Authors
Background
Adolescents develop an understanding of their ethnic-racial-cultural identity through ethnic-racial socialization which refers to messages transmitted about ethnicity and race. Ethnic-racial socialization occurs in various contexts in which youth are embedded, such as families, schools, peer groups, neighborhoods, and the internet. Research so far has focused on socialization in these social contexts and their separate relations to the youth’s identity development. For instance, both family and school ethnic-racial socialization have been associated with adolescents’ ethnic-racial or cultural identity development. Nevertheless, because adolescents navigate complex socialization messages from both family and school, it is important to examine the two contexts together. The ways adolescents understand and define their ethnic-racial or cultural identity may differ if the messages they receive in one context (e.g., family) and the messages they receive in another context (e.g., school) are congruent or incongruent. In the current study, we explored the separate and interacting relations of family and school ethnic-racial socialization with cultural identity among adolescents of immigrant descent (i.e., adolescents who either themselves or at least one of their parents were born abroad).
Method
We used cross-sectional data collected in highly diverse, urban areas in the federal state of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany (N = 647), as part of a cross-national study on identity in 2015/2016. This study focuses on 311 early- to mid-adolescents of immigrant descent (ages 11–17, 6th, 8th , and 10th grade students, Mage = 13.85, SD = 1.82, 48.9 % female, 50.8% male, 0.6% gender not reported). This study employed adapted measures to test the main study variables such as family and school ethnic racial socialization, heritage and German identity. Regression analyses were used to test the direct paths, and interaction terms created and added to the models to test the interacting effects.
Results
Higher family cultural pluralism and intercultural learning at school were related to higher heritage culture identity, while higher equal treatment at school was related to lower heritage culture identity. Higher intercultural learning and equal treatment at school were related to higher German identity. Family promotion of mistrust had no direct relation to heritage culture or German identity. The interaction of family promotion of mistrust and equal treatment at school had relations to heritage culture but not to German identity.
Conclusion
These findings expand our understanding of the separate and complementary roles of family and school for supporting cultural identity development. For families, our results demonstrate the benefit of promoting same and cross-cultural relations for adolescents to develop a positive heritage culture identity. For schools, this study extends previous findings demonstrating benefits of engaging in intercultural learning for various developmental outcomes, including identity. Finally, although schools are often inclined to foster equal treatment in culturally diverse classrooms, this study contributes to the contradictory (negative or null) relations of equal treatment to cultural identity in school context, warranting further investigation. Given the interacting relations, understanding how adolescents construct their cultural identity while navigating various contexts will need more attention.
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