Adolescenti immigrati e vulnerabilità: fragilità, patologie e comportamenti a rischio prima, durante e dopo la migrazione

Referring to international studies and to interviews and discussions conducted in Italy as part of some research projects, this contribution intends to propose a path that, retracing the three phases of migration (pre-migratory, migratory and post-migratory) focuses on the elements of risk that can facilitate the emergence of pathological conditions and physical or mental illness in immigrants, especially if they are adolescents. In particular, the elements of vulnerability inherent in the acculturation process and the opposing roles exercised by the family and peer group will be studied in depth. The path proposed here intends to reiterate the need for a systemic and global vision of the situations of fragility involving immigrant children and adolescents, which are characterized by a complexity of intertwining and dynamics in which the traumas of the past are linked and related to the difficulties of the present and to the prospects for the future that are not always optimistic.