I realize you might be surprised that I started a column for U.S. psychology graduate students in Spanish. But it's important to give you a glimpse of what it might be like to read a message intended for you, but delivered in a different language — as many U.S. patients do. I also want to underscore that it's critical for the next generation to come up with new ways to address the language and cultural gap that is growing in this country.
Translated, my opening lines mean: How are you preparing for the next generation? With the demographic changes in the United States, learning how to work with ethnic-minority and non-English-speaking populations is more important than ever.
Why? According to the U.S. Census:
- The U.S. population will be majority-minority by 2043.
- Ethnic-minority populations are growing at a faster rate than whites.
- Asian-Americans were the fastest growing race/ethnic group in 2012 (up 2.9 percent).
- Hispanics remain the largest ethnic minority group at 53 million.
- Nearly 50 percent of children under age 5 are ethnic minorities.
These population changes will have a significant impact over the course of your future. For those who are interested in clinical practice, there are job opportunities if you can speak a language in addition to English. Even if you don't speak another language, the growth in more diverse populations likely means that you will need to work with an interpreter to assist a client who may not speak English well.
With nearly half of all children under age 5 being ethnic minority, in 13 years, the population entering college might be substantially more diverse. For those of you who are interested in academia, the freshman class of 2027 may have significantly higher numbers of ethnic-minority freshmen. Researchers who need federal grants may be required to demonstrate broader impacts of their projects, and one criterion used to evaluate such impacts by the National Science Foundation is broadening participation of underrepresented groups.
So thinking ahead, how can you prepare yourself for the demographic changes?
Be aware
Learn about the rich diversity of your local community by attending cultural events and exposing yourself to different groups. It's also critical to understand the language differences. For example, there are seven states where Spanish is not the most common non-English language spoken: Indigenous languages are the primary tongue after English in Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Bosnian is the second most common language in Vermont and Somali is in Maine.
Prepare
If you have time, take a class or two in a foreign language at your graduate program. I audited a Spanish class while I was in grad school and it greatly improved my ability to converse and conjugate verbs. You might also benefit from a course on research with diverse populations. Everyone can benefit from learning about the impact of microaggressions and being mindful in our communications.
Mentor
The psychology field doesn't have enough diversity among psychologists, so it could be valuable if we all reached out to mentor undergraduates and graduate students of diverse backgrounds. Being a mentor could also help you learn about diversity from conversations and connections with your mentee. Talk to faculty or supervisors about working with ethnic minority or non-English-speaking populations. If you can't find those opportunities in your graduate program, look for them at APA or through conferences. APA has a rich series of programming in working with diverse populations, and APAGS sponsors several programs each year that address this issue from a student perspective.
The demand for people who can effectively communicate in other languages will inevitably grow. Being prepared to work with diverse populations is a great skill for you to have as you search for a job as well as serve an important role for our field.