Psychological Adaptation of Adolescents With Immigrant Backgrounds

Abstract

In the present study, the author examined 3 theoretical perspectives–family values, acculturation strategies, and social group identity–as predictors of the psychological well-being of adolescents from immigrant backgrounds. The 3 perspectives share the view that immigrants' successful adaptation involves the balancing of their heritage culture and the culture of the society of settlement. The participants were 506 adolescents from 4 backgrounds–Vietnamese, Pakistani, Turkish, and Chilean–who were living in Norway. The 3 theoretical perspectives together accounted for between 12% and 22% of the explained variance of mental health, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. The predictive powers of the different perspectives, however, were dependent on which outcome was predicted. On the whole, social group identity showed the strongest predictive power.