Living In-Between or Within? Cultural Identity Profiles of Second-Generation Young Adults with Immigrant Background

ABSTRACT

Migration flows have generally led to an increase in questions about the multiple influences on people’s cultural identity. This study aims to examine more closely the ways in which second-generation individuals of Portuguese descent juggle a two-fold cultural environment. We opted for a person-centered approach with a sample of N = 70 adults, all from Portuguese immigrant families living in the Grand-duchy of Luxembourg. Results yielded three different bicultural profiles: blended, alternating bicultural, and a new ambivalent cultural identity profile. Our results distinguish between psychological markers of identity and the behavioral aspects necessary for the transition from one cultural framework to the other. In addition, we observed different patterns of psychosocial health among the four cultural identity profiles. Our research enriches the literature by highlighting different endorsement of regulatory control strategies of second-generation adults according to their cultural identity profile, with different psychological outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Bicultural identity
• migration
• regulatory strategies
• psychological outcomes
• second generation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The quote refers to a statement made by a participant of the qualitative interviews, within the IRMA project lead between 2013 and 2016. Joana is a young adult born in Luxembourg of Portuguese immigrant parents.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg [C12/SC/4009630/IRMA/Albert -Intergenerational Relations in the light of Migration and Ageing].