Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition: Acculturation, Identity, and Adaptation Across National Contexts

340 Pages·2022·13.761 MB·English

by  John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney, David L. Sam, Paul Vedder

IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN
CULTURAL TRANSITION
The Classic Edition of ‘Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition’, frst published
in 2006, includes a new introduction by the editors, describing the ongoing
relevance of this volume in the context of future challenges for this vital feld of
study. It emphasizes the importance of continued actions and policies to improve
the quality of interactions between multiple ethno-cultural groups, and highlights
how these issues have developed the feld of cross-cultural psychology.
In the original text, an international team of psychologists with interests in
acculturation, identity, and development describes the experience and adaptation
of immigrant youth, using data from over 7,000 immigrant youth from diverse
cultural backgrounds and national youth living in 13 countries of settlement.
They explore the way in which immigrant adolescents carry out their lives at
the intersection of two cultures (those of their heritage group and the national
society), and how well these youth are adapting to their intercultural experience.
It explores four distinct patterns followed by youth during their acculturation: *an
integration pattern, in which youth orient themselves to, and identify with both
cultures; *an ethnic pattern, in which youth are oriented mainly to their own
group; *a national pattern, in which youth look primarily to the national society;
and *a diffuse pattern, in which youth are uncertain and confused about how
to live interculturally. The study shows the variation in both the psychological
adaptation and the sociocultural adaptation among youth, with most adapting well.
This Classic Edition continues to be highly valuable reading for researchers,
graduate students, and public policy makers who have an interest in public health,
psychology, anthropology, sociology, demography, education, and psychiatry.
John W. Berry is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Queen’s University,
Canada. He received his BA from Sir George Williams University, his PhD from
the University of Edinburgh, and Honorary Doctorates from the University of
Athens and Université de Geneve. He has published over 40 books in the areas
of cross-cultural, intercultural, social and cognitive psychology with various
colleagues. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and of many academic
associations.
Paul Vedder, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, Youth Care and Behavioral Problems
in Youth at Leiden University, Netherlands. Before this chair he held a chair
of Cultural Diversity in Education and Development at the same university.
His research focusses on youth inter- and intragenerational relationships in
acculturation contexts and how these affect their learning and development.
David L. Sam PhD is a professor of cross-cultural psychology at the University
of Bergen, where he divides his position between the Department of Psychosocial
Science (Faculty of Psychology) and the Department of Global Public Health
and Primary Care. Sam has been a Diasporean-Carnegie visiting scholar at the
University of Ghana. His research interest is in acculturation of young people
from a comparative perspective. He has also researched in several topical issues in
different countries including Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. He has published
books on acculturation and cross-cultural psychology.
IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN
CULTURAL TRANSITION
Acculturation, Identity,
and Adaptation Across
National Contexts
Classic Edition
John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney,
David L. Sam and Paul Vedder
Cover image: TBC
Classic edition published 2023
by Routledge
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© 2023 selection and editorial matter, John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney,
David L. Sam and Paul Vedder; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney, David L. Sam and Paul Vedder
to be identifed as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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First edition published by Routledge 2010
Originally published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 2006
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-31326-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-31327-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30919-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003309192
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage
Publisher’s Note
References within each chapter are as they appear in the original complete work
To the many young people and their parents who generously gave their
time to take part in our study, and to youth everywhere as they navigate
their own cultural transitions.

CONTENTS
Preface to the Classic Edition ix
J.W. Berry, D.L. Sam, P. Vedder
Foreword to the First Edition xii
K. Phalet
Preface to the First Edition xvi
J.W. Berry, J.S. Phinney, D.L. Sam, P. Vedder
Acknowledgments xxii
List of Figures xxvi
List of Tables xxx
List of Appendixes xxxiii
1 Introduction: Goals and Research Framework for
Studying Immigrant Youth. 1
J.W. Berry, J.S. Phinney, K. Kwak, D.L. Sam
2 Design of the Study: Selecting Societies of Settlement
and Immigrant Groups 15
J.W. Berry, C. Westin, E. Virta, P. Vedder, R. Rooney, D. Sang
3 Methodological Aspects: Studying Adolescents
in 13 Countries 47
P. Vedder, F.J.R. van de Vijver
viii Contents
4 The Acculturation Experience: Attitudes, Identities,
and Behaviors of Immigrant Youth 71
J.S. Phinney, J.W. Berry, P. Vedder, K. Liebkind
5 Psychological and Sociocultural Adaptation
of Immigrant Youth 119
D.L. Sam, P. Vedder, C. Ward, G. Horenczyk
6 Predicting Immigrant Youths’ Adaptation Across
Countries and Ethnocultural Groups 144
P. Vedder, F.J.R. van de Vijver, K. Liebkind
7 Family Relationship Values of Adolescents and Parents:
Intergenerational Discrepancies and Adaptation 168
J.S. Phinney, P. Vedder
8 Vietnamese and Turkish Immigrant Youth: Acculturation
and Adaptation in Two Ethnocultural Groups 186
P. Vedder, D.L. Sam, F.J.R. van de Vijver, J.S. Phinney
9 Understanding Immigrant Youth: Conclusions
and Implications 212
J.S. Phinney, J.W. Berry, D.L. Sam, P. Vedder
References 237
Appendixes 257
Index 292
PREFACE TO THE CLASSIC EDITION
The world continues to experience massive movements of people, with immi-
grants and refugees now totalling more than 280 million individuals living in
countries in which they were not born (IOM, 2022). In western countries these
immigrants are referred to as the frst generation. Numbers are evidently much
higher if the offspring of this frst generation, i.e., the second generation, are also
counted in. The frst generation as well as their descendants have a clear desire
to live culturally meaningful lives in their new societies. They have created com-
munities, countries and regions that are culturally diverse. A key question facing
all these societies is how everyone can live together with their newly introduced
and continuing cultural differences.
It is sometimes assumed that challenges that confront people living in the
culturally diverse societies result in many psychological and social problems, espe-
cially for youth who are seeking to fnd their way and their places in the complex
social systems (e.g., health care, formal education, social security) characteristic of
these societies (Anthony et al, 2020).
Our project with immigrant youth (ICSEY) was a cooperative one that
involved colleagues from 13 countries. The researchers who worked on the
ICSEY-project came together to examine our shared interest in how immigrant
youth were adapting to their situations in the new societies in which they had
settled (Berry, Phinney, Sam & Vedder, 2006). The main participants were over
5000 immigrant and over 2000 national youths. Apart from the youths, the study
also included about 3000 parents. Including the parents in the study created
opportunities to show that youth is not just confronted with acculturation tasks,
but also with tasks that are akin to their heritage culture and culture maintenance
(e.g., language and family values), as well as developmentally normative tasks.
Including the parents also added an educational and developmental perspective
to the study.