Stressful Life Events, School Adjustment and Life Satisfaction of Im-migrant and Non-Immigrant High School Students in Cyprus

Abstract

Immigrants constitute a large proportion of Cyprus’ population; however, little is known about immigrant adolescents. This cross-sectional study, explored immigrant and non-immigrant high school adolescents’ level of life satisfaction and school adjustment in rela-tion to psychological trauma. 253 high school students with an average age of 14.3 (SD=0.9), completed a self-report questionnaire. Data was analyzed using analysis of vari-ance and correlation tests. Results indicated that first-generation immigrant adolescents, experienced significantly more stressful life events than non-immigrant adolescents. How-ever, despite this finding, no significant differences between the three groups of students with regard to school-related interpersonal and intrapersonal outcomes were detected. In-crease in level of life satisfaction was evident in a similar way among the three groups. However, second-generation immigrants expressed significantly lower levels of expected life satisfaction (future life satisfaction) than non-immigrant students. These results, aid in understanding non-immigrant and immigrant adolescents’ mental health and well-being and can help develop more effective education policies and student-centered school-based interventions.