Cuban Immigrants’ Experience with Acculturation and How They Cope in the United States

<p><strong><em>Objective:</em></strong> This research examines how Cuban immigrants experience cope and adapt to the United States. Cuban immigration is associated with specific stressors related to the immigration experience and the necessary process of acculturation and assimilation. These major stressors can result in mental health concerns among Cuban immigrants; however, no studies have examined how acculturation may influence Cuban immigrants’ coping skills and resultant mental health concerns. This unique study is the first to examine the coping skills Cuban immigrants use during acculturation and the effects of these skills on Cuban immigrants’ mental health. <strong><em>Methods:</em></strong> Seventeen participants completed a semistructured interview and six participants completed a focus group interview. This study only included Cuban immigrants who immigrated within the last 10 years and who currently reside in Florida. The researcher used a phenomenological qualitative methodology approach to examine how Cuban immigrants managed the acculturation process using coping strategies. <strong><em>Results:</em></strong> Key findings revealed that Cuban immigrants who used coping skills during their first 2 years in the United States had higher levels of acculturation. Participants used coping skills related to technology, family, religion, personal coping skills, friends, career services, mental health, and English proficiency to reduce acculturation stress. <strong><em>Conclusion:</em></strong> These findings highlight how mental health counselors and educators would benefit from accessing training to recognize and provide appropriate care for disorders related to acculturative stress among Cuban immigrants.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - Public Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counselor Education and Supervision

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Araujo, Lourdes

Contributors dc:contributor

• Joffrey Suprina, Ph.D.
• Angiemil Pérez Peña, Ph.D.

• Cuban immigration
• stress
• acculturation stress
• mental health counselors
• mental health services
• immigration stress
• cope
• coping strategies
• acculturation coping
• Cuban American
• multiculturalism
• racial identity
• and culture identity.
• Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
• Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Community-Based Learning
• Community-Based Research
• Community Psychology
• Counseling Psychology
• Counselor Education
• Development Studies
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Educational Psychology
• Higher Education and Teaching
• Human Factors Psychology
• Inequality and Stratification
• Language and Literacy Education
• Latin American Studies
• Migration Studies
• Multicultural Psychology
• Other Psychology
• Other Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Other Teacher Education and Professional Development
• Place and Environment
• Politics and Social Change
• Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Justice
• Social Psychology and Interaction
• Sociology of Culture
• Sociology of Religion

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/541

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.nl.edu:diss-1589