The Third Transitional Identity of Migrant Adolescents. The Case of Hotel House, an Italian Multi-Ethnic Skyscraper-Ghetto

Alessandra Fermani,Ilaria Riccioni,Ramona Bongelli,Giorgio Cingolani,Laura Vincze

doi:10.3390/soc11020051

Alessandra Fermani, Ilaria Riccioni + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020051

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Journal: Societies	Publication Date: May 25, 2021
License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Macerata, Roma Tre University

Abstract

The adolescent’s identity achievement is a complex task, even more so if they are migrants living in a particular context of ethnic ghettoization. Hotel House is an enormous, isolated condominium situated on the outskirts of Porto Recanati, a small Italian town. It is a unique reality poorly studied from a social psychological perspective. The present paper aims to measure the perceived levels of self-concept clarity, self-determination, ethnic group identification, relationship with parents, depression and life satisfaction in a group of 91 adolescents (11–19 years; 30% females; 1.5 immigrant’s generation) living in this context. The analysis shows low levels of self-concept clarity and self-determination, especially in female adolescents, quite satisfactory relationships with their parents and medium levels of group identification and life satisfaction. The identification with their ethnic subgroups seems to provide a third transitional identity which works as a temporary link between native country values and host country values. The regression analysis shows significant associations: self-determination is negatively associated with depression and positively associated with the perception of life satisfaction; the father’s closeness is a negative predictor for depression and a positive predictor for life satisfaction; mother’s closeness is negatively associated with depression.

Highlights

In contemporary times, owing to massive migratory flows, studying the processes of adolescents’ ethnic identity formation is highly significant, especially in contexts where inclusion seems difficult
We study the ethnic identity achievement in a group of male and female migrant adolescents living in an ethnic ghetto, engendered by the environment and architecture of the building which they inhabit, i.e., the skyscraper named Hotel House in the city of Porto Recanati (Marche Region, Italy)
The difference scores were examined with a 2 × 2 × 11 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA): Age × gender × the dimensions obtained from the 11 factor analyses

Summary

Introduction

In contemporary times, owing to massive migratory flows, studying the processes of adolescents’ ethnic identity formation is highly significant, especially in contexts where inclusion seems difficult. We study the ethnic identity achievement in a group of male and female migrant adolescents living in an ethnic ghetto, engendered by the environment and architecture of the building which they inhabit, i.e., the skyscraper named Hotel House in the city of Porto Recanati (Marche Region, Italy). In this context, ‘ghetto’ refers to an area in a city, especially a poor area, where people of particular ethnic groups or religions live closely together but apart from other people; it is characterised by members of minority groups living there because of social, legal or economic pressure [4]. This identity functions as a temporary bridge (for the period when the adolescents stay in between) between native and host country values

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