Immigrant Risk, Self-Discontinuity, and the Role of Nostalgia

<p><strong>Background:</strong> There are conflicting theories and data about immigrants’ health in the host country (e.g., immigrant risk vs. paradox), which have encouraged researchers to examine more nuanced factors related to immigration to clarify these inconsistencies. This two-part study aimed to shed light on these discrepancies by investigating psychoanalytic concepts that have not yet been empirically tested. The study focuses on immigrant self-discontinuity, a migration- induced disruption in one’s sense of self-sameness and unconscious sense of going-on-being, manifesting in moments of disorientation, disorganization, or dissociative-like experiences. There is no adequate instrument to measure this construct; as such, Part 1 of the study developed and pre-tested a preliminary measure of immigrant self-discontinuity that was used to investigate subsequent aims. Part 2 examined key ideas proposed in the psychoanalytic literature: 1) large differences between home and host countries as a challenge to psychological adjustment, 2) self- discontinuity as a core feature of migration, 3) nostalgia as a defense against discontinuity. The study tested two moderated mediation models of psychological distress and of life satisfaction, with magnitude of difference between home and host countries as the independent variable, self- discontinuity as the mediator, and nostalgia as the moderator of their relation. <strong>Methods:</strong> Part 1) Deductive and indirect inductive methods of scale development were used to generate items for the Immigrant Self-Discontinuity Scale (ISDS), which was pre-tested with 8 target population raters. Part 2) A total of 302 foreign-born, voluntary, lawful immigrant adults participated in an online self-report study. <strong>Results:</strong> Part 1) Target population raters provided face validity for the ISDS. Part 2) The ISDS demonstrated good internal consistency and preliminary indicators of construct, convergent, and predictive validity. Latent class analysis revealed two groups of magnitude of difference between home and host countries: those with less differences vs. more differences. Results indicated a significant moderated mediation model of psychological distress, but not life satisfaction. Specifically, more differences between home and host countries were associated with higher psychological distress through self-discontinuity, and this relation was moderated by nostalgia such that those with high nostalgia were more likely to experience higher discontinuity. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The ISDS was found to be an appropriate preliminary measure of self-discontinuity among this multinational immigrant adult sample and requires further psychometric validation. Findings from the study are consistent with various theoretical and clinical psychoanalytic perspectives on the immigration experience and are aligned with immigrant risk theory. Finally, findings suggest that immigrants from backgrounds that largely differ from the host community and who are highly nostalgic are more likely to experience higher levels of discontinuity, and in turn, more psychological distress.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2023

Author dc:creator

• Talhouk, Leila

Contributors dc:contributor

• Deidre Anglin
• Adriana Espinosa
• Steven Tuber

• Immigration
• immigrant health
• self-discontinuity
• identity discontinuity
• nostalgia
• psychoanalysis
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1110

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:cc_etds_theses-2183