This address, based on 10 years of clinical and research experience with immigrant children and their families, discusses the fundamental information that both clinicians and researchers interested in the experiences of immigrant adolescent girls should consider. The various stresses of immigration are detailed, as are the factors that may significantly attenuate the response to the transitions and stress of immigration. Recent research efforts involve collecting data from a variety of sources including structured interviews of immigrant children and adolescents, their teachers and parents; ethnographic fieldwork in the schools and neighborhoods; psychological measures; and school records and achievement tests. While each of these data sets provide important information on their own, it is maintained that by combining the data and exploring points of convergence and points of divergence, it is possible to address more systematically and more thoroughly the changing experiences of immigrant youth. The model advocated attempts to capture the complexities of changing adaptations by connecting data. The objective is to generate high quality data to develop theoretically robust models, and to delineate how different players involved in the lives of immigrant children come to view their adaptations. (Contains 72 references.) (GCP)