Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Impact of Migration on the Psychosocial Well-Being of Youth

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

Oregon State University doctoral candidate Jamie Petts, supervised by Dr. Kenneth Maes, will undertake research to study the processes through which migration impacts the psychosocial well-being of youth. The study is focused on a group of adopted Ethiopian-born youth who have migrated to the United States, as an unprecedented number of Ethiopian youth migrate to or are adopted by parents in the U.S. Though adopted and migrant youth share a common national origin, their pre-migration situations, mechanisms of migration, and post-migration situations may be very different. The researcher's goal is to understand migration within the context of the social networks and the transnational political-economies that shape the migration process. The project will involve 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The researcher will bring together biocultural anthropological theories and innovative methods, including life history interviews, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews to target the agency of youth in shaping their niches, relationships, and aspirations, within political-economic context. The anthropology of adoption has focused largely on kinship and identity. This bioecocultural study of child development can shed light on the daily routines in which transnational migrant and adopted youth develop knowledge and skills, relationships, aspirations, and a sense of local and global social hierarchies. Moreover, this study will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges adopted and migrant children face and the results may be used to inform public policy aimed at supporting the well-being of Ethiopian youth and families living in the U.S. This project also contributes to the training of a graduate student.