The Environment You Grow Up in Can Affect Your Mental Health

Fig.1. Karla Cornejo Villavicencio and her book "The 
Undocumented Americans", Harvard University, Immigration
Initiative at Harvard.
          Today's blog is based on one of the broadcasts of the LatinoUSA radio station, which was on air on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. I listened to the program a couple days later, on Tuesday, November 17, 2020. The transmission is entitled "The American Dream Daughter: A Conversation With Author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio" and the host who directed it was Maria Hinojosa. The program addressed issues of the life of Karla Cornejo and their presence in her book entitled "The Undocumented Americans." It is a very interesting interview that I really enjoyed listening to.

          What I learned from their conversation is that there is a mental condition called survivor guilt, which refers to the fact that a person can feel guilty for having overcome certain adversities in their life, comparing themselves to many other people who could not, as is the case to cross the border safely. I also learned that Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to continue their college education, as they must dedicate themselves full time to preaching the word of God. I really liked listening to her story, knowing that she is a woman who has many achievements in her life. In addition to that, she is concerned and committed to helping the Latino community to overcome certain mental illnesses that we often stigmatize. On the other hand, what I did not like is not so much about the transmission, but the fact that they talk about how sometimes minorities become invisible. Setting an example for many Latino people, who were hired during the 9-11 event to help and clean up at Ground Zero. Now, many of these people are struggling to overcome such traumas.

          A JSTOR article titled "Behavioral Functioning among Mexican-origin Children: Does Parental Legal Status Matter?" by Nancy Landale, Jessica Halliday, R. Oropesa, and Marianne Hillemeier discuss inequalities and the developmental effect of growing up with undocumented parents. According to the article, “Mexican-origin youth with undocumented mothers have significantly higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than their co-ethnic counterparts with documented or naturalized citizen mothers” (Landale et al 13). This shows us that the legal status of parents influences their children's problems to adapt during their childhood.

          I found this article by using keywords like “undocumented” and “mental illness”. I chose it because it seemed very related to the theme of the program with Karla Cornejo. In both, it is determined that certain attention is required so that those who live these experiences can lead a better life. Also, here is a video by CBS News entitled "Children separated from parents suffer long-term mental health effects" which talks about the problems that children show after traumatic experiences like being torn apart from their parents


          In conclusion, it is important that the necessary support is identified and provided for adults and especially children who grow up in conditions that affect their mental health. It would be ideal if we all had access to health care, and life would not be at risk due to having a different immigration status. Karla Cornejo's stories seem very interesting to me and I would definitely like to read her book soon. The broadcast was very helpful, and that's why I learned about unfamiliar situations. Regarding my topic, which is the environment, it can be determined that the environment in which you grow up has a great impact on your mental state in the future. Furthermore, the situation of many children who grow up far away from their parents increases this distant coexistence. As a result, these children are then introduced to totally different environments than the ones they grew up in, and that's when problems arise. I hope it is an issue that does not go unnoticed by governments and institutions that can support the treatment of these problems.

Works Cited:

Landale, Nancy S., et al. “Behavioral Functioning among Mexican-Origin Children: Does Parental 
       Legal Status Matter?” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, vol. 56, no. 1, 2015, pp. 2–18., 
       www.jstor.org/stable/44001120. Accessed 18 Nov. 2020.

"The American Dream Daughter: A Conversation With Author Karla Cornejo 

       Villavicencio." npr capradio, 3 Nov. 2020, https://beta.prx.org/stories/341187. Accessed 

       17 Nov. 2020



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