The Erosion of the Immigrant Paradox: Acculturation, Gender, and Child Well-being in the Child Welfare System

The study looks at 3,298 children in the U.S. child welfare system and compares those with U.S.-born caregivers to those with foreign-born caregivers. Children of U.S.-born caregivers were more likely to have behavioral problems. However, the longer immigrant families lived in the U.S., the higher the odds that children were exposed to violence. Immigrant girls had much higher odds of trauma than U.S.-born girls, and linguistic isolation was linked to more internalizing problems. The authors call for gender-responsive, culturally and linguistically informed child welfare services.

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