NCJ Number
226931
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 38 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 654-671
Date Published
May 2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the cultural identities of adolescent immigrants in the pre-migration period and during the first 3 years after immigration.
Abstract
Results indicate that during the pre-migration period, immigrants’ attitude towards the receiving country was the most positive, attitude towards their homeland was the least positive, and their sense of belonging to their homeland was the weakest as compared with the post-migration period. In addition, the pre-migration attitude of immigrants towards the receiving country was more positive than their attitude towards their homeland. These finding indicate that people who consider emigration compare the situation in their homeland with that in the receiving country and assume a more positive evaluation of the receiving country. In addition, people preparing for emigration detach themselves from their homeland, which is expressed in their weak sense of belonging to their homeland in the pre-migration period. After immigration, each of the four components of cultural identity changed in a curvilinear fashion and followed different parabola curves. However, in all the components of cultural identities, the strongest change happened in the first year after immigration compared with the pre-migration period. Attitude towards the receiving country became less positive, while attitudes towards the homeland became more positive, and a sense of belonging to the homeland strengthened in the post-migration as compared to the pre-migration period. Data were collected from 151 Russian and Ukrainian adolescents in the ninth grade. Tables, figures, and references