Healthy adulthood despite adverse childhood : what helps migrant children to adapt, thrive and succeed

Abstract

This research focuses on the protective factors people adopted when they were younger in order to cope with childhood migration. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather the views of six participants on what protective factors they found most helpful to cope in a new country and be resilient. Through thematic analysis, six global themes were developed, together with fourteen sub-themes. The global themes outline the mixed emotions related to leaving country, the changes required to adapt to new country, the adaptation processes, the support to pursue higher education, the successful completion of higher education and settling down as adults. Most of the participants agreed that having to adapt to a new country proved to be quite challenging. However, they all agreed that the support from family and friends helped them in adapting. Furthermore, while some of the participants settled in Malta and did not see themselves living anywhere else, some other participants said that they wished to return to their country of origin now that they grew up. The implications of the findings as well as the limitations of the study were also discussed.