Andrés J. Consoli of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School was awarded seed grant funding by the Chicano Studies Institute (CSI) for his project “Mexican/Mexican American Siblings: The Role of Undocumented Immigration Status on the Sibling Relationship.”
Dr. Consoli is working with graduate student Ana Romero Morales on this project. Their work is on the 4.4 million undocumented children and young adults under the age of 30 in the U.S., the largest group being Mexican nationals. These youths are part of the 16.6 million individuals that belong to a mixed status family, which includes mixed status siblings (i.e., U.S. citizen sibling and undocumented siblings). Research underscores the vulnerabilities and fears experienced by undocumented youth. The varied legal status found in mixed status sibling relationships can be an additional stressor or, potentially, a protective factor that can buffer the challenges of being undocumented. The aim of their qualitative study is to appreciate some of the complexities in the lived experiences of undocumented youth who have at least one U.S. citizen siblings. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to explore how immigration status affects the relationship of mixed-status sibling and family dynamics from the perspective of the undocumented sibling. Using thematic analysis and with the support of the CSI grant, the interviews will be coded, analyzed, and turned into presentations for community dissemination and a manuscript for submission to a pertinent journal. The findings will also inform a future project by Consoli and Morales.
Andrés J. Consoli is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dr. Consoli received a licenciatura degree in clinical psychology at the Universidad de Belgrano, a Masters and doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and postdoctoral training in behavioral medicine in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is licensed as a psychologist in California. Consoli is past president of the Interamerican Society of Psychology, past president of the Western Association of Counselor Education and Supervision, and member-at-large of APA’s Division 52: International Psychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Consoli served on NLPA’s executive board before (2001-2007), managing NLPA’s first listserv for five years, and chairing NLPA’s first awards committee. Dr. Consoli’s professional and research interests involve transnational collaborations, multicultural supervision, psychotherapy integration and training, systematic treatment selection, values in psychotherapy, access and utilization of mental health services within a social justice framework, and the development of a bilingual mental health workforce.