Abstract
This study assesses the ethnic identity and ethnicity-related stress for adolescent immigrants accompanied by their families, for unaccompanied adolescent immigrants and for native (German) adolescents. Seventy adolescents completed the Ethnic Group Membership Questionnaire and the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire. Results show that unaccompanied adolescent immigrants (n = 20) report more negative private feelings about their own ethnic identity, lower beliefs about the public’s regard for their ethnic group and more ethnicity-related stress in the dimensions “perceived ethnic discrimination”, “stereotype confirmation concern” and “own-group conformity pressure” than accompanied adolescent immigrants (n = 25) and German adolescents (n = 25). Accompanied adolescent immigrants revealed higher scores than German adolescents only in the dimension “perceived ethnic discrimination”. Results support the hypothesis derived from the theory of social capital that for the accompanied adolescent immigrants, the family works as social capital, reduces ethnicity-related stress, and promotes the development of a positive ethnic identity.
Highlights
The experience of social stress and social discrimination is part of daily life for immigrants in the Western industrialized nations (Zick, Pettigrew, & Wagner, 2008)
All other planned comparisons were not significant. This means that adolescent immigrants do not generally have more negative feelings about their own ethnicity than German adolescents, H1a is only supported for unaccompanied adolescent immigrants but not for accompanied adolescent immigrants
Ethnicity-related stress and ethnic discrimination can jeopardize this process of integration and the development of a positive ethnic identity
Summary
The experience of social stress and social discrimination is part of daily life for immigrants in the Western industrialized nations (Zick, Pettigrew, & Wagner, 2008). The aim of the study is to differentiate between accompanied and unaccompanied adolescent immigrants and to focus on the family as a protective factor against stressors and social discrimination. While both groups may experience discrimination because of their social status as immigrants in a similar way, the burdens of young immigrants are different depending on whether they live with or without their parents in Germany. Young people who live with their parents in Germany may suffer under the social status as immigrants or the loss of the economic autonomy of the family. The extra burdens of unaccompanied refugees are the loss of their families and relatives and the feeling of isolation, which cannot be compensated by friendships (Klingelhöfer & Rieker, 2004)
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