Anticipated and Perceived Intergroup Relations as Predictors of Immigrants’ Identification Patterns

Abstract

The present study among Ingrian-Finnish remigrants (N = 153) from Russia to Finland examined the effects of anticipated discrimination in the pre-migration stage on the way intergroup relations are perceived and multiple cultural identities are formed in the post-migration stage. First, the results indicated that anticipated discrimination in the pre-migration stage affected perceived discrimination, permeability of group boundaries, and group status legitimacy in the post-migration stage. Second, anticipated discrimination in the pre-migration stage was not directly associated with any of the identities in the post-migration stage, but it was indirectly associated with national identification, via perceived discrimination and permeability of group boundaries. Perceived discrimination and impermeability of group boundaries in the post-migration stage were associated with lower levels of remigrants’ national (Finnish) identification in the new homeland. Third, the perceived legitimacy of Ingrian-Finns’ low status was associated with increased Russian minority identification. The findings extend previous research on the effects of anticipated intergroup contact on actual intergroup encounters on the one hand, and on the effects of perceived discrimination, status legitimacy, and permeability of group boundaries on national and ethnic identification among immigrants, on the other.