The 2020 Study (aka Sociopolitical Development amidst Mass Mobilization against Systemic Racism: Examining the Lived Experiences of Immigrant-Origin Youth) launched in the Fall of 2020. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach this study examined how immigrant-origin (I-O) youth experience and engage with the 2020 election season in light of recent economic, political, and social consequences from the pandemic and the social movements against systemic racism. Findings will expand our understanding of how I-O youth engage as political actors (Elisha et al., in press) by examining how the sociopolitical development (SPD) of I-O youth evolves during and after an election year as shaped by the development of their ethnic-racial identity (ERI) (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014) and critical consciousness (CC) (Diemer et al., 2015).

PI

Dr. Juliana Karras, Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University

& Partner of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard 

Co-PI

Elena Maker Castro, Human Development & Psychology, UCLA

Funding

Awarded: Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), 2021 Small Grants Program for Early Career Scholars - The 2020 Study: Elevating Immigrant-Origin Youth Voices During and After a Year of Social Unrest. P.I. Juliana Karras, Ph.D. - $7,482

The goal of this study is to examine how adolescents (aged 12-17) in three Caribbean countries—Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago—understand their socioeconomic rights and issues of economic inequality. By elevating children’s voices on economic inequality, findings from this study can help improve the strategies used by researchers, policymakers and educators invested in fostering a more socially just and equitable world. 

Co-PIs 

Dr. Juliana Karras, Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University

& Partner of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard

Dr. Martin D. Ruck, Developmental Psychology, The Graduate Center City University of New York

Dr. Christopher Charles, Department of Government and Political Psychology, University of the West Indies. 

Pre-pandemic the goal was to develop, pilot, and scale up climate assessment regarding how inclusive (or not) learning environments are for immigrant-origin students by triangulating multiple perspectives from stakeholders across the educational ecology (i.e., students, educators, staff, administrators, family, community). Our pandemic pivot for this project has been to undertake a systematic literature review of global research regarding how immigrant-origin, K-12 students experience their school climate (e.g., safety, relationships, teaching & learning). The goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of I-O students’ lived experiences across their learning environments with an emphasis on recommendations for future work towards improving school climate for I-O youth—which has become increasingly relevant as xenophobia has increased in recent years alongside global migration patterns which are projected to further increase in the coming decades (e.g., climate refugees).

PI

Dr. Juliana Karras, Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University

& Partner of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard 

Co-PI

Carola Suárez-Orozco, Professor in Residence & Director of  Immigration Initiative at Harvard, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Collaborators

Patricia Cabral, Human Development & Psychology, UCLA

Elena Maker Castro, Human Development & Psychology, UCLA

Stephanie Nguyen, Human Development & Psychology, UCLA

Alfredo Novoa, Human Development & Psychology, UCLA

A multi-study, multi-method examination of sociocultural variability in the ethnic-racial socialization processes used by Black immigrant and Black American parents to prepare their children to deal with inequality and how these processes related to their children’s civic development from early childhood through adolescence. In Study I, person-centered trajectory modeling Is employed to examine how socialization trajectories relate to civic indicators across multiple ecological contexts. In Study II, an in-depth grounded theory investigation triangulates the perspectives of parents and their children on inequality and civic development.

PI

Dr. Juliana Karras, Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University

& Partner of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard