Acculturation orientations mediate the link between religious identity and adjustment of Turkish-Bulgarian and Turkish-German adolescents

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the need to examine religiousness and conduct research on its influence on acculturation and adjustment among ethnic minorities (Güngör et al. in Int J Behav Dev 36:367–373, 2012. doi:10.1177/0165025412448357). The present study compares Turkish minority youth in Bulgaria and Germany by examining relationships among religious identity, acculturation orientations (i.e., cultural maintenance and adoption) and acculturation outcomes (i.e., life satisfaction and socio-cultural adjustment to the Turkish and mainstream cultures). Participants were 161 youth in Bulgaria and 155 in Germany who completed measures on religious identity, acculturation orientations and adjustment. Results revealed that religious identity and Turkish culture maintenance are more important for Turkish-German, than for Turkish-Bulgarian youth. A multigroup path model showed that for both samples acculturation orientations partially mediated the link between religious identity and adjustment to the Turkish culture, whereas religious identity was directly related both to adjustment to the mainstream culture and to life satisfaction. Findings highlight the centrality of religious identity and Turkish domains of acculturation for positive adjustment outcomes for Turkish youth in Bulgaria and Germany.

The Role of Psychosocial Resources in the Adjustment of Migrant Adolescents

“…This clear trend for psychosocial resources to be more closely related to adjustment in Australian-born than in migrant adolescents raises questions regarding sources of support that might particularly advantage foreign-born adolescents. Resources not investigated in the present study but possibly contributing disproportionately to the adjustment of migrant adolescents include provision of teacher support (Demanet, Van Praag, & Van Houtte, 2016), close extended family ties, integration into ethnic community life, and high levels of religiosity (Dimitrova & Aydinli-Karakulak, 2016;Harker, 2001). Consistent with the first of these suggestions, Kabir and Rickards (2006) found that, compared to other at-risk groups, students from refugee backgrounds were more likely to identify as sources of support people outside their immediate family, including their English teacher, pastoral care teacher, and school principal.…”

Religious Identity and Acculturation of Immigrant Minority Youth

“…infra). To illustrate, studies among Turkish-German adolescents consistently found negative associations of religious parenting (Spiegler, Güngör, & Leyendecker, 2016) and religious identification (Dimitrova & Aydinly-Karakulak, 2016) with the adoption of, and identification with, the German mainstream culture.…”

“…infra). To illustrate, studies among Turkish-German adolescents consistently found negative associations of religious parenting (Spiegler, Güngör, & Leyendecker, 2016) and religious identification (Dimitrova & Aydinly-Karakulak, 2016) with the adoption of, and identification with, the German mainstream culture. In their cross-cultural study of minority youth in Germany, Schachner et al (2014) found that the importance of (Islamic or Christian) religion at home negatively predicted mainstream German cultural orientation, and impacted negatively on adolescents’ sociocultural adaptation in this country.…”

Religious identity and psychological well-being among middle-eastern migrants in Australia: The mediating role of perceived social support, social connectedness, and perceived discrimination.

“…Religiousness, as the degree of an individual’s involvement and personal significance attached to a belief system (Aflakseir, 2012), has been widely found to be associated with the psychological well-being of migrants (Aflakseir, 2012; Chan, Tsai, & Fuligni, 2015; Davis & Kiang, 2016; Dimitrova & Aydinli-Karakulak, 2016). However, the results of studies are inconsistent.…”