results indicated that the poorer adaptation of Turks in Norway compared to that of Turks in Sweden could be due to lower degree of Turkish identity and higher degree of perceived discrimination.     

Between Dream Cities and Reality: Personal Narratives of Ex-Soviets in Israel

Domestication of space is a major problem for migrants, particularly when they settle in a geographically remote country with a markedly different climate and culture. This paper analyzes attitudes to city life in the country of origin and in the new homeland in personal narratives of immigrants to Israel from the countries of the former Soviet Union. The material was drawn from in-depth unstructured interviews conducted in 1999–2002 and 2005–2006, and Israeli Russian-language Internet forums. Soviet Jews were predominantly city dwellers, and their immigration stories are permeated with explicit and tacit comparisons of the space of the two countries. The cities of origin are idealized, and their image has disintegrated into hospitable and warm cities of pre-emigration life on the one hand, and unfamiliar, alien cities of post-Soviet period on the other. In Israel many ex-Soviets chose to live in the so-called development towns. Attracted by relatively inexpensive apartments, the newcomers found themselves trapped in places where jobs are scarce and the quality of life has been recently dropping. In reflecting on various towns, interviewees focus on physical and symbolic dimensions, the most frequent being: big–small, center–periphery, exposed–protected, and powerful–weak. In contemporary Russian culture center is associated with job opportunities and entertainment, with high social status and good quality of life. In Israel the opposition center–periphery has retained its significance, yet the whole country is considered by many immigrants as deeply provincial, cut off from the rest of the world and devoid of opportunity for the young, the conviction that is supported by publications in the Russian-language media.

A Tale of Two Cities: Replication of a Study on the Acculturation and Adaptation of Immigrant Adolescents From the Former Soviet Union in a Different Community Context

While a great deal of research has been conducted to understand acculturation and its relationship to adaptation in the new country, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the ways in which the characteristics of the local community impact these processes. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the potential role of community differences in the acculturation and adaptation processes of 269 refugee and immigrant adolescents from the former Soviet Union who resettled in two different community contexts. Specifically, a prior study on acculturation and adjustment among high school students (D. Birman, E. J. Trickett, & A. Vinokurov, 2002) was replicated with the same émigré population in a contrasting community within the same state. The contrast between these communities allowed us to test hypotheses emerging from an ecological perspective concerning (1) patterns of acculturation, (2) levels of discrimination and its effect on acculturative outcomes, and (3) community differences in the relationship between acculturation and outcomes. In addition to the focus on community differences, the study also employs a multidimensional measure of acculturation and assesses acculturation to both American and Russian culture. Furthermore, adaptation is assessed across different life domains; including peer relationships, family relationships, school adaptation, and psychological adaptation. Findings support the general ecological perspective, suggesting the importance of studying acculturation and adaptation as a reflexive process in which culture and context are very much intertwined.     

Acculturation and adaptation of Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents: predictors of adjustment across life domains

This study explores how acculturation is related to adaptation across different life spheres for 162 Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents in a suburban community in Maryland. Because the different contexts of refugee adolescents' lives vary in acculturative demands, different patterns of acculturation should be related to adaptation in different life spheres. The study uses a multidimensional measure of acculturation and assesses acculturation to both American and Russian cultures as it relates to psychological adaptation, peer relations, and school and family outcomes. Findings support the general ecological thesis that acculturation to different cultures is differentially related to adaptation across life domains. Acculturation to American culture predicted better grades and perceived support from American peers. Acculturation to Russian culture predicted perceived support from Russian peers. Both American acculturation and Russian acculturation predicted reduced loneliness and perceived support from parents. Further, different dimensions of acculturation, such as language and identity, were differentially related to adaptation. Implications for acculturation theory and measurement are drawn, and cautions are offered about the interpretation of acculturation studies using single proxies such as language use or preference.     

A Qualitative Investigation of Somali Immigrant Perceptions of Disability: Implications for Genetic Counseling

This study examined the potential utility of genetic counseling services for Somali immigrants by investigating their perceptions of disability. Five Somali women participated in structured interviews that assessed their perceptions of the nature, causes, and impact of disability, and care for persons with disabilities. Using a Heideggerian Hermeneutics qualitative method of analysis, six major themes emerged: (1) disability refers to both physical and mental conditions, with mental disability generally thought of first and as more severe; (2) in Somalia, the family cares for disabled family members, treating them as if they were normal (3) there are major cultural differences between Somalia and the United States in how persons with disabilities are treated; (4) caring for a person with a disability is stressful for the family; (5) Allah determines whether or not a child will be disabled, and this cannot be predicted or altered; and (6) family is the primary life focus, and therefore, risk of disability does not affect reproductive decisions. These themes suggest that traditional genetic counseling may have limited utility for Somali immigrants. We recommend several modifications to traditional genetic counseling for Somali patients that also may be useful for populations that have similar beliefs.     

Met expectations and the wellbeing of diaspora immigrants: A longitudinal study

Previous research has pointed to the importance of expectations for the adaptation of immigrants. However, most studies have been methodologically retrospective with only limited possibilities to show the optimal relationship between migrants’ expectations and actual acculturation experiences for their wellbeing and other aspects of psychological adaptation. Moreover, previous research has been conducted mostly among sojourners and students. This longitudinal study focused on the relationship between premigration expectations and postmigration experiences of diaspora immigrants from Russia to Finland (N = 153). We examined how the fulfillment of premigration expectations in social (i.e., family relations, friendships, and free time) and economic (i.e., occupational position, working conditions, and economic and career situation) domains affects immigrants’ wellbeing (i.e., satisfaction with life and general mood) after migration. Three alternative models of expectation confirmation (i.e., disconfirmation model, ideal point model, and the importance of experiences only) derived from previous organizational psychological research were tested with polynomial regression and response surface analysis. In the economic domain, immigrants’ expectations, experiences, and their interrelationship did not affect wellbeing in the postmigration stage. However, in the social domain, the more expectations were exceeded by actual experiences, the better were life satisfaction and the general mood of immigrants. The results underline the importance of social relationships and the context‐dependent nature of immigrants’ wellbeing. Interventions in the preacculturation stage should create positive but realistic expectations for diaspora immigrants and other groups of voluntary (re)migrants. Furthermore, policies concerning the postmigration stage should facilitate the fulfillment of these expectations and support the social adaptation of immigrants.