Resiliencia familiarun acercamiento al fenómeno de las migraciones en la triple frontera perú-bolivia-chile desde la perspectiva de los adolescentes

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the role of family resilience (and its dimensions) regarding the psychological wellbeing of adolescents, sons of migrant families which cross the triple border Peru-Bolivia-Chile, and the relationship with the context of adversity. In the course of the last 10 years and as result of the economic crisis in Europe and North America, the patrons and flux of migrations have changed. New routes have been opened towards other developing countries, such as Chile or Brazil. In 2010, the migratory route through the Andean Mountains was activated. Migrants from Colombia and Ecuador traveled to Chile. In 2014, there were approximately 440,000 migrants in Chile, which amounts to 2.3% of the population of the country. More than 50.000 were children and adolescents. From a psychological perspective, acculturation stress is described as the process through which migrants (and their psychological strengths) are challenged by the need to adapt to the country of destination; as result, psychological wellbeing can be put at risk (Bhugra, 2004). Opposite to what could be expected in these adverse contexts, resilience acts as a mechanism to surpass oneself. In fact, family resilience is defined as “the overcoming process and adjustment in the family heart that gives the opportunity to their members to recover from crisis and stress permanent situations” (Walsh, 2004, p. 40). Based on a mixed methodology (qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires), the impact of acculturation stress and the moderator role of family resilience were analyzed. The sample included 146 adolescent migrants that arrived to Chile from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. The following results were found. Firstly, the most important factors of the acculturative stress were identified: discrimination and racism; the stress caused by social relationships with other migrants; and the stress caused by the fear of their family breaking apart. These three stressors negatively impact the adolescent´s self-esteem and wellbeing. The second result shows how, as the acculturation stress increases, the family coping mechanisms are overloaded. The third result confirms that there is a strong relationship between family resilience and the psychological wellbeing of the adolescents. Specifically, the management and support of the family has the strongest influence in wellbeing, followed by the positive believes of the family. Finally, the results show the possibility of a moderation effect caused by family resilience in the relation between stress and adolescent´s psychological wellbeing. However, given the size of the sample, it was not possible to find statistical accurate results. On the other hand, 41.6% of the variance of the adolescent´s well-being was compound by two important variables: the family resilience and the affective support.