@paulinethepsychologist: Why do children of immigrants tend to be more anxious than our parents? Well, the truth has many components.  Our parents have had their fair share of anxiety, but how they acknowledged it and dealt with it seems to be the most significant difference.  Our parents may not have had the language to name their experience as "anxiety." They may have called it nerves or just never acknowledged these feelings out loud.  For our elders, prayer and community healing were likely what they used to relieve these anxious feelings. Some of our families have had close-knit communities for generations, where decades of ancestral knowledge, medicine, and ritual have been passed down from one person to another. Although our immigrant parents had to adjust to a new place, they often grew up in monocultural settings versus many children of immigrants whose upbringing as multicultural beings can add layers of uncertainty about who we are and where we belong.  Additionally, the generational changes and impact of increased digitization without increased connectedness as a buffer and resource is weighing on us collectively.

Pauline | Psychologist

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Monday 30 June 2025 15:56:36 GMT