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

Abstract

Developing a personal identity is a core developmental task for all adolescents. Immigrant adolescents need to integrate the meaning that their belonging to their ethnic group and the receiving nation has for them into their personal identity. The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal interplay between personal, ethnic, and national identities of a middle school sample of immigrant youth (N = 765, Mage = 12.7 years, SD = 0.6 at T1; 46% girls) enroled in Greek schools. Data were collected in three waves with repeated measures. To test the link between these identities, two trivariate Cross-Lagged Panel Models were ran, one examining identity exploration and the other examining identity commitment. The results revealed robust within time positive links between ethnic, national and personal identities for both exploration and commitment at all three time-points. There was some evidence that ethnic and national identities were negatively linked longitudinally, and limited support for longitudinal associations between these domains and personal identity. Follow-up analyses suggest that these processes may be specific to second generation youth and that findings may differ by ethnic background. Finally, the findings that emerged are discussed with attention to the socio-political climate in the receiving nation.

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

“…It might be further triggered by experiencing relatively greater acculturative stress fueled by the perceived pressure to maintain and adopt components of both one’s heritage and destination cultures (Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008). Notably, cultural identity confusion could be intertwined with confusion in personal identities as well (Mastrotheodoros et al, 2021; Meca et al, 2017). Therefore, youth in the marginalized identity profile may be at high risk of experiencing difficulties in the formation of their self and personality.…”

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

“…Whereas most previous research focused on native adolescents, some studies have investigated links between family processes and youth identity development in immigrant-origin groups. For example, immigrant-origin adolescents' family functioning was positively associated with ethnic identity belonging (Reitz et al, 2014), which reflects self-processes similar to and linked with identity commitments (Mastrotheodoros et al, 2021). Similarly, parents' ethnic identity belonging facilitated immigrant-origin adolescents' identity development (e.g., Meca et al, 2021), further supporting the role of family dynamics in immigrant-origin youth's identity development.…”

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

“…One study (King et al, 2019 ) only reported validity, reporting the face validity of the CCS-CA. The reported internal consistency was adequate (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.70) in all but one study (Mastrotheodoros et al, 2021 ) that reported poor reliability for the MEIM in some time points. The reported and established types of validity in the three studies include construct, convergent, content, and face validity.…”