Heritage culture and national identity trajectories: Relations to classroom cultural diversity climate and socioemotional adjustment for adolescents of immigrant descent

Abstract

Adolescents’ heritage culture and national identities are potential developmental assets for socioemotional adjustment. The school context can support the development of such identities. Therefore, the aims of our study are to (1) identify patterns of heritage and national identity trajectories across mid-adolescence, (2) test whether they are predicted by classroom cultural diversity climate, and (3) test whether they are linked to socioemotional adjustment. Adolescents of immigrant descent in Germany (N = 431, 50.3% female, Mage = 12.36 at T1) filled out surveys at the beginning (T1) and end of 7th grade (T2), and end of 8th grade (T3). Using latent growth mixture models, three trajectories were identified, which had stable, moderate national identities but varied in heritage identity: “high decreasing heritage identity”, “moderate stable identities”, and “low increasing heritage identity”. At the classroom level (but not individual level) diversity climate at T1 predicted a “moderate stable identities” trajectory, compared to a “low increasing heritage identity” trajectory. Further, adolescents in the “moderate stable identities” trajectory reported higher life satisfaction at T3 compared to those in the “low increasing heritage identity” trajectory. Overall, the findings suggest heterogeneity in identity trajectories with implications for socioemotional adjustment.