One of the more harrowing sights of recent years has been the images of unaccompanied children kept in cramped government-detention facilities on the southern border between the United States and Mexico. The images have shone a light on the plight of unaccompanied minors. Research from Columbia University’s  Mailman School of Public Health explores how these children cope after leaving these facilities.

“Understanding the impact of living arrangements can guide the development of programs and resources to better meet their needs and support their healthy development,” the researchers explain.

The researchers interviewed a number of adolescent immigrants who had migrated from Latin America into the United States via the southern border as unaccompanied minors before being resettled in New York City. The youngsters had a range of different living arrangements, with some living with parents, some with other family members, and some without any family members at all. All of the youngsters had been exposed to some form of violence and came to the country from households with limited financial means.

Effective resettlement

Each of the three types of resettlement households saw the youngsters want to seek better opportunities in the US and to gain help and support from adults in doing so. There were also similar levels of life satisfaction across the three groups.

The youngsters living with parents reported that they could generally rely on their parents to provide them with all of their basic needs, while also giving them advice that empowered them in the search for their wider goals. These youngsters also reported that they would be more likely to experience stress, however, with the authors arguing that this might be due to having to adjust to new family dynamics. This group was also most likely to explore higher education, with their parents playing a key role due to their experience of the system having migrated before them.

By contrast, when young people lived with other relatives, they typically saw these people as parental figures who were generally capable of providing material support and help in navigating their new surroundings. This group was also particularly likely to have a good social circle, which contributed to lower perceived stress.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, those young people without families were most affected, both in terms of their general life satisfaction and also their overall resilience. They also had to spend more energy trying to develop social support. This was especially so for youngsters who had left family behind and didn’t have any relatives to stay with in America. These children understandably reported feeling lonely and without guidance.

“The lives of unaccompanied minor migrants living in the U.S. doesn’t fit a single mold,” the authors conclude. “Their emotional health and resilience are shaped by their US living arrangements, especially by the presence of parents and other family members who provide social support.”