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My field work has been with elders with disabilities.
USE THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODEL TO MOVE THROUGH THE LIFE MODEL
Piedra and Engstrom (2009) noted how the life model “remains general and unspecific regarding factors that affect immigrant families” (p. 272). Recall that there will never be one theory or a model that fully explains a phenomenon or lays out all the steps and procedures when working with complex issues that clients present to social workers. Recognizing this, Piedra and Engstrom selected another theory in the immigration literature—segmented assimilation theory. They identified concepts from segmented assimilation theory to “fill in” the gaps that the life model does not address.
In this Discussion, you examine gaps in the life model by applying it to your field experience.
TO PREPARE
Review the life model.
Review this article in the Learning Resources: Piedra, L. M., & Engstrom, D. W. (2009). Segmented assimilation theory and the life model: An integrated approach to understanding immigrants and their children. Social Work, 54(3), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/54.3.270
If you don’t have field experience that applies to this Discussion, you can apply other social work experience, including internships or professional experience, or apply a case study from this course. Contact your Instructor if you need clarification for what could apply for the Discussion.
Answer these
Post a response to the following:
Using an example from your fieldwork or other professional experience and a diverse population you encountered at the agency (for example, in Piedra and Engstrom’s article, it was immigrant families), respond to the following:
Identify and describe the diverse population and the unique characteristics and/or the distinctive needs of the population in 3–4 brief sentences.
Explain how you would use the life model to help the client understand and describe their challenges.
Explain how the problem-solving model can help the client address their challenges.
How is the client using defense mechanisms, and how is that impeding the ability to problem solve and move forward in the life model?
Identify where the gaps are in applying the life model for this population.
When looking at the gaps, explain which theory might be helpful in filling the gaps of the life model when working with this population.
Turner, F. J. (Ed.). (2017). Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches (6th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Chapter 18, “Life Model and Social Work Practice” (pp. 287–301)
Chapter 24, “Problem-Solving and Social Work” (pp. 387–397)
Piedra, L. M., & Engstrom, D. W. (2009). Segmented assimilation theory and the life model: An integrated approach to understanding immigrants and their childrenLinks to an external site.. Social Work, 54(3), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/54.3.270
Westefeld, J. S., & Heckman-Stone, C. (2003). The integrated problem-solving model of crisis intervention:
Overview and applicationLinks to an external site.. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(2), 221–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000002250638
Gentle-Genitty, C., Chen, H., Karikari, I., & Barnett, C. (2014). Social work theory and application to practice: The students’ perspectivesLinks to an external site.. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 14(1), 36–47.
SAML Login | Sage (sagepub.com)
Social Work Theory and Application to Practice: The Students’ Perspectives – ProQuest
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Segmented Assimilation Theory and the
Life Model: An Integrated Approach to
Understanding Immigrants and Their Children
Lissette M. Piedra and David W Engstrom
The life model offers social workers a promising framework to use in assisting immigrant
families. However, the complexities of adaptation to a new country may make it difficult
for social workers to operate from a purely ecological approach. The authors use segmented
assimilation theory to better account for the specificities of the immigrant experience. They
argue that by adding concepts from segmented assimilation theory to the life model, social
workers can better understand the environmental Stressors that increase the vulnerabilities
of immigrants to the potentially harsh experience of adapting to a new country. With these
concepts, social workers who work with immigrant families will be better positioned to
achieve their central goal: enhancing person and environment fit.
KEY WORDS: acculturation; assimilation; immigrants; life model; second generation
N
early a century ago,Jane Addams (1910)
observed that immigrants needed help
integrating their European and American
experiences to give them meaning and a sense of
relation:
The inability of some immigrant families to
integrate the cultural capital from the world left
behind with the demands of the new society creates
a gulf of experience between immigrants and their
children that can undermine the parental relationship. Today, the issue of family cohesion in the face
of acculturative Stressors remains central to the immigrant experience and creates a sense of urgency
because it is so linked with the success of the second
generation. The size of the immigrant population
and the role their children vill play in future labor
markets (Morales & Bonilla, 1993; Sullivan, 2006)
moves the problem from the realm of the person
to the status of a larger public concern.
Immigrant families are rapidly becoming the
“typical” American family. More than one in seven
families in the United States is headed by a foreignborn adult. Children of immigrant parents are the
fastest growing segment of the nation’s child population (Capps, Fix, Ost, Reardon-Anderson, & Passel,
2004).The U.S. Census Bureau (2003) reported that
slightly more than 14 million children (approximately one in five) live in immigrant families; the
percentage is even higher (22 percent) for children
under the age of six (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001).
At a structural level, these changing demographics
create large-scale and long-range effects that bear
on many social services and many issues of social
pohcy (Sullivan, 2006). Specifically, the population
growth of native-born children in nonwhite immigrant families, in the context of an aging white
population, has implications for intergenerational
and interethnic justice. The native-born children
of immigrants will make up a large portion of the
future workforce—and of the future contributors
to the social security—recipient population (Morales
& Bonilla, 1993; Sullivan, 2006).
For many immigrants, relocating to the United
States means leaving one cultural universe and entering a new one—a life transition that, unlike other
forms of life transitions, can span decades and affect
subsequent generations. Immigrant families must
grapple with a distinct set of cultural adjustments.
Aside from adapting to a new society, immigrant
adults rear children in a cultural context that is
270
CCC Code: 0037-8046/09 $3.00 ©2009 National Association of Social Workers
Power to see life as a whole is more needed in
the immigrant quarter of the city than anywhere
else Why should the chasm between fathers
and sons, yawning at the feet of each generation,
be made so unnecessarily cruel and impassable
to these bewildered immigrants? (p. 172)
different—sometimes vastly so—from the one in
which they themselves were socialized, and often
that context includes speaking a language other
than English.
Although contemporary immigrants and their
native-born children—the second generation—face
the same type of parental estrangement as earlier
immigrants did, the social context has changed
dramatically. Immigrant families today face the
challenges of adaptation in an era of eroded social
safety nets and heightened scrutiny of citizenship
status (Engstrom, 2006). The industrial era long
ago gave way to a more technologically complex
society, and the labor market has bifurcated into two
sectors: high-skilled work and low-skill work, the
latter with correspondingly low wages and often
with no benefits (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001 ¡Wilson,
1980, 1987). Many immigrants work in low-wage
jobs that provide few or no benefits and little opportunity for advancement.
Segmented assimilation theory identifies factors
that contribute to the different rates of acculturation
among parents and their offspring; it also explains
how intergenerational acculturation patterns affect
the way the second generation confronts external
obstacles to social mobility (Portes, 1996; Portes,
Fernandez-Kelly, & Haller, 2005; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Portes & Zhou, 1993; Waters, 1996).
Segmented assimilation theory has been used by
scholars studying the difficulties immigrant families have with acculturating to American society.
For example, segmented theory has been used to
ground case studies (Kelly, 2007) and to understand substance use and abuse (Martinez, 2006),
educational performance (Stone & Han, 2005),and
racial distrust among immigrant minority students
(Albertini, 2004). Chapman and Perreira (2005) used
segmented assimilation theory to inform aspects of
their framework for assessment of the psychosocial
risks associated with successful adaptation of Latino
youths. Although a useful contribution to the literature. Chapman and Perreira’s (2005) application
of the theory is narrowly focused on Latinos and
does not make use of this theory’s abihty to explain
why some immigrant families have more difficulties
with assimilation than others do. The explanatory
power of the theory lies in its ability to illuminate
factors that contribute to diverse life trajectories
among immigrant families.
We argue that by adding conceptsfromsegmented
assimilation theory to the life model (Germain &
Gitterman, 1996; Gitterman & Germain, 1976,
2008), social workers can better understand the environmental Stressors that increase the vulnerabilities
of immigrants to the potentially harsh experience
of adapting to a new country. Furthermore, this
enhanced ecological approach can help practitioners better understand the crucial role that intergenerational acculturation plays in the challenges
that some immigrant parents experience in their
efforts to relate to and guide their children. With
this expanded view, we believe that social workers
who work with immigrant families will be better
positioned to achieve their central goal: enhancing
person and environment fit.
APPLING THE LIFE MODEL TO
IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR CHILDREN
The life model is particularly relevant for those
vorking with immigrants and their children. Inspired by the idea that social work practice should
be modeled on life itself, the life model places
particular emphasis on the normal life processes
of growth, development, and decline (Bandler,
1963; Germain & Gitterman, 1996, Gitterman
& Germain, 1976, 2008). These processes, along
with human motivation for problem solving and
need satisfaction, are understood in the context
of the life span. Life-modeled practice, grounded
in ecological theory, seeks to maximize the fit
between individuals, families, and groups and
their environment (Germain & Gitterman, 1996;
Gitterman & Germain, 1976, 2008). Capitalizing
on reciprocal interactions between people and their
environments, interventions are tailored to enhance
people’s abihty to meet their needs and to coax the
environment to become more amenable to their
needs (Germain & Gitterman, 1996; Gitterman
& Germain, 1976, 2008; Shulman & Gitterman,
1994). Problems in living (Gitterman & Germain,
1976) were originally conceived as generated by
three interrelated sources: (1) stressful life transitions,
(2) environmental pressures, and (3) maladaptive
interpersonal processes (Shulman & Gitterman,
1994). Later, the hfe model added three new conceptual areas that reflect the profession’s evolving
sensitivity to social diversity: (1) the recognition of
factors that influence vulnerability and oppression;
(2) the presence of healthy and unhealthy habitat
and niche; and (3) consideration of variations in the
life course (the trajectory taken by an individual),
with attention to social and cultural determinants
PIEDRA AND ENGSTROM / Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Life Model
271
of these trajectories (Germain & Gitterman, 1996;
Ungar, 2002).
Although these new additions to the life model
provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the myriad challenges facing immigrant
families, the life model remains general and unspecific regarding factors that affect immigrant families.
Other theoretical concepts are needed to address
the following key questions regarding the adaptation process: What factors influence vulnerability
and oppression of immigrants? What are the social
and cultural determinants of the various hfe trajectories immigrants take? Answering these questions
will generate a greater appreciation for the obstacles
immigrant families must overcome.
SEGMENTED ASSIMILATION AND
INTERGENERATIONAL ACCULTURATION
Intergenerational conflict is common in the immigrant experience, but not all families experience the
disdain that some second-generation youths develop
toward their immigrant parents and their cultural
heritage. Not all immigrant youths prematurely
free themselves from parental authority, losing the
corresponding support and guidance. Nevertheless,
the question remains: How do individual, faniily,
and community dynamics intersect with larger
contextual forces so as to give rise to divergent assimilation outcomes?
Contemporary sociological theory can help
answer this question. Although assimilation—the
process by which immigrants and their children
integrate into society—is an important concept, it
is also a term that has been overused and burdened
by extensive qualifications (Portes &c Rumbaut,
2001). Traditional straight-line assimilation, with
its assumption of rapid integration and acceptance
into the American mainstream, is only one of
several possible assimilation outcomes. Portes and
Rumbaut (2001) reminded us that assimilation remains a cautionary tale and that positive outcomes
are by no means guaranteed. They argued for a
conceptualization that accounts for the different
possible outcomes and variation across immigrant
groups. By tracing the divergent assimilation paths
of second-generation children to intergenerational
acculturation, segmented assimilation theory explains the specific role that immigrant parents and
their co-ethnic communities play in helping the
second generation to confront external obstacles to
social mobility (for example, racial discrimination, a
272
two-tiered labor market, and inner-city subcultures).
The key issue is not whether the assimilation of
immigrants and their children will occur; a long
historical record proves that it does, even under the
direst of circumstances. Rather, in regard to social
mobility, the segment ofsociety into which immigrants
and their children assimilate carries significantly
more weight.
Segmented assimilation theory recognizes that
although U.S. society is racially and ethnically diverse, it is also stratified along socioeconomic lines
(Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Wilson, 1980, 1987).
Socioeconomic status shapes and constrains opportunities for social mobility. Those at the more
impoverished levels of society—the working poor,
for example—experience a myriad of obstacles to
upward social mobility because the problems associated with poverty are so interlocking that one reversal can produce a chain reaction with far-reaching
results (Shipler,2004).Low-wage employment with
no benefits relegates workers to communities with
poorer housing stock, unreliable transportation
systems, and inadequate schools. This heightened
vulnerability is further accentuated when workers
have an illness, are involved in an accident, or are
victims of a street crime. Given the corrosive effects
of poverty, it is not surprising that, for low-income
immigrant families, increased length of residency
in the United States coincides with deterioration
in the health and school achievement of their
children (Hernandez & Charney, 1998; Shields &
Behrman,2004).
Perhaps the most useful contribution segmented
assimilation theory has to offer is the idea that the
pace of intergenerational acculturation—the process
by which immigrants and their children learn
the language and normative lifestyles of a new
culture—plays an important role in the support
and resources that second-generation children can
access to overcome external barriers to successful
adaptation. In an ideal world, acculturation occurs
at similar rates for both immigrant parents and
their children, enabling children to maintain family
and communities ties. When confronted by racial
discrimination, a bifurcated labor market, and innercity subcultures, second-generation children who
have maintained these important connections face
these difficulties with adult support and guidance.
However, acculturation rates often differ between
parents and offspring (Hwang, 2006), creating a
gap between the first and second generations that
SocialWork VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3
JULY 2009
extends beyond normal generational gaps. Portes
and Rumbaut (2001) identified three types of
intergenerational acculturation: (1) dissonant, (2)
consonant, and (3) selected.
Synonymous with “harsh” or “jarring,” dissonant
acculturation is aptly named. Such an acculturation
occurs when children learn English and adopt U.S.
culture at such an accelerated rate, compared with
their parents, that parental authority is undermined
and children can prematurely free themselves from
parental control. In the most extreme instances,
role reversal occurs when the child’s mastery of
the language and culture puts her or him at a social advantage vis-à-vis the parents and the child
is expected to serve as translator and mediator in
the public world. A dissonant acculturation process
diminishes the ability of parents to provide critical
guidance. Moreover, this process often occurs in
a context of limited community supports, so the
results are particularly cruel.When confronted with
external obstacles to social advancement, such as
poverty, racial discrimination, or poor educational
opportunities, these children often have little more
than their peer group for support. The immigrant’s
child confronts these obstacles alone and is particularly vulnerable to the adoption of adversarial
attitudes and lifestyles associated with inner-city
subcultures and downward social mobility.
Consider the fluidity of racial identity and how
it can serve as a proxy for something other than
identity (Samuels,2006;Tafoya,2004;Waters, 1996).
One study that examined how adolescent children
of black immigrant parents constructed and used
their ethnic identity found that ethnically identified teenagers recognized that their immigrant
status separated them from being solely identified as
African American—arguably the most stigmatized
group in the United States (Water, 1996).Depending
on the situation, ethnically identified youths spoke
differently—formal English rather than accented
English—and sent out other signals of ethnic group
belonging (such as sporting a Jamaican key chain). For
these adolescents, racial and ethnic identity were not
synonymous with being a black American. Rather,
these adolescents viewed race and ethnicity as fluid,
social currency that is partially a conscious choice to
adopt behaviors and speech to fit the social context
(Waters, 1996).
In sharp contrast, other adolescents in the study
who adopted a fixed racial identity—black American—placed little emphasis on their ethnic identi-
ties. These teenagers believed that race definitively
constrained their chances of getting ahead, and they
did not see their cultural heritage as providing any
social leverage. Moreover, these youths had adopted
and identified with some of the negative stereotypes.
One young Haitian American teenager reported
the following:
My parents, they do not like American blacks,
… they feel that they are lazy.They don’t want
to work and stufflike that from what they can
see. And I feel that, um, I feel that way too . . .
and my mother is like, yeah, you’re just too
American. (Waters, 1996, p. 185)
The most striking finding in this study was how
the two groups of teenagers responded to their
parents’ negative opinions of black Americans and
the degree of intergenerational conflict. Although
both groups reported that their parents held negative
appraisals of African Americans, ethnically identified youths agreed with their parents’ and wider
society’s negative assessments of poor black people
and sought to avoid being identified in that way.
American-identified youths rejected their parents’
opinions outright, blaming those beliefs on their
parents’ naivete regarding the U.S. social system.
These youths’ racial identity included embracing
aspects of a peer-group culture that brought them
into conflict with their parents’ cultural beliefs.
Disaffected by their parents and their cultural
values, American-identified teenagers confronted
the perils of racial discrimination and inner-city
subcultures alone.
In marked contrast, consonant acculturation reflects
a process in which there is a gradual loss of native
language and culture. Acquisition of English language and U.S. culture are assumed by the parent and
child at roughly the same rates.The role of economic
resources cannot be underestimated here. In some
instances, immigrant parents have the resources to
purchase experiences that facilitate their ability to
pass on their cultural heritage: a parochial education, language school, summer trips to the country
of origin. These “extras” give a child exposure to
the parent’s culture and facilitate a family milieu of
common values and cultural beliefs. In addition, the
parents’ education and employment foster the acquisition of language and culture, enhancing authority
so that the parents retain their parental role. Selective
acculturation occurs when the learning process ofboth
PIEDRA AND ENGSTROM / Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Life Model
273
generations is embedded in a co-ethnic community
that slows down the cultural shift and promotes
the partial retention of parents’ home language and
cultural norms. Selective acculturation is commonly
found among middle-class members living in ethic
enclaves, such as Cubans in Miami.
PARENTAL HUMAN CAPITAL, MODES OF
INCORPORATION, AND FAMILY STRUCTURE
As illustrated in the earlier discussion, central to segmented assimilation theory is the way that parental
human capital influences patterns of intergenerational acculturation. In addition, intergenerational
acculturation is affected by how the immigrant
group is received in this country (modes of incorporation) and the ways in which family structure
helps or hinders social supports. In this section, we
discuss these three factors and how they facilitate
the ability of immigrant parents to remain a guiding
force for their children (see Figure 1).
Parental Human Capital. Immigrants come to
this country with wide variations in age, education, occupational skills, wealth, and knowledge of
English. Each of these factors not only contributes
to immigrants’ wage-earning potential in the labor
market, but also plays a role in determining the extent
to which immigrant parents can regulate the acculturation process for their children.This ability to
have some say in the rate of children’s acculturation
is extremely important, because for most immigrant
families, schools often undermine cultural retention
(Ishibashi, 1991; Ishibashi & Martinez, 2006). By
attending U.S. schools, the children of immigrants
experience an accelerated acculturation process,
often putting them at a linguistic and cultural advantage over their parents. Therefore, parents who
lack the personal and community resources to keep
up with their children’s acculturation are decisively
disadvantaged in maintaining an influential role in
their children’s lives.
Immigrant parents with English language ability,
who know how to navigate complex social organizations, have a decisive advantage both at home and in
the labor market. Highly educated and skilled adult
immigrants are better able to acculturate quickly to
U.S. society than immigrants who come with little
education, low levels of literacy, and no exposure
to complex social institutions and technology. The
first group has greater potential to access highwage work that will lead to rapid social mobility.
Because they possess education and skills that are
valued in U.S. society, these immigrants encounter
a more hospitable environment and have greater
opportunity to regulate their situations (and their
family situations) than do those with low levels of
human capital.
Figure 1: Factors Contributing to Variations in Acculturation
Background Factors:
First Generation
Intergenerational
Patterns of Acculturation
A Dissonant Acculturation:
The children’s acquisition of English
of American ways occurs with the
F and
loss of immigrant culture, outstripping
parents’ pace of acculturation; role
F the
reversal occurs.
Modes of Incorporation:
Governmental policies
Consonant Acculturation:
E The
toward different
learning process and gradual
immigrant groups and the
abandonment of home language and
reception by the native
C culture occur at similar rates.
population.
Selective Acculturation:
The learning process of both
T
generations is embedded in a co-ethnic
Family Structure:
Parental Human Capital:
Age, education,
occupational skills, wealth,
and knowledge of English.
The composition of the
immigrant family and the
presence of both biological
parents.
community to slow down the cultural
shift and promote the partial retention
of parents’ home language and cultural
Parental Support for Overcoming Obstacles ro
Social Mobility:
Discrimination, Labor Markets, Inner-city Subcultures
poor; obstacles are
confronted alone; there is
a risk for downward social
mobility
relationship maintained;
adequate support is available
to assist with social mobility
relationship maintained;
adequate parental and
communal supports are
available to facilitate social
mobility âW cultural
retention
Source: Adapted from Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2001). Legacies: The story of the immigrant second generation (Figure 3.2 The Process of Segmented Assimilation; A Modei).
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. O2001 Regents of the University of Caiifornia.
274
Social Work VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3
JULY 2009
that is, at best, ambivalent about their presence and
expects immigrants to make it largely on their own
(Engstrom, 2006). However, the ability to “make
it” depends largely on governmental policies that
regulate immigration status: essentially, the degree
to which immigrants can live and work openly in
society and the types of labor opportunities and
protections they encounter.
Undocumented immigrants, for example, work
at jobs that most people in the United States find
undesirable, and they have the least protection from
My mother and father made themselves underoccupational hazards and abuse. Moreover, their
stood at the county hospital clinic and at govclaim on social institutions is tenuous. Because unernment offices. And yet… it was unsettling to
hear my parents struggle with English. Hearing
documented immigrants fear deportation, many will
them, I’d grow nervous, my clutching trust in
use such institutions only in emergencies.The lack of
their protection and power weakened, (p. 15)
choice for this group is apparent; reversals, such as a
serious illness or injury or a workplace raid, can have
a disorganizing effect on even the most industrious
Apart from obvious financial difficulties, income,
family. Under these hostile circumstances, parental
language, and education can negatively affect the
ability to protect children is precarious.
parental relationship in unforeseen ways, fraying
However, even legal immigrants, who have a
those important ties over time and heightening the
stronger claim on social services and institutions,
vulnerability of some immigrant children to the loss
are not immune to a hostile reception.Their ability
of parental support. Because parental human capital
to make use of institutional resources is limited by
determines labor-market participation, which in
factors that convey a message of inaccessibility: the
turn affects the availability of resources and institulack of health insurance, language barriers, and the
tional access, the coercive effects on family ties are
absence of linguistically and culturally competent
particularly brutal: Children living in families with
service providers. Modes of incorporation have
the fewest resources (usually living in communities
far-reaching effects on the acculturation of immiwhere parental guidance is most critical) are on
grants and directly relate to their ability to care for
their own in dealing with discrimination and the
themselves and their families.
pitfalls of poverty.
Modes of Incorporation. In addition to the skills
Family Structure. Family structure is intimately
and resources that immigrants individually possess,
tied to the cultural and economic resources famithe receiving context plays a vital role in eroding
lies have for raising their children. Two-parent
or strengthening family ties. Governmental polihouseholds generally have higher incomes than
cies and the receptivity of the native population to
one-parent households (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006).
the new immigrants have a powerful effect on the
Low-income immigrant families can stretch their
supports and resources available to help immigrants
resources, for example, if they have extended fammaintain control over their lives during adaptation
ily or family friends who can assume child care
to a new environment. As noncitizens, immigrants
responsibilities while parents are working. Moreover,
depend on federal policies to confer rights and
low-wage immigrant parents often must work two
privileges on the basis of their immigration status.
jobs to make ends meet, so they have less time to
Sometimes these policies are influenced by foreign
spend with their children and to interact with the
policy needs, as in the case of Cuban refugees. In
institutions (such as schools) that shape the lives of
the United States, modes of incorporation can range
their children.
from a positive reception, in which there is federal
Moreover, many immigrant families are composed
support for the resettlement of immigrants (as in
of members with different immigration statuses (for
the case of Cubans andVietnamese during the Cold
example, citizen, legal immigrant, undocumented
War), to an overtly hostile stance, as in the case of
immigrant). Mixed-status families are estimated to
undocumented Mexican nationals. Between these
constitute 9 percent of US. families (Fix and Zimtwo extremes, most immigrants find a host society
mermann, 2001). The typical mixed-status family
The second group has many more cultural
disadvantages to overcome. For these immigrants,
competencies developed in their native societies may
not translate well to the new society. Regrettably, the
second generation’s view of their parents is shaped
by their perception of the fit between the parents’
skills and their new environment, rather than the
actual competencies of their parents. Consider the
observation made by Rodriguez (1982):
PIEDRA AND ENGSTROM / Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Life Model
275
comprises U.S.-born children with at least one
immigrant parent, who may or may not have legal
immigration status. Consequently,policies designed
to restrict one category of immigrants can have a
radiating effect on native born immigrants. Some
family members make the journey to the United
States alone, leaving others behind to emigrate later.
Family separation means that family members will
begin the acculturation process at different times and
that reality strongly influences family dynamics.
THE LIFE MODEL REVISITED
As discussed earlier, although the Hfe model provides
a useful ecological framework to guide practice, it
requires supplemental theory. Although life-modeled practice recognizes factors that may influence
vulnerability and oppression, such as poverty, crime,
and environmental hazards, segmented assimilation
theory focuses on vulnerability in the areas of parental human capital, modes of incorporation, and
family structure. By gathering information about the
migration and adjustment experience, social workers can assess the degree to which immigrants and
their children are experiencing a harsh acculturation
process that can negatively affect family relations
and limit immigrant children’s ability to overcome
obstacles to social mobility.
The most vulnerable immigrant families are
those with limited human capital to cope with
the demands of a modern technological society
and those who are socially isolated (usually a
single-parent-headed family or a family without
a co-ethnic community to call on). These are the
families most in need of cultural brokers to help
them understand U.S. cultural norms and expectations for interacting with various institutions,
including schools and health care organizations. In
this respect, cultural competence extends beyond
merely understanding and appreciating tbe clients’
culture. Rather, this competence also mandates the
ability to explain complex human service systems
to immigrants in ways they can readily understand,
something social workers are particularly suited for
and trained to do.
By importing concepts from segmented assimilation theory into the life model, social workers can recognize and understand the factors that
contribute to the various outcomes experienced by
immigrant families. In the context of an enhanced
ecological model, interpersonal conflict and distress
in an immigrant family—even when the source of
276
conflict seems mild—can be viewed in a different
light. For example, conflicts concerning choice of
friends, sexuality, curfew, and homework, which
may typically fall in the range of normal for most
families, may mask deeper underlying issues related
to dissonant acculturation for immigrant families.
Often, parents will reach out for help when they
believe that their child is “slipping” and they are
unsure about how to regain control.The unspoken
concern often extends beyond the specific conflict
and includes fears that the youth is becoming “too
American,” in the worst sense of the term. It is tempting to minimize these concerns in the absence of
overtly problematic behaviors, but doing so means
that service providers miss an opportunity to address
greater apprehensions about the parental relationship. Most families have intergenerational disputes;
what distinguishes immigrants is not the presence
of conflict but, rather, the dangers associated with
dissonant acculturation that heightens the need for
understanding, reconciliation, and compromise.
CONCLUSION
Jane Addams envisioned Hull House as a bridge
between two different cultural worlds, facilitating the
adaptation of immigrant families into U.S. society.
Her observation that immigrant families need help
connecting the cultural heritage of their past with
the strengths needed to navigate the present terrain
resonates with major tenets in the life model. Even
so, segmented assimilation theory offers insights
into the uneven barriers facing the first and second
generations and into how vulnerabilities increase
the chasm between parents and their children (as
Addams, 1910, so poignantly described). By incorporating segmented theory into life-modeled
practice, contemporary social workers can foster
interventions that enhance the strengths of immigrant parents and help them guide their children to
lead productive lives. H!Ü3
REFERENCES
Addams, J. (1910). Twenty years at Hull House. New York:
Macmillan.
Albertini,V. (2004). Racial mistrust among immigrant
minority students. Children and Adolescent Social Work
Journal, 2Í, 311-331.
Bandler, B. (1963).The concept of ego-supportive psychotherapy. In H. Parad & R. Miller (Eds.), Ego-oriented
casework: Problems and perspectives (pp. 27—44). N e w
York: Family Service Association of America.
Capps
