Multiple Perspectives on Educationally Resilient Immigrant Students

Abstract

This study explores in an innovative manner the notion of resilience in a group of immigrant students. Structured interviews were used to explore resilience issues with immigrant students enrolled in university. Two interviewers collected and recorded data together, but conducted separate and independent analyses to explore differences in results due to their own cultural backgrounds. Findings suggest that the traditional concept of resilience - one based on studies of students from lower socioeconomic classes in school in inner-city neighborhoods that identify social competence, problem-solving ability, autonomy, and satisfaction with school as significant resilience factors - is limited. The findings in this study suggest that immigrant students represent a different pattern of resilience related to a strong cultural belief in the value of education and the support, often financial, provided by their families. Interesting differences in interpretation related to the first culture of the researches suggest that "mirrored reflections" offers one way to capture differences in data interpretation resulting from researchers' backgrounds.