Psychological and social adjustment in refugee adolescents: The role of parents’ and adolescents’ friendships

Navigating Across Heritage and Destination Cultures: How Personal Identity and Social Identification Processes Relate to Domain-Specific Acculturation Orientations in Adolescence

Personal identity and social identification processes can be challenging for adolescents belonging to an ethnic minority, who have to cope with the acculturation task of navigating several (and often conflictual) alternatives put forth by their cultural heritage community and destination society. Because identity and acculturation tasks are embedded in core domains of adolescents' life, this three-wave longitudinal study with ethnic minority adolescents (N = 244, 43.4% male; Mage = 14.9) examined how personal identity processes and social identifications are related to acculturation orientations in the education and friendship domains. Results of traditional cross-lagged models showed that, in the educational domain, adolescents who scored higher on cultural heritage maintenance compared to their peers, scored higher on commitment later on. In the friendship domain, stronger associations were found, such that adolescents who scored higher on cultural heritage maintenance compared to their peers, reported higher commitment and in-depth exploration later on, while those who scored higher on identification with friends reported over time also higher cultural heritage maintenance and destination culture adoption. Random-intercept crossed-lagged models indicated that, when adolescents reported above their own average on reconsideration of educational commitment, they reported increased cultural heritage maintenance later on. Furthermore, consistent associations (at baseline and over time) emerged. Overall, this study points to virtuous alliances between the fulfillment of tasks related to adolescents' identity development and acculturation.

Positive and negative intergroup contact in school and out-of-school contexts: A longitudinal approach to spillover effects

This study aims to tackle positive and negative intergroup contact in school and out-of-school contexts to test whether a spillover effect (i.e., the extent to which experiences that individuals have in one context spill over into another) applies to intergroup contact. Participants were 984 adolescents (Mage  = 14.66; 62.7% female; 24.8% ethnic minority). Results indicated that positive contact in school was related over time to higher positive contact in out-of-school contexts and vice versa (i.e., valence consistent spillover effect). Positive contact in school was linked over time to lower negative contact in out-of-school contexts (i.e., valence inconsistent spillover effect). Overall, this study provides novel insights into the transmission of adolescents' intergroup contact across socialization contexts by emphasizing the leading role of positive contact in schools.

Developmental trajectories of ethnic and national identities in adolescents from migrant families: The role of social identification with family and classmates

Given that adolescents from migrant families live within at least two cultural contexts (i.e., the heritage and the destination cultures), they generally must negotiate and construct ethnic and national identities. Accordingly, the present three-wave longitudinal study was designed to identify distinct developmental trajectories of ethnic and national identities among adolescents from migrant families ( n = 244, 56.6% female; Mage = 14.90, SDage = 0.84 at Time 1). Multivariate latent class growth analyses indicated that participants could be classified into one of four groups based on their identity profiles: ethnic-oriented identity, national-oriented identity, dual identity, and marginalized identity. Further, social identification with family and classmates was examined as a predictor of memberships in these distinct identity profiles. Results of multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that greater social identification with family increased the probability of being classified into the ethnic-oriented and dual identity profiles rather than into the marginalized identity profile, whereas greater social identification with classmates increased the likelihood of being classified into either national-oriented or dual identity profiles rather than into the marginalized identity profile. These findings provide novel insights into the roles of families and peers as influential socializing agents during the negotiation of ethnic and national identities among immigrant youth.

Intergroup contact in multiple adolescents' contexts: The Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS)

In the present contribution, we aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS). The ICIS is a tool that can easily be administered to assess ethnic minority and majority adolescents' positive and negative intergroup contact in both school and out-of-school contexts. Study I included 169 adolescents in Italy (40.2% ethnic minority adolescents; 51.5% female; M _age = 14.41) and provided initial support for the two-factor structure (i.e., positive and negative contact) of the ICIS in both school and out-of-school contexts. Study II, conducted with a sample of 1,037 adolescents in Italy (26.5% ethnic minority adolescents; 59.7% female; M _age = 14.58), indicated that the fit of the two-factor ICIS structure was excellent for both school and out-of-school contexts. Measurement invariance across ethnic minority and majority adolescents was also established. Convergent validity was also ascertained by highlighting meaningful associations of adolescents' positive and negative contact with the quantity of contact as well as with their perceptions regarding parents' positive and negative contact with outgroup members. Study III, involving a sample of 641 adolescents in Turkey (32.9% ethnic minority adolescents; 69.6% female; M _age = 15.51), supported the two-factor structure, as well as convergent validity, of the ICIS in both contexts. Measurement invariance across ethnic groups was also established. Overall, these studies suggest that the ICIS is a reliable measure for studying positive and negative intergroup contact among ethnic minority and majority adolescents across school and out-of-school contexts.

Social Support From Friends Among Unaccompanied Young Refugees

Abstract. Background: Social support is an important resource and source of self-esteem and belongingness for all children and youths. Yet, for unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors, who leave their home countries without a caretaking adult, extra-familial social, supportive networks in exile may be crucial for their well-being. We propose that their origin in collectivist cultures involves resources for re-establishing social networks in countries of resettlement. Aim: The overall aim of this study is to examine if cultural factors such as values and self-construals are associated with variations in perceived social support from friends among unaccompanied young refugees. We propose a model in which related self-construals mediate the association between collectivist values and perceived friend support. Method: We collected cross-sectional self-report questionnaire data from 611 unaccompanied young refugees (84.5% male; Mage = 18.49 years,  SD = 2.57 years) who had been granted residence in Norway. Results: Structural equation analyses revealed that higher levels of collectivist values were associated with stronger related self-construals, which, in turn, were positively associated with stronger perceived support from friends. However, related self-construals only acted as a partial mediator. Limitations: The generalizability of our findings to other groups of immigrant children and youth and/or to unaccompanied refugees in other countries is unknown and should be examined in future studies. Conclusion: Our results contribute new theoretical knowledge about how the development of social supportive relationships in the diaspora is embedded in cross-cultural contexts. Maintaining aspects of one’s heritage culture can promote resilient outcomes among unaccompanied young refugees.

Migrant youths: Typical aspects of development during the adolescent years, specific challenges of growing up somewhere else, and some things we need to understand better

The research presented in this Issue impressively documents the great variety of conditions of live that impact child and adolescent migrants' development. The studies conducted in various receiving countries include young refugees as well as the first- and second-generation offspring of migrant families who left their homes in different areas of the globe. Despite this diversity, theories and empirical findings on processes of normative development could be successfully applied, yielding insights into more general aspects of development At the same time, drawing on conceptualizations that were introduced to specifically address experiences and challenges linked to the situation of migrant and minority populations, such as ethnic identity or acculturation, the articles notably contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of migrant adolescents' lives. While the discussion of the studies in this Issue highlights what we have learned, it also points out what we do not know yet, and where future research is needed.