En fot i hver leir innvandrerungdoms hverdag

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En fot i hver leir innvandrerungdoms hverdag

• David L. Sam
• Faculty of Psychology (Center for International
  Health)
• University of Bergen, Norway

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Outline

• Why focus on immigrant youth
• Living between two cultures
• Everyday realities of immigrant youth
• Theoretical perspectives
• Empirical findings
• Conclusions
• Concluding comments

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Why focus on immigrant youth

• Immigrant children and youth constitute an
  important part of the population of many western
  societies
• the fastest growing sector of the population in
  many western countries
• From demographic and economic points of view
• the future of society lies in the hands of the
  youth
• the children of today will be the leaders,
  workers and parents of tomorrow.

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Living between two cultures

• The two cultures are the norms, values and
  customs immigrant parents promote on the one
  hand, and those promoted by the society of
  settlement on the other hand.
• The two cultures seen as opposing each other
  cultures in conflict.
• The conflict the respective cultures of the
  immigrants old and new societies clash in their
  desire to achieve among their members an optimum
  measure of cultural integrity.

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Living between two cultures

• During socialization it is expected that the two
  major socialization agents (parents and society)
  cooperate and compliment each other.
• Parents of non-immigrant children are often seen
  to support the values of the society of
  settlement, and the society confirms the parents
  exhortations with respect to socialization.

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Living between two cultures

• Immigrant parents (a) look down on the values and
  norms of the society of settlement, and (b) the
  society of settlement rejects the immigrant
  parents values and culture as a whole.
• In the face of rejecting and belittling of each
  others culture, immigrant children find
  themselves impelled to make choice between the
  two cultures during their acculturation.
• Leading to a psychosocial milieu that may not be
  conducive to healthy child development.

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Why focus on immigrant youth

• The welfare of children has important
  ramifications for societies, and every effort
  needs to be made to ensure their successful
  ascension to these adult roles.
• Ageing and shrinking working-age native
  population and of skill and labor shortages,
• the participation of immigrants in the labor
  force will become increasingly important

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Why focus on immigrant youth

• Immigrant children and youth may be at a
  disadvantage in receiving social services aimed
  at ensuring their development and this role
  ascension.
• May be discriminated against because of their
  ethnicity and immigrant status
• Ethnic discrimination is known to affect
  integration, and adaptation

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Questions

• Are immigrant youth worse off? The double
  jeopardy question
• vulnerable to the adaptation problems of
  acculturation.
• result of their socio-demographic and
  psychosocial situations

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Double jeopardy

• double jeopardy with respect to acculturation.
• risks all individuals undergoing acculturation
  are exposed to (i.e., the first jeopardy),
• children may face added risks (a second jeopardy)
  because of interaction between their psychosocial
  situation (e.g., being under the influence of
  their parents), and their age and developmental
  phase (e.g., having to deal with identity issues)

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Iidentity development

• Transition from childhood to adulthood, young
  people make important decisions about who they
  are and who they hope to be in the future ?
  Identity
• Addition to developing identity like all
  adolescents, immigrant adolescents have to
  develop an identity as a member of their own
  group and, to varying degrees, as a member of the
  larger society
• The extent to which they develop a preference for
  either the ethnic or national group or combine
  them into a bicultural identity has implications
  for their adaptation

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Identity development

• A secure identity is central to dealing with the
  differing demands of their multicultural context
  and subsequent adaptation.
• Development affected by contextual factors
• Parents provide the basic foundation for identity
  development for their children,
• the parents may not be in the best position to
  provide the most conducive milieu for this
  development.

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Identity development

• Parents may have their own acculturation
  experiences to deal with, and may be less in
  touch with what is required to adapt into a new
  society, let alone how to assist their children
  in this process.
• Moreover, families immigrate to a new country in
  order to provide better future for their
  children.
• May be overworked, and have very little or
  limited time for the development of their
  children.

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Acculturation/Developmental gap

• In all cultures parents socialize their children
  into the values and practices of their society
• Immigrant parents bring with them the values and
  practices of their culture, and strive to
  preserve them in the new environment
• In most cases, the values they hold are different
  from those of the society of settlement

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Acculturation/Developmental gap

• In western societies, independent family values
  predominate, in contrast to family values of
  interdependence in non-western societies
• Immigrant children and youth are socialized in
  both family values, because of schooling
• This difference in exposure, may result in
  differences in values, and possibly conflicts

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Acculturation/Developmental gap
Developmental gap Intergenerational discrepancy
Level of assimilation
children
Parents
Time
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Educational aspirations and achievement

• Reasons for migration can vary from adventure to
  economic, educational, political or social
  causes, but they usually boil down to the search
  for a better life
• These reasons for migration may not apply
  directly to immigrant children, because many of
  them do not have the direct experience with
  immigration, and if they do, it is through family
  reunification programs.

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Educational aspirations and achievement

• Immigrant children, part of the dream of better
  future that parents have in mind.
• Immigrant parents, one reason is to provide their
  children with better career opportunities and
  brighter futures. This, many immigrant parents
  see to lie in education.
• Iimmigrant parents have very high expectations
  regarding their childrens education
• Pressure children to do well

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Educational aspirations and achievement

• Does parental high academic expectation lead to
  high academic aspiration and educational
  achievement?
• Excessive demands from parents may push the
  children into careers that the youth reject,
  resulting in school drop out, and possibly
  behavior problems.
• YALE OR JAIL

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Educational aspirations and achievement

• At school, immigrant children may be faced with
  the disadvantages of language barriers as well as
  their parents lack of familiarity with the
  school system of the society of settlement.
• Poor educational background of parents, and due
  to their own busy work schedule, as they try to
  make ends meet, they may be less involved with
  school issues, such as parent-teacher meeting.

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Summary

• Do immigrant youth adapt very poorly, bearing in
  mind the issues discussed?

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The ICSEY Project International
Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth

• Immigrant youth in cultural transition
  Acculturation, identity, and adaptation across
  national contexts
• John Berry, Jean Phinney, David Sam, and Paul
  Vedder, editors
• With Gabriel Horenczyk, Kyunghwa Kwak, Karmela
  Liebkind, Rosanna Rooney, David Sang, Fons J. R.
  van de Vijver, Erkki Virta, Colleen Ward, and
  Charles Westin
• Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006

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Sample

• 5366 immigrant youth, 53 female
• Mean age 15.4 years (range 13-18)
• 65 second generation
• 13 countries of settlement
• Over 30 immigrant groups, from
• Asia e.g, Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans
• Middle East, e.g., Turks, Armenians
• Latin America, e.g., Mexicans, Chileans
• South Asia e.g., Indians, Pakistanis
• Eastern Europe e.g., Russians, Poles
• Other Caribbean, North Africa

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Norwegian sample
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Psychological adaptation

• Self-esteem
• Life satisfaction
• Psychological problems

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• Scores generally high, above the mid point of
  the scale
• Immigrants score (3.76) is similar to that of
  nationals (3.72)

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They are all above 3.13 the golden standard
suggested by Cummins 1995 Immigrants had higher
score (3.54) than the nationals (3.37)
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These are generally quite low below the
theoretical mid point of the scale. Immigrants
reported few psychological (stress) symptoms
(2.32) than their national peers (2.44)
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Sociocultural adaptation adaptation

• School adjustment
• Behaviour problems

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School adjustment is also high (gt3.50) With few
exceptions, school adjustment does not appear to
vary very much across the 13 countries
Generally, no difference between immigrants
(3.77) and the nationals (3.75)
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These are very low as well (lt 2.0) Immigrants
appear to have fewer behavior problems (1.54)
than the nationals (1.65)
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Method Cluster analysis with 13 variables

• Acculturation attitudes
• Integration, separation, assimilation,
  marginalization
• Cultural identity
• Ethnic and national identity
• Language
• Ethnic and national proficiency
• National language usage
• Peer social networks
• Ethnic and national
• Cultural values
• Family obligations adolescents rights

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Four profiles identified by cluster analysis

• Entire sample
• Integration profile 1576 (36.4)
• Ethnic profile 975 (22.5)
• National profile 810 (18.7)
• Diffuse profile 973 (22.4)

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Acculturation Profiles and length of residence
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Experience of discrimination
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Acculturation Profiles andNeighborhood
composition
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Mastery by Acculturation Profile
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Gender
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National and Immigrant Youth Adaptation ICSEY
Results

• Using the national youth as our comparison group,
  our results indicated that immigrant youth as a
  group are just as well adapted and in some cases
  better adapted than their national peers.

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National and Immigrant Youth Adaptation ICSEY
Results

• On the whole, immigrant youth reported slightly
  fewer psychological problems, better school
  adjustment and fewer behavior problems, although
  no significant differences were found between
  immigrants and their national peers in the areas
  of life satisfaction and self-esteem.

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National and Immigrant Youth Adaptation ICSEY
Results

• In other words, while immigrant youth appeared to
  be better adapted socio-culturally, they were not
  particularly different from their national peers
  in the area of psychological adaptation.

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Countries represented (with approx percentage of
immigrants)

• Settler societies
• Australia 25
• Canada 19
• Israel 37
• New Zealand 23
• US 12
• (Los Angeles 40)

• Non-settler societies
• Finland 03
• France 11
• Germany 09
• Netherlands 10
• Norway 07
• Portugal 02
• Sweden 11
• UK 07

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National Contexts

• In settler societies (eg., Australia, Canada,
  New Zealand and USA), immigration is recognized
  as a normal, necessary way to develop a society.
  
• Selection and Management are the options.
• In non-settler societies (e.g., Norway,
  Germany), immigration is a necessary evil to
  assist people who are less privileged

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Summary

• The profiles reflect individual differences in
  the way immigrant youth orient themselves in a
  new society.
• Individual profiles vary systematically across
  receiving societies.
• Integration is more common in settler societies.
• National least common in Norway

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Summary

• Ethnic groups differ systematically in the
  distribution of profiles
• E.g., Turks generally show more ethnic profiles
  and fewer integration profiles than other groups,
  but effects differ by country.
• Diffuse profile more common, and Ethnic profile
  least common among Vietnamese in Norway
• National profile least common among Turks

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Summary

• Adaptation is generally best in the integration
  profile, but not for all groups in all situations.

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Implications

• There might be the need to encourage and train
  people towards an Integration profile.
• The integration should be specially tailored for
  the different immigrant groups,
• Integration is not limited to only immigrants
  but the larger society as well

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Implications

• Encourage immigrant youth and their parents to
  identify with both their native ethnicity as well
  as that of the larger society
• Emphasize national language training, as well as
  encourage its use
• Best that immigrant youth do not enter into a
  clique of their own, they be encourage them to
  interact with their peers from both their own
  group as well as the national group.

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• TUSEN TAKK

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Adaptation

• The distinction proposed by Ward (1996 2001)
• Psychological adaptation in its broadest sense
  refers to an individuals satisfaction and
  overall emotional or psychological well-being.
• Sociocultural adaptation refers to how
  successfully the individual acquires the
  appropriate socio-cultural skills in living
  effectively in the new socio-cultural milieu.

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Adaptation

• Psychological adaptation Psychological symptoms
  self-esteem and satisfaction with life
• Sociocultural adaptation school adjustment and
  behaviour problems

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Acculturation strategies/Acculturation profiles

• Goes beyond Berrys strategies of AIMS Includes
• Cultural identity (Ethnic and national
  identities)
• Cultural values (Obligations and rights)
• Language (ethnic language proficiency, national
  language proficiency and national language usage
• Social relations (ethnic peer relations and
  national peer relations)

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Acculturation profiles (based on cluster
analysis)

• Integration Profile adolescents who highly
  endorsed the integration attitude, held both
  strong ethnic and national identities. high
  national language proficiency and had high peer
  contacts with both the nationals and their own
  ethnic group members.
• Ethnic profile adolescents with clear
  orientation towards their own ethnic group, high
  on ethnic identity, had more contacts with their
  own ethnic group and high on ethnic language
  proficiency and use.

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Acculturation profiles (based on cluster
analysis)

• National profile adolescents who valued
  assimilation, high on national identity and low
  on ethnic identity. Proficient in the national
  language and used it more often.
• Diffuse profile Proficient in, and regularly
  used, the ethnic language, but low on ethnic
  identity, and low national identity, low
  interaction with their national peers, but more
  importantly they scored high on both
  marginalization and assimilation