U. professor studies how discrimination affects undocumented students' mental health
Germán Cadenas, an associate professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology and associate director of the Center for Youth Social Emotional Wellness (CYSEW), is a co-author of a recently published study about the development of critical consciousness in response to discrimination among undocumented college students.
Critical consciousness is when someone becomes aware of the oppressive systems that work against certain groups.
Cadenas told The Daily Targum that his research on immigration stems from his own experience as an undocumented student in the U.S.
"My family and I didn't have a pathway to legal status, and this is the case for about 11 million undocumented people in the country," he said. "That experience eventually brought me to becoming involved in the immigrant community and becoming an activist for immigrant rights."
For the study, 171 undocumented students were surveyed on how often they were discriminated against as well as their levels of psychological distress, critical consciousness and desire to engage in social activism.
Cadenas identified two components of critical consciousness: reflection, in which someone is able to analyze the oppression they are experiencing, and involvement, when someone begins to work against the systemic oppression they are facing.
"What I found is that greater discrimination was linked to greater critical consciousness, so the more discrimination that one experiences, the more awake one becomes to the systems that are at play and the way that it impacts one's well-being," he said.
Cadenas said he used a "measure of everyday discrimination" to evaluate the amount of discrimination faced by the participants. This type of discrimination involves issues such as how often the students were told they were not smart or had people acting scared of them.
The study found that higher levels of discrimination against undocumented students led to a greater amount of psychological distress, and Cadenas suggested that critical consciousness may help people cope with discrimination.
"I think it is so important for campus support systems, especially for mental health support systems, to create programs and create interventions that can support the students being able to make sense of the discrimination that they're experiencing and viewing critical consciousness and social justice as positive tools to respond to discrimination," he said.
He discussed another study he conducted, published in 2023, in which strategies were given to universities to support the psychological needs of undocumented students on campus.
Cadenas said Rutgers has good structures in place to support undocumented students, such as the Support for Undocumented Students service and the Rutgers Immigrant Community Assistance Project (RICAP) at Rutgers Law School. CYSEW is working with RICAP and Support for Undocumented Students, as well as counseling services, to make a program that will support the mental health of undocumented and immigrant students at Rutgers, he said.
Following the results of the 2024 election cycle, Cadenas said it is more important than ever for college campuses to support their undocumented student populations.
"College campuses are very important for students to develop critical consciousness and social justice activism, and it's going to be very important if we start to see anti-immigrant laws and enforcement increasing," he said.
For students wanting to get involved in supporting undocumented students, Cadenas shared that they can enroll in courses related to civic involvement or join the student-run organization UndocuRutgers.
"That's the great thing about a university where there is free speech and where students can become involved with a group or create their own group and build community and develop a sense of hope and agency together," Cadenas said.
