Developmental Interplay between Ethnic, National, and Personal Identity in Immigrant Adolescents

Family Functioning, Identity Commitments, and School Value among Ethnic Minority and Ethnic Majority Adolescents

Ethnic minority youth show worse school adjustment than their ethnic majority peers. Yet, it remains unclear whether this gap can be explained by differences in family functioning and consequent identity commitments. This study examined (1) whether family functioning relates to identity commitments over time and (2) whether identity commitments impact later school value (3) among minority and majority adolescents. Minority (N = 205, Mage = 16.25 years, 31.1% girls) and majority adolescents (N = 480, Mage = 15.73 years, 47.9% girls) participated in this preregistered three-wave longitudinal study (T1: March-April 2012; T2: October 2012; T3: March-April 2013). Dynamic Panel Models revealed that most within-person cross-lagged associations were not significant in the total sample. Yet, multigroup analyses revealed differences between groups: Stronger identity commitments related to lower school value among minority adolescents, but were unrelated to school value among majority adolescents over time. Additionally, higher school value increased identity commitments among minority youth, yet it decreased identity commitments among majority youth over time. The findings highlight the differential interplay between identity commitments and school adjustment for minority and majority adolescents, with important implications for their future life chances.

Changes in the immigrant Russian-speaking family language policy during the war in Ukraine

Introduction

The Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had a significant impact on the Russian-speaking identity, reformulating existing linguistic and cultural boundaries and shaping Russian speakers' self-perception and vision of the world. We focus on families with children who are trying to balance their inner and outer life in order to stabilize the positive environment of the upbringing process and analyze how adults explain to the children the need to learn the Russian, Ukrainian and other languages. This can shed light on the challenges and strategies employed in alleviating prejudiced attitudes against immigrants' languages and cultures which can cause alienation from the roots in the one-and-a-half and second generation. The research questions were: How has the war altered language policies in families with different ethnic backgrounds? What changes in home language use strategies do parents propose?

Material and methods

Material drawn from numerous posts of Facebook discussions have been analyzed with the help of thematic analysis.

Results and discussion

We observe that in many multilingual families with Ukrainian roots the war has led to a greater emphasis on the Ukrainian language use as an attempt to reinforce ties to their cultural heritage and express support for the country. Russian is increasingly viewed as the language of the aggressor; moreover, Russian culture is devalued and rejected. Some families have become more open to new language learning, especially the languages of their new environment, and try to identify themselves as multicultural and multiethnic personalities. On the other hand, in those families where parents work or study in the fields in which Russian is widely used, adults prioritize the development of Russian language skills in their children in order to improve their future educational and professional opportunities. We explore attitudes and challenges faced by parents in Russian-speaking families, as they demonstrate the complexities of identity formation and language transmission while making salient the interplay between parents' personal experiences, their aspirations for their children's cultural identity, and the pressures of integration into the local society.

Identity Matters for Well-Being: The Longitudinal Associations Between Identity Processes and Well-Being in Adolescents with Different Cultural Backgrounds

Adolescents' identity processes and their levels of well-being are likely to be intertwined. On the one hand, how adolescents cope with the core developmental task of forming their identity has important implications for their well-being. On the other hand, experiencing a condition of well-being can help adolescents consolidate their identity. This longitudinal study adopted a multidimensional and culturally sensitive perspective to unravel how identity processes (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment) in two domains (i.e., educational and interpersonal identity) were developmentally related to multiple indicators of positive well-being (i.e., physical health, subjective, psychological, and social well-being) in adolescents with different cultural backgrounds. Participants were 1396 adolescents (Mage = 15.73, SDage = 1.23, 49.93% females; 20.89% with a migrant background) who completed questionnaires at four-time points across one year. Results of cross-lagged models confirmed the positive reciprocal associations between identity commitment and well-being in all its facets. The nuanced picture of associations of in-depth exploration and reconsideration of commitment with multiple dimensions of well-being highlighted the importance of adopting a multi-dimensional perspective on well-being and a domain-specific approach to identity. Multigroup analyses indicated that the associations between identity commitment in the educational domain and well-being are relevant, especially for adolescents with a migrant background. Overall, this study highlights the centrality of identity processes for adolescents' adaptation and points to a dynamic loop of reciprocal influences at the core of youth positive development.

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.

Acculturation and resilience of immigrant-origin youth: Do their school experiences reflect nonimmigrants' "native supremacy"?

The successful integration of immigrant-origin youth is a highly important issue for multiple stakeholders in many countries. It has important benefits both to countries of destination and countries of origin, as well as to immigrants and nonimmigrants. In this article, I examine immigrant-youth adaptation through the lens of a recently developed resilience model integrating acculturation and social psychological influences on adaptation. Who among immigrant-origin youth adapt well, academically, and socially, in the Greek school context? What is the role of acculturation in immigrant youth resilience? These questions are addressed using scientific evidence drawn from the Athena Studies of Resilient Adaptation (AStRA) project, a three-cohort, three-wave longitudinal project on immigrant-origin youth adaptation conducted in Greece, as well as from the international literature. Following an anti-racist research approach to understanding the AstRA findings, I will argue that the lived school experiences of immigrant-origin youth may be a reflection of societal-level xenophobic and anti-immigrant attitudes. Such systemic and structural racism is the key determinant of the difficulties they face in their adaptation. The findings presented reveal the need to promote an equitable and inclusive education that will be beneficial for all students promoting their well-being, and their sense of belonging to school and society.

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.

Adolescent Connectedness: A Scoping Review of Available Measures and Their Psychometric Properties

Introduction

Adolescent connectedness, a key component of positive youth development, is associated with various positive health outcomes. Several measures have been developed to assess this construct. However, no study has summarized data on the existing measures of adolescent connectedness. We conducted this scoping review to fill this gap. We specifically aimed to: (i) identify the existing measures of adolescent connectedness, (ii) determine the most frequently used measures among the identified measures, and (iii) summarize the psychometric properties of these measures with a keen interest in highlighting their cross-cultural utility and validity.

Methods

We searched CINAHL, Embase, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science databases for relevant articles published since database inception to 7th February 2021. Our search structure contained the key words "Adolescents", "Connectedness", and "Measures". We also searched Open Gray for potentially relevant gray literature.

Results

We identified 335 measures from 960 eligible studies assessing various domains of adolescent connectedness, including school, family, community, peer, ethnic, racial, cultural, religious/spiritual, and self-connectedness. Most of the included studies (72.1%) were from North America and Europe. Most of the measures (n = 132, 39.4%) were measures of school connectedness among adolescents. Of the identified measures, 60 of them met our criteria of frequently used measures (i.e., the top five most used measures per domain of connectedness). These frequently used measures were used across 481 of the included studies with 400 of them reporting their psychometric properties. The reported reliability of these measures was adequate (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.70) in 89.8% of these studies. These measures also appeared to be valid in terms of their face, content, construct, criterion, convergent, discriminant, concurrent, predictive, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural validity.

Conclusions

There exists a wide array of measures of adolescent connectedness. Sixty of these measures have been frequently used across studies and appear to be reliable and/or valid. However, this evidence is mostly from North America and Europe. This is a reflection of the limitation of this review where only studies published in English were considered. It might also reflect the paucity of research in other regions of the world. More research is needed for clearer insights.

Identity Distress among Immigrant Students during COVID-19

The process of identity formation is complex for many; however, for immigrant populations experiencing acculturation and acculturative stress, the process may be particularly difficult. The current study examined the impact of immigration, acculturation, social support, and acculturative stress on identity formation and identity distress during the added stress of COVID-19. Late-adolescent college students from large enrollment psychology courses completed an anonymous online survey battery for course credit (N = 462). Results indicate that identity distress was higher among first-generation immigrants than second- and third-generation; however, it was highest for those with mixed parentage (one immigrant and one native-born parent). Further, acculturative stress and COVID-19 anxiety better predicted identity distress than identity development factors alone, and acculturative stress appeared to mediate the relationship between social support and identity distress. This study highlights the need for additional resources for immigrant students, especially during the current pandemic.