Acculturation Profiles and Perceived Discrimination: Associations with Psychosocial Well-being Among Tunisian Adolescents in Italy

Abstract

Research usually analyzed the relationships between acculturation or perceived discrimination and immigrants’ well-being, but few studies used an integrative perspective. Framed from a person-oriented approach, the current paper tried to advance the literature examining how acculturation profiles and perceived (group and personal) discrimination were associated with psychosocial well-being in a sample of 348 Tunisian adolescents (females = 48.28%; mean age = 15.72) living in southern Italy. Cluster analytic methods on the scores of acculturation strategies, ethnic and national identities, ethnic and national languages, ethnic and national peer social contacts produced three acculturation profiles: integrated, ethnic, and national. Adolescents of both integrated and national profiles reported higher levels of psychosocial well-being than those of the ethnic profile in terms of self-esteem and socio-cultural competence, whereas Tunisian adolescents of ethnic profile reported higher levels of perceived personal discrimination than the others. Also, the acculturation profile moderated the relationships between perceived discrimination and adolescents’ psychosocial well-being. Specifically, across integration and national profiles perceived group discrimination significantly predicted decreases in psychosocial well-being, but there was no significant association considering the ethnic profile group. The association between perceived personal discrimination and psychosocial well-being was moderated since it was more negative for adolescents of an ethnic profile than the others. Findings are discussed in the light of theoretical expectations, research context, and limitations as well as suggesting implications for the practitioners in the field.

Juggling Between Parental and School Expectations: The Development of Domain‐Specific Acculturation Orientations in Early Adolescence

“…Boys who perceived high levels of ethnic discrimination in their first year in secondary school reported a lower mainstream orientation at home one year later. This confirms previous findings from mid-adolescence and older adolescents in Europe that boys may not only perceive more personal and group discrimination than girls, but they may also be more inclined to use rejectiondisidentification at home as a coping mechanism (G€ ung€ or & Bornstein, 2013;Musso et al, 2015). One possible explanation is that ethnic minority adolescents often have greater exposure to the mainstream cultural norms and values than their parents, and may become ambassadors for the mainstream culture at home (Fuligni, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, youth experiencing personal and group discrimination may result in a lower identification with the mainstream culture in adolescence and adulthood (Fleischmann & Verkuyten, 2016;Musso, Inguglia, & Coco, 2015), a mechanism commonly referred to as rejection-disidentification (for a review, see Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2012). In addition, mainstream societies in many European countries, including Germany, hold strong assimilation preferences for immigrants and their descendants (Jasinskaja-Lahti, Liebkind, Horenczyk, & Schmitz, 2003;L opez-Rodr ıguez, Zagefka, Navas, & Cuadrado, 2014;Zick, Wagner, Van Dick, & Petzel, 2001).…”

The Mediating Role of Multiple Group Identities in the Relations between Religious Discrimination and Muslim‐American Adolescents’ Adjustment

“…Specifically, adolescents with a strong sense of belonging to their socially devalued minority group, in this case the Muslim group, may have more cultural and social resources that may mitigate the detrimental impact of discrimination on their adjustment. Indeed, a recent study found that ethnic discrimination did not predict psychological adjustment for a cluster of Tunisian Muslim adolescents in Southern Italy who reported high ethnic identity, maybe because youth with strong identities have more resources that can alleviate the detrimental impact of discrimination (Musso, Inguglia, & Lo Coco, ).…”

Relationships Between Ethnic Identity, Ethnic Attitudes, and Acculturative Stress in Tunisian Individuals in Early and Middle Adolescence

“…On the other hand, there are differences between the two groups, particularly related to spoken languages, practiced religions, and the legal status of immigrants for Tunisians that may pose some real barriers to their effective integration. Thus, although Tunisians have generally established good relationships with Sicilian people and are mostly integrated, in some occasions, they still encounter stressors such as language barriers, limited social resources, or discrimination that can serve as risk factors that negatively impact their well-being (Musso, Inguglia, & Lo Coco, 2015).…”