Abstract
The United States is home to over a million former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants, yet literature on their familial dynamics and mental health and well-being is scarce. Following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, this scoping review synthesizes literature since 1990 about FSU immigrants’ acculturation and well-being across 10 databases. The scoping review included 39 studies. The selected articles revealed three themes: (a) maintaining cultural and ethnic identity across generations during acculturation, (b) generational differences in navigating acculturation challenges, and (c) mental health challenges among FSU immigrants. Differences in managing immigration and acculturation events were noted across generations and genders. FSU immigrants face unique acculturation challenges. Future research should explore gender-based violence, mental health, relationship between economic progress and acculturative stress, and more comprehensive adaptation strategies to improve their socioeconomic, emotional, and relational well-being.
Keywords
Introduction
In 2023, about 47.8 million United States residents were born in countries other than the United States, accounting for over 14% of the country’s overall population (Pew Research Center, 2024; U.S. Census Bureau, 2023). About one million of these immigrants are from the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU; Hoffman, 2012). As newer and more heterogeneous sub-populations of immigrants like those from the FSU settle in the United States, institutions such as the social work profession face challenges to assist with the integration of these groups so they can flourish. FSU immigrants tend to be a relatively more recent and less-studied sub-population among all immigrants, with an increasing presence in U.S. cities.
A scoping review of the adaptation experiences of the FSU immigrant sub-population is a valuable exercise as this group continues to increase and mature and put new demands on social work to develop responsive programming. It is also a sub-population that merits attention from the viewpoint of the comparative understanding of assimilation and acculturation, as FSU immigrants comprise a variety of ethnic sub-groups, some of whom are ethnically white (e.g., Russians and Ukrainians), and some are ethnically Central Asian (e.g., Kazakhstanis, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks) or from the Caucasus region (e.g., Georgians, Azeris).
The literature on segmented assimilation suggests that white immigrants have the privilege to “fade to white” over time, depending on the co-ethnic resources and ability to overcome linguistic isolation, while the non-white immigrants do not have this privilege and may face prejudice and discrimination in their adaptation process, potentially restricting their access to segments of U.S. society characterized by higher educational attainment for children, higher income, better health, and other related indicators. FSU populations may provide insights to deepen perspectives into segmented assimilation theory because this is a population characterized with high levels of human capital but variation in racialization (e.g., both European and Central Asian populations) and religiosity (e.g., both Christian and Muslim). FSU populations have the potential to contribute to testing debates about the relative strength of culture as a positive factor for co-ethnic communities (e.g., ethnic enclaves) and discrimination in the context of reception and acculturation. This scoping review is thus intended to contribute to understanding the current state of research on these issues for the FSU sub-population and to the cumulative understanding of similarities and differences in adaptation across the spectrum of countries and cultures of origin that make up the U.S. immigrant population. The scoping review aims to support social workers’ capacity to respond to this sub-population specifically by helping to guide further research and inform case management choices in terms of referrals for multiple areas of concern including treatment for adjustment reactions, education, financial capability, and welcoming initiatives to directly address community-level discrimination and policy. This framework aligns with the person and family in environment concept of central importance to social work.
With these high-level objectives in mind, this study reviews the recent literature on the acculturation challenges of immigrants from the FSU in the United States. The United States is home to more than a million FSU immigrants (Hoffman, 2012), with more than 600,000 individuals born in the FSU granted permanent residency in the United States between 1970 and 2000 (Mehta & Elo, 12012). The dissolution of the USSR resulted in 15 independent countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, which are broadly referred to here as the FSU (Kostareva et al., 2022). The war in Ukraine and political revolutions in other FSU countries like Kyrgyzstan are continuing to fuel new waves of FSU immigrants to the United States.
The FSU immigrant population shares a common heritage of inherited Soviet institutions including strong educational systems, and the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on economic, social, and political stability, yet is also heterogeneous, consisting of a wide variety of ethnic, geopolitical, linguistic, and nationalistic identities (Ingram, 2001; Kostareva et al., 2020). An estimated one million people from the FSU population speak Russian at home, and close to a quarter of those report low English language skills (Ryan, 2013; as cited in the article by Kostareva et al., 2020). A smaller number speak other ethnic languages like Uzbek, Kyrgyz, and Kazakh.
FSU immigrants who migrate to the United States tend to have higher educational backgrounds than U.S.-born whites, although they tend to face harsher economic, physical, and mental health outcomes (Kostareva et al., 2020; Landa et al., 2015; Mehta & Elo, 2012). In the United States, FSU immigrants tend to earn substantially less than other European immigrants (Chiswick, 1993), with FSU women especially experiencing less economic stability than other European immigrants (Logan & Rivera Drew, 2011). FSU immigrants tend to have higher education but also higher disability rates in comparison to U.S.-born whites, particularly in relation to non-alcohol or smoking-related diseases, possibly due to impacts of childhood malnutrition or exposure to infectious disease, coupled by linguistic or cultural differences in health care norms (Mehta & Elo, 2012). There is evidence that mental health challenges are a significant challenge for this group. According to Landa et al. (2015), roughly 26.5% of FSU immigrants qualify for clinical diagnosis of a major depressive disorder without seeking or receiving treatment.
Research from other countries suggests that gendered employment issues, alcohol abuse, and domestic violence are salient issues for family well-being in FSU immigrant populations (Childress, Shrestha, Russ, Berge, et al., 2024; Childress, Shrestha, Russ, Feinberg, et al., 2024). For example, a study among professional, heterosexual, immigrant Jewish women from the FSU living in Canada found that while migration facilitated access to education and jobs, it also resulted in greater subordination at work and home where the women faced more responsibilities than premigration (Morgenshtern, 2019). A comparative study between immigrant women from FSU and native-born Israeli women found that membership in the immigrant group contributed to the frequency of domestic violence (Refaeli et al., 2019). Another study found that FSU immigrant women were threatened more frequently with expulsion from Israel, and their partners were intoxicated by alcohol more often than the partners of Israeli-born women (Tartakovsky & Mezhibovsky, 2012).
This scoping review aims to collect, synthesize, and present available research on FSU familial dynamics and adolescent well-being upon arrival to the United States across several native national contexts to clarify themes for improving service delivery and mental health outcomes among this population and to outline potential areas for further research, including potential lines of inquiry comparing this sub-population with other immigrant sub-populations.
Theoretical Framework
This scoping review is situated at the intersection of the understanding of individual and family well-being and the study of immigrant adaptation, acculturation, and assimilation. To ground the review in a theoretical framework relevant for this intersection of research fields, it refers to the life course health-development perspective (Halfon et al., 2014; Halfon & Forrest, 2018; Halfon & Hochstein, 2002; McGoldrick et al., 2016), the theory of acculturation (Berry, 2008), and the theory of segmented assimilation (Portes, 1997; Portes & Zhou, 1993). These theories help to both focus (on specific elements of the immigrant experience) and to widen (on important contextual factors) the inquiry about the emphases and potential gaps in the current literature on FSU immigration and family well-being in the United States. The U.S. social work practice may benefit from this scoping review as the profession widens its aperture on the immigrant sub-populations’ growing presence in U.S. domestic life. Social work textbooks used widely in the United States, for example, have been criticized for containing minimal discussion on relevant and culturally competent frameworks for interventions with immigrant populations and for their failure to differentiate interventions that may need to be designed especially for immigrants (Lee & Hernandez, 2009) and the influence of host-country or ethnic enclave institutions on immigrant groups (Lee & Hernandez, 2009).
Life Course Perspective
A life course perspective is useful for understanding the adaptation, acculturation, and assimilation experiences and resourcefulness of FSU immigrants in the U.S., given that it is the “hope for a better life,” especially for children, that predominantly motivates migration. The lifespan development perspective (Baltes, 1987) holds that development is a lifelong and multidimensional process that involves the joint occurrence of growth and loss within a nested set of contexts including family, neighborhood, society, and world. The plasticity and within-person modifiability of individuals can be impacted at any age by positive or negative experiences (Baltes, 1987). The cohort experience of each generation is influenced by the social and political context of their era, with transition points being especially important because of challenging tasks that offer opportunities for adaptation and growth (McGoldrick et al., 2016).
The Life Course Health Development approach (Halfon et al., 2014; Halfon & Hochstein, 2002) attempts to synthesize all these perspectives into a unifying approach that regards health itself as an emergent, dynamic, developmental process that continues throughout the lifespan. A person’s health and well-being result from complex adaptive relational interactions between biology, behaviors, and social-ecological conditions. Humans are designed to adapt to circumstances purposefully and continuously as their family, community, social, economic, cultural, and political environments change. Immigration is a sudden and multi-dimensional life course transition that requires maximal adaptive capabilities of the individual if health trajectories are to benefit and poses unique challenges that may prevent successful adaptation.
The current study uses the life course health development approach in the context of the adaptation, acculturation, and assimilation experiences of FSU immigrants to understand how this changing social ecology has impacted their lives in the host country. The transition may be experienced quite differently by different age cohorts and gender groups depending on a multitude of risk and protective factors within the cohort’s environment, which may lead to significant lifespan differentiation in health outcomes following the transition, in this case, the transition of immigration and acculturation events. Much of the literature on acculturation and assimilation is focused on adolescents and children, whose life courses are most open to new influences from the host-country institutions.
Theories of Acculturation, Adaptation, and Assimilation
The life course health development approach combines naturally and logically with current theoretical understandings of acculturation, adaptation, and assimilation. The concept of acculturation is at the heart of understanding the adaptation of immigrants to the host country, referring to the ways individuals change and adapt as a result of longer-term, continuous contact with a new culture (Ward & Geeraert, 2016). One of the most seminal frameworks of acculturation is Berry’s (2008) two-dimensional model, which situates individuals’ acculturative process along one dimension of orientation to the new, majority culture and another dimension of orientation toward the heritage culture. This framework emphasizes individual variation and the need to understand nested contexts as individuals carry out their life courses within communities and institutions with varying policies and responses to immigration and immigrants (Berry, 2008).
Theoretical developments building on Berry emphasize the integration of acculturation and human development frameworks, particularly for understanding the experiences of immigrant children, which directly connects the acculturation and life course health development perspectives. Motti-Stefanidi and colleagues (2012) provide an explicit development model that integrates acculturation and social psychological principles, highlighting that acculturative and developmental tasks are intertwined for immigrant children. Their model suggests that analysis should take into account individual, interactive, and societal levels of acculturative and developmental tasks. The integrative risk and resilience model (IRR) provides a systematic account of immigrant adaptation focused on children and youth, organized around four nested levels of influence—individual (e.g., social positioning characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and legal status); microsystems (e.g., family, school, peer groups); social-political systems (e.g., national attitudes and policies regarding immigration); and global forces (e.g., climate change, poverty, conflict on a transnational level) (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2018). While theories of acculturation are powerful general explanations of the processes that immigrants undergo in adapting to new host-country circumstances, these theories are not formulated to explain the specific adaptation, acculturation, and assimilation patterns observed in the U.S. context. For this specific theoretical grounding, we incorporate segmented assimilation theory into our framework.
Segmented Assimilation Theory
Segmented assimilation theory, formulated by Alejandro Portes and his collaborators and empirically expanded by Portes and Ruben Rumbaut (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Portes & Zhou, 1993), posits three distinct patterns of immigrant assimilation that reflect the stratified nature of U.S. society. The first path aligns with classical assimilation and involves integration of new immigrants into the white middle class, characterized by the adoption of mainstream values and the relinquishment of ethnic values. In this path, European immigrants, such as the wave of Italian immigrants in the early 20th century, tend to “fade to white.” The second path, in which new immigrants assimilate into disadvantaged urban minority populations, leads to downward assimilation into an urban underclass, marked by poverty and opposition to middle-class norms (Gans, 1992; Portes et al., 2005). The third path, selective acculturation, involves economic and educational advancement while preserving ethnic values, which can protect against the challenges of poor, segregated neighborhoods where many immigrant families initially settle (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001; Zhou, 1997). Segmented assimilation theory emphasizes that varied outcomes occur for the second generation, influenced by factors such as human capital, locational factors, modes of incorporation, and family structure, with acculturation patterns between parents and children playing a critical role (Bankston & Zhou, 1997; Portes & Zhou, 1993). This framework suggests that maintaining cultural ties can offer protective benefits against adversarial youth cultures prevalent in disadvantaged areas (Hirschman, 2001; Waldinger, 2001) and highlights the importance of selective acculturation for successful integration (Farley & Alba, 2002; Rong & Brown, 2001; St-Hilaire, 2002).
This review’s framing of the FSU immigrants’ experience through a combination of the life course development perspective, understandings of acculturation as a nested process, and segmented assimilation theory as an explanation of differentiation in pathways of the immigrant experience in the United States provide the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of the current study. The diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds of FSU immigrants who share generally similar levels of education, pre-migration economic status, and a similar legacy of post-Soviet institutions make them an interesting and increasingly visible sub-population in U.S. cities and of particular interest for social work research for the insights their experiences hold for understanding pathways to successful integration. The findings of the review will ultimately contribute toward the development of culturally sensitive interventions to promote positive health outcomes. By reviewing the main findings of research to date on this population’s adaptation pathways and areas for further inquiry, policy attention, and programmatic development, the study aims to support better understandings of the FSU immigrant population needs across diverse intervention areas for social work including mental health and trauma, economic stability and access to services, legal and advocacy support, child welfare and education, health care access, and community building and social support.
Method
The study methodology follows Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework that maps existing research on acculturative challenges and opportunities to improve psychosocial well-being among FSU immigrants in the United States using life course and acculturation theories. The framework consists of five stages: (a) identifying the research question, (b) identifying relevant studies, (c) selecting studies, (d) charting the data, and (e) collating, summarizing, and reporting results.
Stage 1: Identifying the Research Question
Formulating our research question involved collaborative discussion among members of our research team comprising researchers with regional and substantive expertise on family health and development, immigrants and refugee populations in high-income settings, and library sciences. Through iterative deliberations, we developed a framework for a search strategy to answer the following research question: What are the acculturative challenges and opportunities for improving well-being among FSU immigrants in North America, including those with a history of domestic violence, adverse childhood experiences, or mental health issues?
Stage 2: Identifying Relevant Studies
Databases and Search Strategy
Based on the target population and themes of the scoping review, we first carried out a preliminary literature review to narrow the search terms. The search strategy consisted of two stages. The first stage was a systematic literature search conducted in the following electronic databases: APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, EBSCO, Family Studies Abstracts, MEDLINE, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, Social Service Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts, and Web of Science (see Table 1).
Search Strategy.
The second stage consisted of exploring other sources, such as the Open Knowledge Repository, reference lists of selected articles in the first stage, relevant experts in the field, and other articles by authors of the selected articles. The search was exported to Covidence to remove duplicates and to begin the process of screening abstracts and data coding. The PRISMA flow diagram in Figure 1 presents the process of selection.
Selection Process—PRISMA Diagram.
Study Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
We searched peer-reviewed studies presenting empirical findings published since 1990. 1 We focused on the population of immigrants from FSU countries resettled in the United States (see Table 1 for countries of origin). Included studies examined outcomes related to child and family psychosocial well-being (e.g., mental and behavioral health, experiences of maltreatment, abuse, and acculturation). For inclusion, articles had to meet the following criteria: (a) presenting data on child, adolescent, or family-related psychosocial well-being and acculturation; (b) settings in the United States; and (c) published in English from 1990 to the present. Eligible study designs included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies. Only completed works were included; unpublished works (i.e., theses and dissertations) were excluded. 2
Stage 3: Selecting Studies
Using the three-phase approach by the Joanna Briggs Institute (Peters et al., 2020), we finalized the search strings and criteria. We then used Microsoft Excel to organize and code the articles. During this process, two reviewers independently coded the articles in Covidence using “include,” “exclude,” and “maybe, send to full-text review” using the eligibility criteria. Unresolved discrepancies were discussed at the meeting for consensus coding until the final list of articles was identified. The search for relevant articles identified 4,113 articles after removing duplicates in Covidence. The initial screening of 4113 abstracts resulted in 170 articles for full-text assessment. One hundred thirty-three articles were removed for not focusing on children or family issues resulting in a final tally of 37 articles. Two hand-searched articles were included, which resulted in a final number of 39 articles for the review (see Table 2).
Included Studies
Stage 4: Charting the Data
Two researchers were involved in identifying and categorizing the key concepts, ideas, and patterns as they emerged from the data. Study characteristics and key findings were recorded for each of the studies in a structured format, codes were assigned to meaningful concepts, and themes that reflected the essence of the data were extracted from the grouped codes. We used standardized charting templates encompassing bibliographic details, research information, study aims and methodologies, and predetermined categories.
Stage 5: Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting the Results
During this phase, we prepared a summary of data organized by categories and themes. Themes were developed through a structured, iterative process. Both authors independently identified preliminary themes based on the data, then collaboratively refined these themes to capture overarching patterns. Articles were subsequently grouped by these themes, and any disagreements in theme assignment were resolved through discussion. In the following paragraphs, we present the summary of the characteristics of the included studies (e.g., overall number of the studies included, types of study designs, years of publication, characteristics of the study population), thematic summary of findings that relate the predetermined and emergent categories from the included studies, and the implications of findings for theory, practice, policy, and research.
Results
Study Characteristics
Of the 39 studies, results of the review yielded 30 studies with participants from Russia in varying proportions and 10 studies with participants from FSU, including Russian Federation. Armenia, Belarus, and Ukraine were represented with 7, 11, and 21 studies, respectively, including participants from them. Only two studies dealt with Central Asian immigrants. There were no studies with participants from Estonia. The rest of the FSU countries had minimal representation. The studies focused mostly on adolescents and their acculturative challenges related to school, identity, family dynamics, and cultural brokering (CB). Fourteen studies focused exclusively on adolescents, one study on young adults, and four studies on older adults. Eight studies were dyads with parents and adolescents as participants, and one study was a dyad with older adults with their adult children. The dyad studies were adolescent-adjacent because the focus of the studies was on the relationship of the parents to their children in areas such as generational acculturation gaps, parental expectations from the children, parental concern about passing on the heritage to the new generation, intergenerational tension in the family, parenting styles, and ways to benefit the children through heritage organizational participation. Of the dyads, five studies included both mothers and fathers, one study included adolescents and their mothers, and one study did not separate parents by gender. Studies about adults discussed mental health, economic integration, ethnic identity, and family support. Two studies had samples exclusively consisting of mothers, and seven studies had a women-majority or included women only.
Coding and analysis revealed three central themes in the corps of the 39 studies: (a) maintaining cultural and ethnic identity across generations during acculturation, (b) generational differences in navigating acculturation challenges, and (c) mental health challenges among FSU immigrants.
Theme 1: Maintaining Cultural and Ethnic Identity Across Generations During Acculturation
The review demonstrated that first-generation FSU immigrants place high importance on passing their cultural heritage and ethnic identity to the children through learning at home or through community organizations. There was a likelihood of family conflict when ethnic identity was diluted by the younger generation. This theme had two sub-themes: (a) the importance of maintaining linguistic and ethnic identity for older generations and (b) ethnic identity and acculturation to U.S. institutions across the lifespan.
Sub-Theme 1.1. The Importance of Maintaining Linguistic and Ethnic Identity for Older Generations
A central aspect of maintaining cultural and ethnic identity is the maintenance of language and intra-community ties. A study on the Russian-speaking population of the United States (Yudina et al., 2019) found that the older generation placed a high value on passing the cultural knowledge of their native culture, in particular the Russian language, to the younger generations through culturally relevant vehicles such as literature, film, and observation of traditional holidays. Despite the efforts of the older, first-generation immigrants to impart Russian language knowledge to the younger generation, they found the task challenging because of the widespread use of the English language outside the home and the cultural spheres. Another study on FSU immigrants (Birman, 2006) found that perceived generational gaps in individuals’ self-conception of American identity, American behavior, and the lack of Russian language were associated with greater family discord.
The maintenance of ethnic identity through intra-community ties can be protective for second-generation immigrants. A study on Armenian immigrants (Khachikian, 2019) found that when working-class immigrants sent their children to community organizations to cultivate their children’s ethnic identity, the children gained two types of benefits. First, the community organizations helped foster a positive ethnic identity among children being raised in the United States, and second, these children accessed cultural capital at the community organizations that they later drew on for their educational mobility. Another study on Armenian American youth (Khachikian, 2020) found that cohort peers who did not participate in the community organization had weaker supports yet described their still high educational aspirations as part of an ethnic norm that they strove to achieve. The lack of resources led these learners to compete for recognition from immediate and extended family in exchange for achieving ethnic educational norms.
Sub-Theme 1.2. Ethnic Identity and Acculturation to U.S. Social Institutions Across the Lifespan
The analysis revealed that maintaining ethnic identity in the acculturation process manifested differently for generational cohorts in relation to institutions like marriage and schooling (Bobesky & Mulvaney, 2016). Ukrainians who had acculturated enough to develop self-described American identity were likely to have more liberal attitudes toward divorce and more progressive beliefs about parenting, while higher levels of Ukrainian identity predicted more traditional beliefs about marriage formation and continuance and parenting.
In a study of first-generation FSU refugees who had attended high school in the United States, researchers Trickett and Birman (2005) found that students reported receiving more social support from Russian friends than American friends, even though they developed a greater sense of school belonging when supported by parents and American friends. The low levels of support from American friends likely pushed the adolescents to seek social support from Russian friends, which was in turn associated with lower grade point average (GPA) and more disciplinary infractions. Adolescents reported that the most frequent acculturative challenges were harassment at school such as jokes about Russians, teachers prohibiting the Russian language from being spoken, and discrimination (Vinokurov et al., 2002).
Goulah (2009) found that high school students displayed a multidimensional identity that diminished their internal identification with their home country as a way to resist misunderstanding, ostracism, and other social barriers in their new country. Although participants reported nationalistic superiority over immigrants from other FSU countries and a secular superiority over religious immigrants from FSU countries, they also reported perceived social inferiority to their U.S. peers. Over time, adolescents became more self-identified as American and less as Russian, with this acculturative shift occurring faster for females than males (Trickett & Birman, 2005), a difference which is reported to result in greater intra-family acculturative challenges for girls (Vinokurov et al., 2002). Birman and colleagues (2010) found that for former Russian adolescent Jews, both Russian and Jewish aspects of their ethnic identity were important in predicting family adjustment. The Jewish identity was a significant predictor of school belonging, and the Russian identity was a significant predictor of satisfaction with parents. For Central Asian migrants to the United States, participation in religious activities reinforced their cultural identity, gave them meaning and hope, and helped them navigate the job market in the United States (Zotova, 2018). The religious practices combined with socio-cultural customs brought the ethnic communities together and reinforced their identity.
Theme 2: Generational Differences in Navigating Acculturation Challenges
The second theme that emerged from the review was generational differences in navigating acculturation challenges. Acculturation to the American culture and identity was a complex process for the FSU immigrants and their children. The acculturation gap between the two generations and the resulting family dynamic was a precursor to possible family conflicts. This theme can be broken down into four sub-themes: (a) the first sub-theme emphasizes differences in the pace of acculturation among older and younger generations; (b) the second sub-theme emphasizes the differences in the benefits experienced from bicultural 3 identification; (c) the third sub-theme emphasizes gender differences in the pace of acculturation; and (d) the fourth sub-theme emphasizes generational differences in parenting and expectations of children’s behavior.
Sub-Theme 2.1. Differences in the Pace of Acculturation Among Older and Younger Generations
Acculturation occurs at a different pace for older and younger immigrants. It occurs in a linear pattern over time for most dimensions, with acculturation to American culture increasing and identification with the Russian culture decreasing with length of stay in the country (Birman & Trickett, 2001; Roytburd & Friedlander, 2008). FSU parents held on to Russian language competency despite the length of residence, but for adolescents, time in the United States was negatively associated with the frequency of challenges around the use of the Russian language (Vinokurov et al., 2002) as they became increasingly competent in English. Lower parental English language skills predicted CB by children, and higher levels of brokering were associated with higher levels of child distress and family conflict (Jones et al., 2012). A possible countervailing result, however, is found in a study by Birman and Trickett (2001) where the researchers found that FSU adolescents identified more with the Russian culture than their parents. The explanation for this difference could be that adolescents who faced more discrimination challenges were significantly more acculturated to Russian culture (Roytburd & Friedlander, 2008). Overall, individuals with higher levels of U.S. acculturation reported less acculturative challenges and psychological distress. In contrast, those reporting higher Russian acculturation reported greater acculturative challenges (Vinokurov et al., 2002). However, stronger family relationships partially mediated the link between American acculturation and psychological distress (Birman & Taylor-Ritzler, 2007).
Birman and colleagues (2005) found that FSU immigrants who were dispersed more or less evenly through an entire county’s multicultural neighborhoods and schools acculturated more rapidly to American language, identity, and behavior than immigrants concentrated in geographically small areas of a few neighborhoods and schools. A study examining living arrangements and acculturation conducted by Vinokurov and Trickett (2015) revealed that elderly immigrants from the FSU residing in ethnic clusters within public housing exhibited higher levels of American identity acculturation and engagement, alongside larger social networks that included both American and Russian-speaking individuals with whom they frequently interacted. In comparison to elders living in public housing or independently in dispersed communities, those living with their children demonstrated significantly more favorable social outcomes, particularly in terms of social support, extended family support, and satisfaction, as well as enhanced acculturative results.
Similarly, Liebert (2020) found that Kyrgyz immigrants’ residence in parochialized Russian-speaking neighborhoods, socialization with other FSU immigrants, watching Russian television, listening to Russian radio, and working in a Russian-speaking environment hindered their acculturation and acquisition of English language skills. These Kyrgyz immigrants relied on their co-ethnic networks for information that could be unreliable, limiting their prospects of improving education and job opportunities in the United States, and limiting their mobility to the single ethnic neighborhood.
Sub-Theme 2.2. Benefits of Bicultural Identification
In their study of Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents, Birman and colleagues (2002) found that bicultural (see Note 3) identification could be beneficial to adolescents, but the benefits were context-specific. In contexts that demand acculturation to the American culture such as school and American peers, the adolescents benefited by being American-oriented, while in contexts that require familiarity with Russian culture, such as relationships with parents and Russian peers, they benefited by acculturation to Russian culture. Being acculturated to American identity, while simultaneously maintaining Russian identity, reduced loneliness and increased support from parents. A balance between American identity and Russian language competency predicted a higher GPA for adolescents. A study on community effect on acculturation (Birman et al., 2005) found that in concentrated communities, as an American identity was acquired, Russian identity is displaced, possibly leading to identity conflict. This pattern was not apparent in the dispersed community where FSU youth acquired American identity quickly, but their Russian identity did not diminish over time. The FSU youth could maintain better bicultural association in dispersed communities with a lower concentration of FSU immigrants than in dispersed communities with a higher concentration of FSU immigrants. A study conducted among a highly educated population from the FSU (Jaroszynski, 2024) found that recent immigrants actively sought information about the host culture while simultaneously preserving their heritage culture. Participants indicated that knowledge of the new culture was crucial for their success and well-being, as it mitigated acculturation-related stress, facilitated the development of cultural competency, and fostered a sense of belonging.
Sub-Theme 2.3: Acculturation Pace and Gender Differences
The pace of navigating acculturation challenges across generations influenced gendered family conflict. Among Russian-speaking immigrant couples in the United States (Kisselev et al., 2010), husbands and wives were less satisfied in their marriages when there was language-speaking status inconsistency between the couple with regard to English language acculturation. Couples where husbands scored low on English language acculturation and wives scored higher were likely to be less satisfied with their married lives. FSU females have shown a faster pace of acculturation than males (Trickett & Birman, 2005), and when women acculturate faster, it violates traditional economic gender roles and could lead to less marital satisfaction in FSU couples with inconsistent language acculturation.
A study among 154 middle-aged and older (ages 44–77) couples (Miller et al., 2013) from FSU (Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus) showed that women scored significantly higher on the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression metric than men. Depressed mood was predicted by longer time in the United States, higher scores for immigration challenges and alienation, and lower scores for generativity, marital satisfaction and family communication, and social support. Generativity was measured through the Loyola Generativity Scale (McAdams & de St. Aubin, 1992) in the study, which measured concern for and commitment to providing for the next generation. Gender differences occurred during interaction with generativity, with women showing a stronger negative relationship between generativity and depressed mood than men, suggesting that reduced opportunities to guide the next generation may have been more depressing for women. Higher depression scores were associated with higher demands of immigration, alienation, lower social support, and marital satisfaction.
Sub-Theme 2.4. Generational Gaps in Acculturation Around Parenting and Expectations of Children
The review also showed that FSU mothers believed it was important to enforce responsibilities and restrict some choices if children were to develop independence and self-regulation (Komolova & Lipnitsky, 2018). Mothers expressed concern or implied distrust over their daughters’ ability to make the right choices, which could be a reflection of the “right or wrong” dichotomy that they may have inherited from their traditional upbringing. The concern of parents for their daughters may also be a protective factor. A study on FSU adolescent girls (Jeltova et al., 2005) found that being close to the natal culture was associated with lower risky sexual behavior (RSB) among recent immigrants. A higher level of acculturation to American culture, on the other hand, was associated with increased RSB. The intergenerational discrepancies in views about expectations for children between adolescent girls and their parents and between peers and parents were predictive of RSB.
Vinokurov and colleagues (2002) found that girls were more likely to report family challenges due to acculturation tensions, while Remennick (2007) found that parents expressed difficulty navigating new cultural norms concerning the parent-child dynamic. Many mothers felt a sense of failure as parents when children did not adopt their parents’ beliefs concerning dating or education. The intergenerational gap in acculturation manifested strongly when elderly family members eventually became receivers of care (Remennick, 2007). Elderly family members experienced ostracization from Americanized younger generations, creating a tension that the children of the elders and parents of the youth felt a responsibility to navigate. The parents who were situated as the middle generation between the FSU elders and the Americanized children had to manage a delicate balance between the two generations.
A study on Armenian American immigrants showed that adolescents raised in the United States with cultural traditions of familism emphasized family needs over their own and were more likely to report conformity to parents’ wishes, respect for parental authority, and disclosure to parents about activities (Ghazarian et al., 2008). Familism was also positively associated with self-esteem. A negative association was found between familism and self-derogation. An unexpected finding emerged, however, as conformity to parental expectations was positively associated with self-derogation. These findings may reflect the ambivalence felt by immigrant adolescents who are simultaneously trying to honor and adhere to their family’s cultural traditions while navigating the expectations of the school and peer groups, which emphasize individual goals and desires. For Armenian American adolescents who report higher levels of conformity in their parent-adolescent relationships, this might lead to a sense of conflict with the majority culture, resulting in more negative self-perceptions (Ghazarian et al., 2008). A study conducted by Eckemoff et al. (2018) on elderly female immigrants from FSU and their adult children revealed a pronounced preference for family caregiving among both the elderly women and first-generation children. In contrast, second-generation children exhibited a greater inclination toward non-family care options and were more open to discussions about hospice care within the family context. Similarly, Ermoshkina and de Medeiros (2022) found that elderly Russian women perceived institutionalized care as a betrayal of Soviet cultural values and held the expectation that the younger generation would assume responsibility for the care of senior family members. The elderly participants in the study expressed that while immigrating to the United States had improved their standard of living, it had adversely affected the closeness of intergenerational relationships. A study on Ahiska refugees in the United States found that they strongly believed in glocal adaptation while sticking together (Bal & Arzubiaga, 2014), but having family available in the resettled area was not a guarantee for support (Aroian et al., 1996).
Studies on first-generation FSU immigrants (Jones et al., 2012; Jones & Trickett, 2005) found that almost all adolescents reported CB on behalf of their families. Families that were recent immigrants, with mothers who were less English-language acculturated, had lower job status, and lived in areas with more Russian-speaking families took more help from their children for CB. Higher levels of CB were related to higher adolescent stress, emotional distress, family disagreements, and lower feelings of school membership.
Theme 3: Mental Health Challenges Among FSU Immigrants
Acculturation can significantly influence the mental health of immigrants as they navigate unfamiliar customs and values, which often induces stress. Multiple stressors, including language barriers, employment challenges resulting in financial strain, social isolation due to involuntary separation from families, difficulties in accessing health care, and the struggle to maintain one’s cultural heritage while adapting to a new culture, can contribute to internal conflict and anxiety. The mental health challenges faced by immigrants varied across different contexts.
Depressive symptoms were significantly predicted by acculturative stress beyond the initial years of cultural adjustment for FSU adults who may have resided in the United States for as long as even 20 years (Baker, 2016). Among the older FSU immigrant population, psychological illness was unrecognized, and mental illness was perceived as a lack of inner strength and moral character (Polyakova & Pacquiao, 2006). Mental health was stigmatized, and discussion about it was avoided because there were expectations that individuals would control their mental state (Dolberg et al., 2019; Polyakova & Pacquiao, 2006). Many FSU immigrants familiar with the free health care system and access to care through centralized services could be confused by the non-centralized health insurance and mechanisms to care, leading to health literacy challenges in understanding and applying health care information (Kostareva et al., 2020, 2022). FSU immigrants with language barriers could experience challenges explaining their health needs to providers, leading to under-utilization of health services (Kostareva et al., 2020, 2022).
A study on immigrant mothers from FSU (Schnur et al., 1995) indicated that mothers experiencing acculturative stress were likely to transmit this stress to their children. Access to low-cost child care was found to help mothers cope with stress, and positive relationships with child care staff provided essential support and alleviated feelings of isolation. Furthermore, financial assistance was identified as the most beneficial form of support during the acculturation process (Simon & Brooks, 1983).
For women experiencing domestic abuse, a lack of information regarding U.S. laws and services for battered women, combined with language barriers, hindered their ability to seek help (Crandall et al., 2005). In addition, cultural beliefs that frame domestic violence as a normative aspect of relationships and a private matter led survivors to tolerate violence, further exacerbating mental health challenges. Russian women married to men in the United States often faced conflict due to differing expectations regarding marital roles, with men desiring traditional partnerships, and women seeking more egalitarian relationships, resulting in dissatisfaction and increased tension (Ryabov, 2016). Notably, half of the women in the sample reported being divorced.
Immigrants who relocated to the United States following the Chernobyl disaster experienced ongoing mental distress as they awaited the potential onset of health issues linked to radiation exposure (Foster, 2002). Those living closer to the disaster site (within 150 kilometers) exhibited higher levels of anxiety and posttraumatic stress reactions than those residing further away (beyond 150 kilometers). A lack of accurate information regarding the disaster’s likely effects contributed to pervasive anxiety, as many immigrants believed that illness was inevitable. In addition, older adults living alone were more prone to depression than those residing with others (Tran et al., 2000). Increased functional limitations, a higher prevalence of chronic conditions, and poorer self-reported health were significantly associated with elevated levels of depression.
Discussion
The review updates the understanding of the status and focal areas of research on the acculturation challenges of immigrants from the FSU. The 39 articles yielded by the review’s search suggest that the topic of family psychosocial well-being and acculturation of FSU immigrants, who form a relatively small sub-population of around one million immigrants in the United States, remains relatively lightly studied in the literature. For comparison, multiple reviews of similar topics among the much larger Hispanic/Latina population in the United States are available, with 41 articles included in a review of interpersonal violence (Gonzalez et al., 2020), 30 articles in a review of acculturative stress (Bekteshi & Kang, 2020), and 22 articles in a review of the physical health consequences of acculturation stress (Gonzalez-Guarda et al., 2021). The studies conducted among FSU immigrants were focused mostly on identity conflict due to acculturation. Little has been published about the economic and psychosocial challenges that first-generation FSU immigrants face and their help-seeking behavior. No studies were identified on intimate partner violence, mental health, or patterns of help-seeking by survivors of domestic violence or adverse childhood experiences in this population, all of which would be important future areas of research.
The majority of the studies focused on Russian immigrants, with studies in other FSU countries under-represented. Of the 39 studies included in the review, 30 studies had participants from Russia, the Russian Federation, or FSU. Apart from Armenia, Belarus, and Ukraine, which had samples for 7, 11, and 21 studies, respectively, the remaining FSU countries had minimal or no representation. Only two studies dealt with Central Asian immigrants. Future research that addresses these gaps could help to provide a fuller understanding of the needs of all FSU immigrant sub-populations in the United States. Future researchers and practitioners could fruitfully explore wider issues related to gender violence, mental health, and economic progress of immigrants from all FSU countries to gain a more comprehensive knowledge of FSU immigrants’ adjustment. Further research might also usefully divide FSU immigrant groups into those from European, Caucasus, and Central Asian countries to link them more closely with the cultural and economic comparator populations from other countries in those sub-regions. As the cultural fabric of the U.S. population is increasingly made up of sub-populations from many different regions, countries of origin, and ethnic groups such as those from the FSU, social science policy, research, and practice will need to face the challenge of understanding both the similarities and differences among multiple sub-population groups and their varying pathways of integration with, and separation from, the majority culture.
The results of the review build on the theoretical perspectives provided by combining the life course health development perspective, theories of acculturation, and segmented assimilation theory. The results enrich these perspectives by deepening the understanding of the ways in which immigration and subsequent adaptations shift the life course trajectory for different age and gender cohorts of immigrants from the FSU, mediated through a nested set of environmental variables at the individual, microsystem, societal, and global levels. The results reinforce the models’ perspectives on differentiated processes for older and younger cohorts and for male and female immigrants, as older cohorts maintain a stronger orientation to the heritage culture, in which children and youth face the intertwined challenges of acculturation and identity formation, typically with greater orientation to the majority and bicultural orientations. The paucity of research on Central Asian group means that it is not possible to draw conclusions from the review about differentiation of the non-white sub-groups. This comparison could become a valuable avenue of new research.
The FSU review results confirm the perspective of acculturation theory and segmented development perspectives that immigration creates additional stressors for both parents and children with mental health implications in both the directions of risk and resilience (Eggerth & Flynn, 2020; Levitt et al., 2005; Pumariega & Rothe, 2010; Rogers-Sirin et al., 2013). The three major themes that emerge from the review—“Maintaining Cultural and Ethnic Identity Across Generations,” “Generational Differences in Navigating Acculturation Challenges,” and “Mental Health Challenges among FSU Immigrants”—all confirm the perspectives of life course health development theory (Halfon & Hochstein, 2002), acculturation theory, and segmented assimilation theory. All three themes elucidate differences in the management of the transitional life events of immigration and acculturation across generational and gender cohorts. They support the ideas of acculturation theory that the maintenance of the heritage culture in the private domain and older generations’ predominant role in the private domain can be associated with both positive well-being and new sources of stress for both older and younger immigrants. They support the idea of segmented assimilation theory that a strong ethnic identity may be a protective factor to insulate immigrants from social risks and provide a safe basis for the new generation’s assimilation into the dominant culture.
Nevertheless, the maintenance of the heritage culture by older generations can have both positive and negative consequences for mental health for both older and younger generations. Participation in community organizations resulted in the development of ethnic identity and cultural capital through networking with cohort peers that many adolescents utilized to advance academic opportunities. Family support to maintain bicultural identification and participation in community organizations appears to mediate the risks associated with acculturation. However, high dependency on heritage culture in parochialized Kyrgyz immigrant communities (Liebert, 2020), for example, or among older FSU women (Miller et al., 2013) was found to have negative associations with adaptation and well-being. Taken cumulatively, these findings suggest that finding the “best of both worlds” in terms of heritage and majority cultural orientation at different points in the life course is important for health and well-being, but that balance is highly dynamic and dependent on contextual variables.
These results provide both similarities and contrasts to findings about other immigrant populations. A review of emotional and behavioral problems in migrant children and adolescents from multiple countries of origin (Kouider et al., 2015) reported that the development stage in migrant children is more vulnerable to mental health risks than native children because of the challenges around navigating the intertwined acculturative and development tasks needed to establish personal identity. The results of the FSU review are largely consistent with these findings.
In a scoping review of acculturative stress among Latino immigrants (Bekteshi & Kang, 2020), discrimination, family separation, fear of deportation, being female, family cultural conflict, and ethnic enclave pressures were found to be risk factors for acculturative stress. Among all groups of immigrants, there were similarities in acculturative stressors related to cultural heritage, conflict between individualism and collectivism, poor English language skills, and ethnic pressures (Childress, Shrestha, Covington, et al., 2024; Childress, Shrestha, Seff, et al., 2024). The FSU review has some commonalities with the review by Bekteshi and Kang (2020), but discrimination, fear of deportation, and immigration status are not salient issues in the FSU result. It is possible that the combination of whiteness and higher education has insulated white FSU immigrants from these risks. More empirical work across immigrant sub-populations from different countries of origin is needed to disentangle the effects of different variables on the causes of, and adaptation to, acculturative stress.
Building on life-course health development, acculturation, and segmented assimilation theories, the review’s results reinforce studies reporting the pivotal importance of a homeplace that elicits feelings of belonging, commitment, and rootedness for individuals and families for their well-being throughout the family life course (Burton et al., 2004; McGoldrick et al., 2016). The sense of belonging is important for immigrant families who are denied it by the dominant culture and must find ways to re-create their sense of belonging from a heritage culture while nested in a new cultural context (McGoldrick et al., 2016). Hale (2001) asserts that the feeling of not belonging, uprootedness, and stunted social support could impact the life cycle trajectories and result in adolescents who lack the determination to hold off premature sexual activity and substance abuse. This review found that adolescent girls’ close association with the heritage culture was associated with lower RSB, likely due to higher degrees of social support received from the family or a greater sense of belonging with the community.
Implications for Policy, Practice, and Research
This review suggests several implications for policy and practice. The first implication is the critical role of schools for children and youth to navigate the intertwined challenges of development and acculturation. School-based language acquisition, sense of belonging, and positive peer group identification appear to be major contextual factors for positive adaptation. However, school personnel also need to be conscious of the greater heritage orientation of many immigrant parents and the potential stresses on immigrant students as they navigate different cultural contexts between home and school.
The results suggest that social workers could benefit by the application of culturally appropriate interventions such as family-centered interventions involving family members and especially older adult members, whenever possible, and that respecting their authority and involving them in decision-making processes may yield the best outcome. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and community-based support groups could be utilized as approaches to share experiences, develop coping mechanisms, and build a sense of community. Community organizations are seen in the review as important institutions to support immigrants’ acculturation. Beyond the benefits of heritage culture and language maintenance, mutual support, and networking they provide, community organizations could be strengthened to provide social services such as gender equality and (co)-parenting training (Feinberg et al., 2021) for first-generation FSU immigrants in their native languages. Social workers could beneficially use individuals who are bilingual and culturally competent as mediators to bridge the communication gap. These organizations could usefully offer counseling services to resolve intergenerational discord due to acculturation gaps. Community organizations can provide entry points for service providers to connect with immigrant populations and to become sensitized about the continuing acculturative challenges that different generations face and the age-graded support systems that could benefit the population.
Schools, community organizations, and other points of contact such as health providers can also be strengthened to provide information and awareness about multi-generational issues in acculturation. FSU immigrants, like other groups, may experience a lack of trust and stigma around connecting with mental health and social service professionals (Leipzig, 2006). Given the emphasis placed on informal support networks (Rose, 1998), the FSU immigrant families could be referred to community centers founded by immigrants for early counseling and interventions. Informing parents and children of the likely challenges ahead due to acculturative stress and the challenges of creating a healthy bicultural and intersectional orientation and the provision of evidence-based methods to approach the challenges could benefit parents and children in maintaining cohesion while facing possible family discords. Social workers could potentially help to improve outcomes by guiding FSU immigrants who are unfamiliar with the non-centralized U.S. health system to understand the concepts of health insurance, insurance benefits, and associated insurance terminology so that they have greater access and utilization of care. Social workers also have a role to play in advocacy for policies that address the systemic barriers faced by FSU immigrants such as access to health care, education, and employment.
Limitations
It is important to note that, due to limitations of time and resources, this review did not comprehensively examine gray literature in its entirety. Future studies should explore this body of work to provide an updated and more exhaustive analysis of the subject. Including gray literature in subsequent reviews may uncover additional insights and further strengthen the findings of this study. Furthermore, as the understanding of gender diversity continues to evolve, it will be important to explore how different gender identities experience immigration-related stressors, mental health challenges, and acculturation processes. We recommend that future studies aim to be more inclusive of all gender identities to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the immigrant experience.
Conclusion
This review expanded and updated the scope of the field’s current understanding of the acculturation and development challenges of immigrants from the FSU, with the aim of generating a more targeted research and policy agenda for improving social outcomes among this sub-population in the United States. This study of immigrants from FSU can help social workers gain a deeper understanding of cultural diversity and nuances, trauma-informed care, resilience, communication, and social determinants of health in an under-studied population so that they can be provided more effective and culturally competent interventions and service. The review may be useful for social workers, researchers, and practitioners in making referrals to treatment for adjustment challenges related to education, employment, and financial capability and to help address community-level discrimination and policy. The results reinforced that life course theory, acculturation theory, and segmented assimilation theory together offer a valuable perspective on FSU adaptation and the complex interaction among children and families, heritage and host cultures, and the new institutions of the host culture. Culturally informed service provision with an understanding of the differing life-course development implications of this transition for different age groups and genders may help to improve well-being and life course outcomes (Halfon et al., 2022). Schools and community organizations emerge from the review as critical locations to support positive assimilation pathways.
The findings of this review can be applied to population sub-groups who were not represented in this scoping review because of their shared historical traumas, forced displacement, and political persecution. Understanding the cultural sensitivity, experiences, and resilience strategies of FSU immigrants can provide a framework for understanding the challenges faced by the smaller ethnic groups and offer lessons and interventions for these groups. While some of these themes are specific to adolescents and older generations of immigrants from the FSU, many of them are relevant for all immigrant groups and may have major implications for their health development across the life course. These themes also point to a need for more proactive work on adaptive acculturation for immigrant youth, with special consideration for optimizing health and well-being during adolescence and laying the foundation for a healthy life in the long term in America. In addition, targeted support to adult immigrants which prioritizes language, community connections, employment opportunities, and improved access to mental health services such as family counseling for both men and women through culturally informed modalities would also be beneficial.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge J. Morgan Rowe-Morris at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries for assistance during the revision process.
Disposition editor: Cristina Mogro-Wilson
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this article was also supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number K01HD106070. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
This project is/was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under award UA6MC32492, the Life Course Intervention Research Network, and award U9DMC49250, The Life Course Translational Research Network. The information, content and/or conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
