Group efficacy as a moderator on the associations between perceived discrimination, acculturation orientations, and psychological well‐being

Abstract

We investigated whether associations between perceived discrimination (PD), acculturation orientations (desire for culture maintenance and desire for contact), and well‐being (psychological well‐being and life satisfaction) were moderated by group efficacy beliefs—the extent to which group members believe in their ability to achieve social change collectively. We recruited 163 Syrian refugees (Mage = 36.43, SD = 12.68; 88 females and 75 males) from a south‐eastern city in Turkey. PD was negatively associated with desire for culture maintenance and positively associated with desire for contact, indicating an assimilation trend as a response to PD. Both acculturation orientations in turn predicted well‐being positively. However, the ones with higher group efficacy did not experience the detrimental effects of PD on well‐being and indicated a stronger desire for contacting mainstream society. Further conditional indirect effects demonstrated that only among the ones with lower group efficacy, PD was related to lower psychological well‐being through reduced culture maintenance. Findings indicate the critical role of group efficacy beliefs in the understanding of disadvantaged group members' reactions to PD.

Psychological and social adjustment in refugee adolescents: The role of parents’ and adolescents’ friendships

“…However, Turkey is also the nation with the lowest value (among 38 countries) on the Migrant Integration Policy Index (Huddleston, Bilgili, Joki, & Vankova, 2015), which measures the degree to which a given country endorses integration policies across multiple policy areas (i.e., labor market mobility, family reunion, education, health, political participation, permanent residence, access to formal citizenship, and anti‐discrimination policies). Recent studies with Syrian refugees in Turkey have indicated that experiencing ethnic discrimination is negatively related to maintaining one's Syrian cultural heritage, and is positively linked to adopting the destination (Turkish) culture among refugee adults (Bagci & Canpolat, 2020). In addition, Çelebi, Verkuyten, and Bagci (2017) found that high perceived ethnic discrimination is associated with poor physical and mental health among refugee adults who do not experience a sense of control, distinctiveness, and meaningfulness derived from their ethnic identity.…”

Ethnic Identity as a Mediator of the Relationship between Discrimination and Psychological Well-Being in South—South Migrant Populations

“…In the general population, there are reports on the mediating role of personality traits [ 42 ], ethnic affirmation [ 43 ], atheist identification [ 44 ], or sense of control [ 45 ]. In the immigrant population, there are reports of both moderating factors such as group efficacy [ 46 ], group membership [ 47 ] and identity [ 48 , 49 ], as well as mediating factors such as self-esteem [ 50 ], affect [ 51 ], employability [ 52 ], and group identity [ 53 ].…”

Understanding adolescents’ acculturation processes: New insights from the intergroup perspective

“…(2017) reported that higher levels of perceived discrimination are related to lower levels of mental and physical health among refugees, but not for those refugees who experience a sense of efficacy from their ethnic identity. Moreover, Bagci and Canpolat (2020) found that, among adult refugees in Turkey, perceived discrimination is negatively associated with the maintenance of Syrian culture and it is positively associated with adopting Turkish culture. Specifically, recent studies with refugee adolescents in Turkey found that psychosocial resilience is associated with a high level of hope, perceived social support from family, quantity of social contact, and sense of school belonging (Bozdağ, 2020; Sarıpınar, 2019).…”