Project Grant 2204181

This two-year, $138,000 project grant from the National Science Foundation's Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program will support research investigating Latinx caregiver preparation for discussing immigration status with children in mixed-status families. The grant recipient, an early career scientist, will conduct a mixed-methods study from the perspective of caregivers in Latinx households with unauthorized immigrant parents.

In Phase 1, the recipient will interview caregivers to understand their immigration socialization processes. In Phase 2, the recipient will adapt an existing workshop on knowledge-building and use findings from Phase 1 to tailor content addressing caregiver concerns when discussing immigration topics with children. Measures will assess any impact of the adapted workshop on caregiver skills, motivation, confidence, and perception of immigration threats.

Ultimately, the research aims to advance understanding of immigration-specific family socialization and the potential moderating role of caregiver-child discussions of immigration status on parental outcomes. Insights could inform interventions to assist caregivers in discussing legal status and immigration-related issues with children in a developmentally appropriate manner.