Hirokazu Yoshikawa yoshikhi@gse.harvard

1. “I have learned more in every sense”:Exploring Challenges and Supports to Adult Cognitive DevelopmentAmong Low-Income First-Generation Immigrants in New York City Society for Psychological Anthropology Santa Monica March 31, 2011 Hirokazu Yoshikawa yoshikhi@gse.harvard.edu Peter W. Pruyn pwp478@mail.harvard.edu Harvard Graduate School of Education

2. Conceptual Background Segmented Assimilation (Portes and Zhou, 1993; Rumbaut, 1996) Assimilation is influenced by contextual factors: • Discrimination • Location • Co-ethnic community Robert Kegan’s Constructive-Developmental Theory (1982, 1994)

3. Constructive-Developmental Theory

4. Constructive-Developmental Theory 4

5. Ref. http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/BE023676.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammarion_woodcut

6. Constructive-Developmental Theory 6

7. Constructive-Developmental Theory 7

8. Constructive-Developmental Theory Socialized Mind Self-Authoring Mind Dependent Thinking Independent Thinking 8

9. Data Sample:Metro-Baby Qualitative Study, NYU Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education(Yoshikawa, Chaudry, Torres, Rivera) • Child and adolescent development in multiple ethnic and immigrant groups in New York City • 29 low-income families: 11 Dominican, 13 Mexican, 5 Chinese • Two studies (2003-2004 and 2005-2007): • 6 semi-structured Interviews + participant observation (all visits) with extensive field notes • 7-10 visits total per family • This pilot focuses on two mothers • Marcella, Dominican, age 32, selected at a hospital • Sophia, Mexican, age 34, selected at a community-based organization

10. Research Question Broader Interest: What is the relationship between immigration and adult cognitive development? RQ for this Pilot: What challenges and supports do these two immigrant mothers encounter that might relate to their cognitive development?

11. Methods • Coding of developmental “bits” by developmental level (Lahey et al, 1988) • Identifying possible sources of psychological challenge and support that could further development (Kegan, 1982, 1994)

12. Sophia34 year-old Mexican mother of three External authority (Socialized) Internal Authority (Self-Authoring) Two tasks: 1) Do her thoughts/feelings suggest: 2) Identify any challenges and supports 12

13. Findings In most cases their challenges were their supports:

14. Limitations • Data was not collected with adult development in mind • Not a before-and-after adult study • Cannot judge developmental stage from these transcripts, only “soft-signs”

15. Implications & Future Directions • Constructive-Developmental Theory as an additional layer to assimilation theories • A longitudinal study to explore the relationship between stages of development and immigrant success • How might effective challenges and supports be disseminated and utilized by other immigrants? • How might such challenges and supports be adapted to other environments such as educational settings? • Burning question: Is a globalized world a more cognitively developed world?

16. References Baxter-Magolda, Marcia, Elizabeth Creamer, Peggy Meszaros, Eds. (2010). Development and Assessment of Self-Authorship: Exploring the Concept Across Cultures. Sterling, VA: Stylus. Baxter-Magolda, Marcia (1999). Creating Contexts for Learning and Self-Authorship: Constructive Developmental Pedagogy. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University. Berger, Jennifer Garvey (2004). Dancing on the Threshold of Meaning: Recognizing and Understanding the Growing Edge. Journal of Transformative Education, 2(4): 336-351. Berger, Jennifer Garvey (2010). “Using the Subject-Object Interview to Promote and Assess Self-Authorship”. In Baxter-Magolda, Marcia, Elizabeth Creamer, Peggy Meszaros, Eds., Development and Assessment of Self-Authorship: Exploring the Concept Across Cultures. Sterling, VA: Stylus. Drago-Severson, Eleanor (2004). Becoming adult learners: principles and practices for effective development. New York: Teachers College Press. Kegan, Robert (1982). The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kegan, Robert (1994). In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Khan, Shabnam (2010). Education & Agency: Muslim Women and the Tensions of Traditional & Modern Expectations.  Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA. (continued)

17. References (con’t) Lahey, Lisa, Emily Souvaine, Robert Kegan, Robert Goodman, and Sally Felix (1988). A Guide to the Subject-Object Interview: Its Administration and Interpretation. Cambridge, MA: The Subject-Object Research Group, Harvard Graduate School of Education. McGowan, Eileen, Eric Stone, and Robert Kegan (2007). “A Constructive-Developmental Theoretical Approach to Mentoring.” In Ragins, Belle and Kathy Kram, Eds., The Handbook of Mentoring at Work: Theory, Research and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Portes, Alejandro, and Min Zhou (1993). “The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and Its Variants,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 530:74-96. Rumbaut, Ruben (1996). “The Crucible Within: Ethnic Identity, Self-Esteem, and Segmented Assimilation Among Children of Immigrants.” In Portes, Alejandro, The New Second Generation. New York: The Russell Sage Foundation. Torres, Vasti (2010). “Investigating Latino Ethnic Identity within the Self-Authorship Framework.” In Baxter-Magolda, Marcia, Elizabeth Creamer, Peggy Meszaros, Eds., Development and Assessment of Self-Authorship: Exploring the Concept Across Cultures. Sterling, VA: Stylus. Tseng, Vivian, Hirokazu Yoshikawa (2008). “Reconceptualizing Acculturation: Ecological Processes, Historical Contexts, and Power Inequities,” American Journal of Community Psychology, 42:355-358. Winnicott, Donald (1965). The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development. New York: International Universities Press. Yoshikawa,Hirokazu, ThomasWeisner, and Edward Lowe (2006). Making it work: Low-wage Employment, Family Life, and Children’s Development. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 17

18. Appendix 18

19. For more on Constructive-Developmental Theory see:developmentalobserver.blog.com/about 19

20. Marcella32 year-old Dominican mother of three M: I would just like to say that I have the best husband ever. [laughs] Yeah, he’s a superstar…. You don’t see a lot of men like that, especially nowadays for men to be so young and be so into his family…. If it don’t got to do with us, it don’t got to do with him. So I would love for other people to take their time when they’re going through life. Because, if I would have not done that, I probably would have been with someone else, and they would not have been the same. I love the fact that I took my time to find that right person…. If another person who is going through something they can’t handle, or the man isn’t treating you the way that you want to, don’t stop searching. Keep on. Because you will find that person that is going to be there for you, the way you want them to. Don’t settle. Because, I noticed that my sister settled, and she’s not happy. Like I said, all the money she got, she should be so happy. She should be having no problem. She got a…car. She has things that I don’t have. She has so much things when it comes to materialistic, that she don’t have what I have when it comes to love, and stuff like that, and the relationship, and the bond, and all that stuff that me and my husband have, she don’t…. I would love for girls to not settle and find whatever they’re looking for. Because if you settle, you tend not go for what you really want. 20

21. Sophia34 year-old Mexican mother of three S: I came to this country, I don’t know, innocent…. I didn’t know anything…. When I arrived to this country, I was disappointed. I imagined New York like a beautiful country, that people were so good…. I wanted to go back,….but I didn’t have money to go back…. INT: At that time you were sorry you came, right? S: Yes. INT: And are you still sorry? S: No. I’m not sorry now. INT: And why is that? S: Then I started to open my eyes, to earn my money, which can be done…. So one day I said that I was going to study. And so I started to learn a little English, but I still haven’t finished…. I have to keep on going for a better future. INT: And so, in what way do you think you have changed? S: …How shall I say? That I have learned more...learned more in every sense…. For example,… formerly, my husband used to say to me that I was worthless. He said that who was going to give me work?... He said (that), and made me feel bad, and I said, why? And I believed it. Because I didn’t know anybody. No one. So, (I thought) maybe what he is saying is true. It’s like I was that person…. Then I wanted to take it out on someone, too. That would be Clarissa. So I said ‘no’. It’s enough, no more. That I had to find help. So that is when I started to look for help…. So I started,…[Clarissa] received (treatment), I received…. From then on, my life began to change, to come out of that hole where I was stuck. And from then on I said, ‘no.’ That I wasn’t going to feel bad, no matter what he said…. So when he says something to me, before, I couldn’t say anything. It was like I was afraid of him…. So and now he says something to me, and I answer back. 21

22. Sophia34 year-old Mexican mother of three S: He doesn’t like it; sometimes when he sees me reading a book, he’ll say, “Stop reading those books!”, and sometimes he throws, them. Yes! [laughing] INT: Wow. S: Yes, really. So when I am bored I start to read a book and XX or on the train, when I go to buy things, I read my book on the train, even if it’s just for a little while. INT: Mmhm, I love to read. You go into another world. S: Mmhm! You go away from here, and he doesn’t like it. Recently he started rummaging through the apartment and threw away a lot of books. INT: He got angry? S: Here I am, buying books and he, throwing away my books, Aisha! [Laughing] 22

23. Marcella32 year-old Dominican mother of three Int: What do you think Felipe needs to learn to do well in life or to succeed in life? M: He just needs to have a good understanding of himself. When he has that, he will have everything else he needs, because, mostly, when, I don’t even know how to explain it, but, I feel when people don’t know themselves, when they don’t know what they’re capable of, or what they want, they tend to get lost in life more easier than a kid that’s focused and know what he wants, more aware and focused on themselves, instead of focusing on the world and “Oh, I need a pair of new sneakers,” and “Oh, I need a pair of this hats because it’s in style.” I would rather have him understand himself and be able to comprehend simple things, like, not to pay attention so much to what people say and so much of what other people think…what he thinks of himself and what he wants from himself. 23

24. Constructive-Developmental Theory Robert Kegan, In Over Our Heads (1994) Two Kinds of Learning vs. Informative Transformative 3rd Order “The Socialized Mind” 4th Order “The Self-Authoring Mind” 5th Order “The Self-Transforming Mind” Dependent Thinking 58% of American adults are below the 4th Order. Independent Thinking 35% of American adults are at the 4th Order. Interdependent Thinking Less than 1% of American adults are at the 5th Order. Peter W. Pruyn, pwp478@mail.harvard.edu http://developmentalobserver.blog.com