The social psychological adjustment of migrant and non-migrant Puerto Rican adolescents
Prewitt Diaz, J.O.; Seilhamer, E.S.
Migration World Magazine 15(2): 7-11
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 1058-5095 PMID: 12341276 Document Number: 348697
The great migration of Puerto Ricans to the US occurred during the 1950s, when there was promise of employment in the US. Migration decreased in the 1960s when the promise of employment decreased. Many Puerto Ricans returned to the island during the 1960s and 1970s because they could not find work on the mainland; return migration has continued for the last 12 years. The migrant student population in Puerto Rico is composed of migrants, return migrants, and circulatory migrants. The circulatory migrants are those children of Puerto Rican parents who have traveled to and from the island to the mainland several times; these migrants are not served by either educational system. A program that serves the circulatory migrant students is the Puerto Rico Migrant Education Program. 3 factors influence return migration: 1) the shorter the distance of emigration, the higher the incidence of return migration; 2) the longer the emigrants stay away, the less chance they will return; and 3) changes in the economic balance between the place of origin and the place of destination directly affect the volume of return migration. A source of conflict in the adjustment of Puerto Rican return migrants is the difference in cultural values of the 2 settings in which the return migrant student has to live. This study of 273 students shows that there were differences between nonmigrants and circulatory migrants in reading achievement. There were a large number of young people with serious reading problems in their primary school language (English) and the 2nd language (Spanish). A negative relationship between physical adjustment and reading achievement suggests that achievement in reading will increase as soon as the physical adjustment takes place.