The Role of Acculturative Stress on the Mental Health of Immigrant Youth
A review of how cultural adaptation pressures relate to depression, anxiety, and other outcomes
| Authors | D. Lerias and colleagues |
| Publication | Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review |
| Year | 2025 |
| Focus | Review of associations between acculturative stress and mental-health outcomes among immigrant youth. |
Expanded Overview
Acculturative stress refers to the pressure that can arise when a person adapts to a new cultural environment while trying to maintain important parts of their original identity. For young immigrants, this process takes place during a developmental stage already shaped by questions of belonging, peer acceptance, independence, and identity.
The review found significant relationships between acculturative stress and several mental-health concerns, including depression, anxiety, eating-related difficulties, substance misuse, and other forms of psychological distress. Stress may come from language barriers, discrimination, uncertainty about social norms, conflict between home and host cultures, or pressure to translate and mediate systems for parents.
Family relationships can be both protective and stressful. Shared traditions, emotional closeness, and parental support may provide stability. At the same time, young people may adapt to the host culture faster than their parents, creating an acculturation gap. Differences in expectations about independence, friendships, dating, education, or communication can intensify conflict.
The article supports a culturally responsive understanding of mental health. Distress should not automatically be interpreted as a disorder located only within the child. Schools, discrimination, migration policy, language access, family circumstances, and social inclusion all shape the young person’s wellbeing.
For relocating families, the review suggests that preparation should address cultural identity as well as practical transition. Parents can make room for mixed feelings, maintain meaningful home-culture practices, learn about the child’s new environment, and avoid placing excessive interpretation or administrative responsibility on children.
Practical Relevance for Relocation
- Talk openly about identity conflict and the pressure to fit into two cultural worlds.
- Watch for parent-child acculturation gaps rather than treating all conflict as ordinary adolescence.
- Seek culturally informed school and mental-health support when distress persists.
Responses