Immigrant Youth: Acculturation, Identity, and Adaptation

TL;DR: In this paper, a large international study of the acculturation and adaptation of immigrant youth (aged 13 to 18 years) who are settled in 13 societies (N= 5,366), as well as a sample of national youth (N = 2,631).

Abstract: Cet article presente plusieurs des principaux resultats d’une grande etude internationale sur l’acculturation et l’adaptation de jeunes immigres (âges de 13 a 18 ans) qui se sont implantes dans treize pays (N = 5,366); il y est adjoint un echantillon de jeunes nationaux (N = 2,631). La recherche s’appuyait sur trois questions centrales: comment les jeunes migrants gerent-ils le processus d’acculturation? Comment parviennent-ils a s’adapter? Et y a-t-il un lien manifeste entre la forme d’acculturation et le succes de l’adaptation? L’analyse en clusters deboucha sur quatre profils d’acculturation: integrateur, ethnique, national et diffus. L’analyse factorielle de cinq variables d’adaptation mit en evidence deux types d’adaptation: psychologique et socioculturel. Il existe une forte relation entre la facon dont les jeunes s’acculturent et leur adaptation: ceux qui presentent un profil integrateur beneficient des meilleurs indicateurs d’adaptations psychologique et socioculturelle alors que ceux souffrant d’un profil diffus ont les pires. Entre les deux, le profil ethnique presente une adaptation psychologique relativement bonne et une adaptation socioculturelle plutot pauvre, tandis que le profil national a une adaptation psychologique relativement pauvre et une adaptation socioculturelle legerement negative. Cette configuration de resultats fut en grande partie retrouvee a travers une modelisation en equation structurelle. Les consequences pour l’implantation des jeunes immigres sont claires: ils devraient etre encourages a preserver l’appartenance a leur culture d’origine tout en etablissant des liens etroits avec la societe d’accueil. This paper reports some of the main findings from a large international study of the acculturation and adaptation of immigrant youth (aged 13 to 18 years) who are settled in 13 societies (N= 5,366), as well as a sample of national youth (N= 2,631). The study was guided by three core questions: How do immigrant youth deal with the process of acculturation? How well do they adapt? Are there important relationships between how they acculturate and how well they adapt? Cluster analysis produced four distinct acculturation profiles: integration, ethnic, national, and diffuse. Factor analysis of five adaptation variables revealed two distinct forms of adaptation: psychological and sociocultural. There were substantial relationships between how youth acculturate and how well they adapt: those with an integration profile had the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation outcomes, while those with a diffuse profile had the worst; in between, those with an ethnic profile had moderately good psychological adaptation but poorer sociocultural adaptation, while those with a national profile had moderately poor psychological adaptation, and slightly negative sociocultural adaptation. This pattern of results was largely replicated using structural equation modeling. Implications for the settlement of immigrant youth are clear: youth should be encouraged to retain both a sense of their own heritage cultural identity, while establishing close ties with the larger national society.