Relationship between perceived acculturation expectations and Muslim minority youth's acculturation and adaptation

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAcculturation strategies have frequently been used to describe how members of ethnic minorities reconcile their heritage culture with the culture of their society of residence. Recently, studies have started to pay increased attention to the fact that the choice of acculturation strategy does not take place in a social vacuum. In the present study, we test whether the perception of assimilation expectations held by the societal majority (PSAE) as well as separation expectations held by ethnic peers (PESE) may be related to individuals' own acculturation strategy. Furthermore, we investigate whether these perceived expectations are directly related to stress and indirectly to adaptation, mediated by acculturation strategies. All relationships were investigated using multi-group structural equation modeling with members from three Muslim minority groups: 301 German-Turks, 302 French-Maghrebis and 262 British-Pakistanis. Across the samples, PSAE was associated with higher degrees of stress. PESE was negatively related to integration, while it was positively related to separation. In addition, PESE was indirectly and negatively related with self-esteem and/or socio-cultural adaptation in all samples. The impact of societal assimilation expectation appears to be limited in this regard. In all, the present study suggests that perceived acculturation expectations may influence ethnic minorities' acculturation strategy. The results also suggest that perceived expectations that contrast with individuals' personal acculturation preference could result in higher levels of stress and lower levels of psychological and socio-cultural adaptation, mediated by acculturation strategies.

Acculturation of the Muslims Settled in the West

“…The choice of an acculturation strategy does not exist in isolation. It appeared to be impacted by the expectations of an individual, the ethnic community, and the larger society (Kunst & Sam, 2013). Subsequently, an individual has to negotiate the expectations from different sources to develop a multilevel identity and an acculturated self.…”

“…Such harsh policies can promote negative attitudes of Muslims toward host societies and governments. Similarly, the negative depiction of refugees by the media and politicians can intensify Islamophobia among Western populations (Kunst & Sam, 2013). Consequently, negative attitudes in both camps impede social interaction and the building of relationships, which are vital for a functional acculturation (Bourhis et al, 1997;Schwartz et al, 2010).…”

Reluctance to Use Host Social Services by Ethnic Minorities: The Role of Consensual Separation, Threat to Heritage Culture and Misunderstanding of the Host Society Language

“…Immigrants can adopt separation by individual choice in order to protect their ethnic identity (Phinney 1990), what we called here Bconsensual separation^. But it is also possible that they face injunctions to shield ethnic identity from their cultural group who may perceive adaptation to majority culture as a threat to the group identity and distinctiveness (Kunst and Sam 2013;Verkuyten and Thijs 1999), what we called Bforced separation.Î n France, the Turkish community often exerts a social control, particularly towards women and children (Bozarslam 1996). Then some migrants could also turn towards separation, not by personal choice, but primarily because of the normative pressure exerted by their own cultural group and the threat to be psychologically and socially sanctioned by it (Castillo et al 2007).…”

Acculturation in Context: The Moderating Effects of Immigrant and Native Peer Orientations on the Acculturation Experiences of Immigrants

“…Zagefka and Brown (2002), and Jasinskaja-Lahti et al (2003) showed that a misfit between immigrant acculturation orientations and the orientations of the majority population is related to greater difficulty in intergroup relations, and to immigrant stress (for more recent evidence see Ramos et al 2015). Research into the interaction between immigrants and their own ethnic community is less common, but studies show that immigrants reported elevated levels of in-group stress when they were not in accord with the acculturation orientation of their ethnic community Kunst and Sam 2013). This research shows that both the majority and the immigrant community must be considered when studying the adaptation of adolescent immigrants in context.…”

“…There have also been limitations to previous research. One limitation is that many studies assessed the majority or minority perspective through the perceptions of immigrants (e.g., Zagefka and Brown 2002;Kunst and Sam 2013), which may be biased towards immigrant experiences and may spuriously increase the associations found in adaptation outcomes. Further, even if the attitudes or values of the receiving society were considered (Schiefer et al 2012;Jasinskaja-Lahti et al 2003), regional variations (e.g., across different schools) were not taken into account, although the direct environment can be assumed to be more relevant to immigrant adaptation than averages drawn from a heterogeneous receiving society.…”