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Psychological adjustment and cultural identities of immigrant adolescents. Evgeny Tartakovsky, Ph.D. Tel-Aviv University, The School of Social Work. Research objectives. To formulate and test a developmental model of the immigrants’ psychological adjustment and cultural identities. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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1
Psychological adjustment and cultural identities of immigrant
adolescents
Evgeny Tartakovsky, Ph.D.
Tel-Aviv University,
The School of Social Work
2
Research objectives
To formulate and test a developmental model of the immigrants’ psychological
adjustment and cultural identities
3
Research design
1. Immigrant adolescents were studied at the pre-migration stage (1/2 year before emigration)
2. Two cohorts of immigrant adolescents were studied in the pre-migration stage (7 years apart)
3. Immigrant adolescents were followed during their first years in the new country (2.5 years)
4. Immigrant adolescents were compared to their non-emigrating peers in the country of origin
4
Immigrant population: the participants of the Na’ale program from Russia and
Ukraine
5
Some information about the Na’ale program
• The program was founded in 1992, and it has brought more than 15,000 adolescents to Israel (50% of all immigrant adolescents from the USSR in this age group)
• Age at the beginning: 15 (10th grade)• Selection (about 60% accepted)• In 1999, 2451 adolescents completed the testing
procedures; in 2006 only 918 adolescents took these tests
• Immigrants from Russia and Ukraine represent about 80% of the Na'ale students and about 70% of all immigrants to Israel
6
Samples
• Immigrants (from 40 cities in Russia and Ukraine):– Pre-migration stage (1999/2006):
654/243 candidates to the program – Longitudinal study in Israel (1999-2002):
211 -> 151 adolescents participating in the program
• Non-Jewish adolescents in Russia and Ukraine studying in 10-11 grades (from 8 cities in Russia and 4 cities in Ukraine):– 2000: 468 – 2007: 740
7
Socio-demographic characteristics of the samples (2006/7)
Socio-demographic characteristics Emigrants Non-emigrants
Adolescents living in Russia/ Ukraine * 131/112 461/279
Females 60% 58%
Adolescents living in big cities * 37% 49%
Single-parent families * 35% 23%
Three generation families 20% 17%
Fathers with a tertiary education 55% 60%
Fathers' occupation (unemployed, manual or clerical, professional or managerial)
8%, 40%, 52%
8%, 36%, 56%
Number of children in the family 1.96 (1.01) 1.93 (1.07)
Number of rooms in the family apartment 2.70 (.79) 2.82 (1.11)
Mixed ethnicity 61%, 29%, 4%, 4%
14%
* p<.05
8
Psychological adjustment of immigrants
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Measures of psychological adjustment
1. General Self-esteem – the Self-liking/Self-worth scale (Tafarodi & Swann, 1995): "Owing to my capabilities, I have much potential“
2. Social competence –the Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI) (Helmreich & Stapp, 1974): "I enjoy being around other people and seek out social encounters frequently"
3. School competence – 10 items from the multifaceted academic self-concept scale (Marsh, Byrne, & Shavelson, 1988): "Compared with my classmates, I must study more than they do to get the same grades".
4. Loneliness – a Short-Form Measure of Loneliness (Hays & DiMatteo, 1987): "I lack companionship"
5. Emotional and behavioral problems – Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991)
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Self-esteem
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
4
4.1
4.2
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Imm
Non-Imm
11
Social competence
3.453.5
3.553.6
3.653.7
3.753.8
3.853.9
3.95
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Imm
Non-Imm
12
School competence
3.453.5
3.553.6
3.653.7
3.753.8
3.853.9
3.95
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Imm
Non-Imm
13
Loneliness
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
Imm
Non-Imm
14
Emotional and behavioral problems
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
ImmNon-Imm
15
Factors affecting the immigrants’ psychological adjustment
1. The pre-migration indexes of psychological well-being (r=0.5-0.6 in the first year; 0.3-0.4 in the third year)
2. Perceived discrimination (-). Pre-migration vs. post-migration perceived discrimination, M(SD) = 1.51 (.61) vs. 2.05 (.65)
3. Perceived social support from peers (+)4. Perceived social support from parents (some indexes)
(+)5. Perceived social support from teachers (some indexes)
(+)6. Family composition (some indexes) (- for single-parent
families)7. Parents’ education (some indexes) (+)
16
Theoretical inferences
1. Why euphoria in the pre-migration period: high expectations and/or self-selection?
2. The shattering assumptions hypothesis in immigration was refuted.
3. The U-curve hypothesis confirmed: high expectations increase psychological adjustment, social obstacles decrease, and successful coping increases
4. The morbidity hypothesis refuted, but why YSR did not improve?
• The effect of social factors (immigrants’ cultural norms, e.g. alcohol and smoking; discrimination)
• The effect of biological factors (no change in psychological well-being in Russia and Ukraine for the last 10 years)
17
Questions for further research
1. Is the found pattern of changes in the psychological adjustment universal for all voluntary immigrants or is it specific for adolescents immigrating in educational programs or for Diaspora immigrants?
2. How the psychological adjustment changes in the pre-migration period?
3. How the psychological adjustment changes across immigrant generations?
18
Practical recommendations
1. Immigrants’ selection2. Preparation for emigration – strengthening the
immigrants’ pre-migration psychological adjustment including social skills, and academic skills
3. Fighting discrimination in the receiving country4. Strengthening social support, especially from
the immigrants’ peers (A Finnish study on adults)
5. Should we strengthen the immigrant ghetto?
19
Cultural identities of immigrants
20
What do we know about cultural identities of immigrants?
1. Immigrants have a multifaceted system of cultural identities2. The immigrants’ identity associated with their country of origin is
more salient than their identity associated with the receiving country
3. Among Jewish immigrants from Russia in Israel, Jewish identity is the most salient, followed by Russian and Israeli identities
4. The relationships between the identities associated with the country of origin and the receiving country varied across immigrant groups, and may be negative, orthogonal, or positive
5. Among Jewish immigrants from Russia in Israel, a negative correlation was usually found between their Russian and Israeli identities
6. A stronger level of perceived discrimination was associated with a stronger ethnic identity and a weaker national identity of immigrants
21
The main objectives of my studies
1. To examine the relative strength of Jewish, Russian, and Israeli identities of the emigrants and the relationships between them in the pre-migration period
2. To compare Russian identity of emigrants with the matching group of non-emigrating adolescents
3. To investigate the effects of psychosocial factors on cultural identities of emigrants in the pre- and post-migration periods
4. To investigate the dynamics of changes in cultural identities in the post-migration period
5. To investigate the connection between the components of cultural identities and the psychological well-being of immigrants
22
Measures of cultural identities: Russian, Israeli, Jewish
• Attitude towards a country: a 20-item scale
(Tartakovsky, 2009)• I am proud of Russia/Ukraine
• I feel comfortable in Russia/Ukraine
• Identification with a nation and with an ethnic
minority group (Roccas, 1997) • Being Russian is an important part of my self-definition
• When I talk about Russians, I say ‘we’ and not ‘they’
• When Russians are criticized, I take it personally
• It is important for me to think about myself as a Russian
23
Other instruments• Perceived discrimination: the 10-item Discrimination
Questionnaire (Phinney, Madden & Santos, 1998)– Russian/Ukrainian students in my school are hostile towards me
because I am Jewish
– I feel that I am not wanted in Russian/Ukrainian society because
I am Jewish
• Perceived social support: a 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support from parents, peers, and teachers (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988)– My parents really try to help me
– I have friends with whom I can share my joys and sorrows
– There is a teacher who is around when I am in need
24
Attitudes towards Russia/Ukraine among emigrants and non-
emigrants
3.57
3.98
3.50
3.65
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
Russia Ukraine
EmNon-em
25
Identification with Russians/Ukrainians among
emigrants and non-emigrants
2.66
3.79
2.72
3.56
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
Russia Ukraine
EmNon-em
26
Emigrants’ attitudes towards Russia/Ukraine and towards Israel
3.57
4.49
3.50
4.46
2
3
3
4
4
5
Russia Ukraine
R/UIsr
27
Emigrants’ identification with Russians/Ukrainians, Israelis,
and Jews
2.66
3.66
2.72
3.59
2
3
3
4
4
5
Russia Ukraine
R/UIsrJews
4.08 4.07
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Factors affecting pre-migration cultural identities of emigrants
Number of Jewish grandparents
Jewish by the religious law
Perceived discrimination
Attitude R/U -.03 -.04 -.28*Identification R/U -.10 .04 -.06
Attitude Israel -.01 .07 -.03Identification Israel .04 .10 .20*
Identification Jewish .21* .13 .16*
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Changes in the emigrants’ cultural identities 1999/2006
3.02
3.54
2.37
2.69
4.47 4.474.24
4.07
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
AttR/U
IdR/U
AttIsr
19992006
30
Correlations between the dimensions of emigrants’ cultural identity 1999/2006
Correlations 1999 2006
Attitude towards Russia/Ukraine – Identification with Russians/Ukrainians
.49* .36*
Attitude towards Israel – Identification with Jews
.48* .51*
Attitude towards Russia/Ukraine – Attitude towards Israel
-.09 .13
Identification with Russians/Ukrainians – Identification with Jews
-.32* .05
Attitude towards Russia/Ukraine – Identification with Jews
-.19* -.01
Identification with Russians/Ukrainians – Attitude towards Israel
-.24* -.01
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Russian and Israeli identities are not contradictory
32
Russian and Jewish identities are not contradictory
33
Changes in attitudes towards Israel and Russia/Ukraine
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
34
Changes in identification with Israelis and Russians/Ukrainians
2
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
Time 0 Time 1 Time 2 Time 3
35
Factors affecting post-migration cultural identities
• Pre-migration identities• Ethnicity (Jewish vs. mixed, but not the degree
of the mix) • Perceived discrimination: (- Attitude Isr, Id Isr
and Attitude R/U; + Id R/U)
Pre-migration vs. post-migration perceived discrimination, M(SD) = 1.51 (.61) vs. 2.05 (.65)
• Parental attachment
36
Discussion: Pre- and post-migration cultural identities
1. Emigrants are partially detached from their homeland and have a strong attachment to the country of provisional immigration
2. Self-selection or/and cognitive dissonance? 3. The pre-migration system of cultural identities is
“anticipatory” (Merton, 1968); i.e., it is not based on a realistic comparison (?)
4. Jewish identity is very strong despite the fact that 96% of the adolescents were of mixed ethnic origin, and 61% had only one Jewish grandparent
5. Cultural identities are subjective constructs, which strength and relationships vary following social circumstances
6. In the post-migration period cultural identities change following adjustment difficulties and discrimination
37
Why cultural identities are important: they predict acculturation strategies
Predicting variables
Separation Assimilation IntegrationMarginali
zation
Attitude Israel -.13 .03 .35* -.39*Attitude R/U .03 -.20* .19* -.03Identification Israel -.11 .31* .13 .09Identification R/U .35* -.17* -.03 .03R2 .20*** 22*** 21*** .15*
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Why cultural identities are important: the are related to psychological adjustment
Components
of cultural
identity
Emotional &
behavioral
problems
Self
Esteem
Social
compete
nce
School
compet
ence
Loneli
ness
Attitude R/U -.15* .31* .20* .19* -.20*
Attitude Israel -.26* .27* .32* -.07 -.42*
Identification
R/U.01 -.14 -.06 -.05 .11
Identification
Israel.09 .12 -.04 .06 .13
R2 .08* .20* .14* .03 .21*
39
Receiving society wants assimilation or integration
• Angela Merkel: “Attempts to build
a multicultural society in Germany
have utterly failed"
• David Cameron: “Multiculturalism
has failed in Britain”
• Nicolas Sarkozy: “If you come to
France, you accept to melt into a
single community, the national
community, and if you do not want
to accept that, you cannot be
welcome in France”
40
Practical recommendations1. The pre-migration cultural identities are positively
correlated with the post-migration cultural identities (r = .22 - .43)
2. Immigrants’ selection: their pre-migration cultural identities are important; their ethnicity is of little importance
3. To reduce perceived discrimination
4. To strengthen the immigrants’ positive attitude towards the receiving country and their positive attitude towards the country of origin
5. To fight or not to fight ethnic identity of immigrants?
41
Further questions
• How cultural identities are formed in the pre-migration period?
• Cross-generation changes in cultural identities
• Why identification with the ethnic group and the nation is not related to the psychological adjustment of immigrants?
42
Thank you!
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