Determinants of Differential Acculturation of Developmental Timetables among Adolescent Immigrants to Germany

Abstract

The acculturation of developmental timetables for autonomy was studied in a sample of 220 ethnic German immigrants from Romania, Poland, and countries of the former Soviet Union. A distinction was made between the timing of autonomy from parental supervision and autonomy in social relationships. Four waves of semi‐annual asessments were conducted for two groups, newcomers (0–18 months of residence in Germany) and experienced immigrants (more than 18–36 months). From these assessments a gradual acculturation of timetables was observed, resulting, as expected, in considerably earlier ages at which the two facets of autonomy were accomplished. The rate of acculturation was predicted to be related to prior interindividual differences in parent‐adolescent interaction and frequency of adolescents' activities outside the home. As expected, higher levels of conflict and permissiveness reported by parents, and lower levels of monitoring and more frequent out‐of‐home activities, corresponded to a more accelerated acculturation to earlier timetables concerning autonomy from parental supervision—especially among the newcomers. With regard to autonomy in social relationships, the results were less clear, presumably due to the fact that prior interpersonal experiences were less associated with this facet of autonomy. Higher levels of the family variables studied encourage “escape” from the constraints of the newcomers' provisional homes, and thus provide opportunities to make contacts and adopt the lifestyle of adolescents from the general German population. In general, prediction was not possible concerning adolescents whose residence in Germany was longer than 18 months. For this group of immigrants, such escapes no longer serve the expected purpose because they have access to other opportunities, which were not measured in this study.