scholarly journals Towards and understanding of the immigrant experience: Social-cognitive processes of identity development during cultural transition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Agnes Szabo

<p>In a highly globalized world, where more than 200 million people are living as international migrants (OECD, 2013), continuously confronting and negotiating the demands of at least two different cultures, there is a growing need to understand how cultural transition affects the identity of immigrants and explore the factors that can potentially contribute to the development of a positive, coherent, and consolidated immigrant identity. The current research programme integrates aspects of developmental and cross-cultural theory to gain a deeper insight in to the dynamics of identity formation and the processes involved in identity reconstruction during cultural transition from the very early stages of acculturation. Drawing from previous work on identity styles by Berzonsky (1989, 2011), chapter two introduces a new version of the Identity Style Inventory assessing social-cognitive information processing strategies during cultural transition (ISI-CT). The ISI-CT incorporates five distinct identity styles (analytical informational, exploratory informational, normative to the country of origin, normative to the host society, and diffuse-avoidant) and a measure of identity commitment. Three studies are presented reporting the construction of the ISI-CT and the examination of its factorial structure (study 1 and study 2), the convergent and discriminant validity of the assessment tool (study 1), and longitudinal relationships among subscales (study 3). Chapter three extends Berzonsky’s theorizing to acculturation research and tests a model of identity development with a diverse sample of newly arrived immigrants (N = 218). Results indicate that social-cognitive identity processing styles facilitate both positive and negative pathways to immigrant identity outcomes and highlight the central role of identity commitment during acculturation identity crises. In chapter four is presented a six-month longitudinal study that investigates the appraisal (threat or challenge) of identity stress in immigrants, the capacity of identity processing styles in reducing the negative effects of acculturative identity stress, and the prediction of psychological adjustment over time. Longitudinal interaction effects revealed that the analytical and exploratory informational styles enhanced the positive effects of challenge appraisal on psychological adjustment over time. In contrast, styles involving avoidance and normative orientation to one’s country of origin dampened the positive effects of challenge appraisal on psychological adjustment six months later. In sum, the series of studies reported in the present thesis draw attention to the central role of social-cognitive identity styles in terms of identity development, acculturative stress management, and long-term psychological adaptation of recent immigrants. The findings of the research programme have important implications for acculturation theory and research by highlighting the benefits of the developmental approach in the understanding of the immigrant experience. In addition, potential avenues for applications and future research are discussed.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Agnes Szabo

<p>In a highly globalized world, where more than 200 million people are living as international migrants (OECD, 2013), continuously confronting and negotiating the demands of at least two different cultures, there is a growing need to understand how cultural transition affects the identity of immigrants and explore the factors that can potentially contribute to the development of a positive, coherent, and consolidated immigrant identity. The current research programme integrates aspects of developmental and cross-cultural theory to gain a deeper insight in to the dynamics of identity formation and the processes involved in identity reconstruction during cultural transition from the very early stages of acculturation. Drawing from previous work on identity styles by Berzonsky (1989, 2011), chapter two introduces a new version of the Identity Style Inventory assessing social-cognitive information processing strategies during cultural transition (ISI-CT). The ISI-CT incorporates five distinct identity styles (analytical informational, exploratory informational, normative to the country of origin, normative to the host society, and diffuse-avoidant) and a measure of identity commitment. Three studies are presented reporting the construction of the ISI-CT and the examination of its factorial structure (study 1 and study 2), the convergent and discriminant validity of the assessment tool (study 1), and longitudinal relationships among subscales (study 3). Chapter three extends Berzonsky’s theorizing to acculturation research and tests a model of identity development with a diverse sample of newly arrived immigrants (N = 218). Results indicate that social-cognitive identity processing styles facilitate both positive and negative pathways to immigrant identity outcomes and highlight the central role of identity commitment during acculturation identity crises. In chapter four is presented a six-month longitudinal study that investigates the appraisal (threat or challenge) of identity stress in immigrants, the capacity of identity processing styles in reducing the negative effects of acculturative identity stress, and the prediction of psychological adjustment over time. Longitudinal interaction effects revealed that the analytical and exploratory informational styles enhanced the positive effects of challenge appraisal on psychological adjustment over time. In contrast, styles involving avoidance and normative orientation to one’s country of origin dampened the positive effects of challenge appraisal on psychological adjustment six months later. In sum, the series of studies reported in the present thesis draw attention to the central role of social-cognitive identity styles in terms of identity development, acculturative stress management, and long-term psychological adaptation of recent immigrants. The findings of the research programme have important implications for acculturation theory and research by highlighting the benefits of the developmental approach in the understanding of the immigrant experience. In addition, potential avenues for applications and future research are discussed.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 420-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Soenens ◽  
Michael D. Berzonsky ◽  
Dennis R. Papini

Although research suggests an interplay between identity development and self-esteem, most studies focused on the role of identity commitment and measured only level of self-esteem. This study examined longitudinal associations between Berzonsky’s (2011) styles of identity exploration and two distinct features of self-esteem: level of self-esteem and contingent self-esteem. Participants were 167 college students (mean age = 19 years; 66% female) who completed questionnaires tapping into identity styles and features of self-esteem at two measurement waves separated by a 4-month interval. Both information-oriented and normative styles were found to be predicted by contingent self-esteem. Follow-up analyses demonstrated that the content of contingent self-esteem predicting both identity styles was different. A diffuse-avoidant identity style was predicted mainly by low levels of self-esteem. Although we also observed some effects of identity styles on the self-esteem variables, the self-esteem variables had overall a more consistent influence on the identity styles than the other way around.


2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Neber ◽  
Kurt A. Heller

Summary The German Pupils Academy (Deutsche Schüler-Akademie) is a summer-school program for highly gifted secondary-school students. Three types of program evaluation were conducted. Input evaluation confirmed the participants as intellectually highly gifted students who are intrinsically motivated and interested to attend the courses offered at the summer school. Process evaluation focused on the courses attended by the participants as the most important component of the program. Accordingly, the instructional approaches meet the needs of highly gifted students for self-regulated and discovery oriented learning. The product or impact evaluation was based on a multivariate social-cognitive framework. The findings indicate that the program contributes to promoting motivational and cognitive prerequisites for transforming giftedness into excellent performances. To some extent, the positive effects on students' self-efficacy and self-regulatory strategies are due to qualities of the learning environments established by the courses.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquín Ibáñez-Alfonso ◽  
Rong Wei Sun ◽  
Gertina J. van Schalkwyk

The purpose of this project was to investigate the role of perceived parenting styles in the choice of identity processing and commitment among a group of Chinese youth. Examining the identity processing styles of 209 young people using the ISI-4 (Smits et al., 2008) and Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ; Buri, 1991), we hypothesised that parental styles and family socio-economic status would differentially impact the identity commitment of youth in Macao. The findings corroborated Berzonsky's (2004) model, with minor differences, showing a positive relation between authoritative parenting and informational processing and identity commitment. However, a negative relation between a normative processing style and identity commitment was found in the Chinese sample. Testing for the moderating effect of socioeconomic status showed that authoritative parenting combined with high SES levels lead to the informational processing style.


2021 ◽  
pp. 213-235
Author(s):  
Nicolette Vanessa Roman ◽  
Marsha van Heerden ◽  
Eugene Lee Davids ◽  
Kerstin Adonis

This chapter provides insight into the mother–adolescent relationship in a South African context, focusing on the relationship between identity styles and the mother’s parenting. The findings revealed that maternal involvement predicted adolescent identity style in a sample of non-White South African adolescents. Identity development is an important process in the lives of adolescents, and many changes and much decision-making occur during this phase. Maternal influence, it would seem, is vital in identity development of adolescents. As an understudied area of research in South Africa, this study offers tentative insights into the potential of harnessing the mother–adolescent relationship to enhance positive development of identity style and commitment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago Nascimento Ordonez ◽  
Thaís Bento Lima-Silva ◽  
Meire Cachioni

Abstract Objectives: The present study sought to characterize the degree of general satisfaction with life and degree of satisfaction on four domains: health, physical capacity, mental capacity and social involvement, and to determine the characteristics of self-reports of individuals enrolled on the program in relation to their psychological well-being focusing on the dimensions: autonomy, personal growth, control, positive relationships with others, purpose, personal acceptance and generativity, and to analyse the effect of time studying on level of well-being. Method: A total of 140 elderly students of a University for the Third Age took part in the study. The Global Satisfaction With Life Scale and the Self Development Scale (with six psychological well-being subscales) were applied. Continuous variables for the two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship among numeric variables. Internal consistency of the instrument scales was analysed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: Results showed that students who had attended the University of the Third Age for six months or longer had a higher level of satisfaction with life and greater psychological adjustment compared with new entrants to the same institution. Conclusion: The study results confirmed the positive effects of continuing education on the well-being of elderly and its contribution to successful aging.


Author(s):  
Ali Momen ◽  
Eva Wiese

Social robots with expressive gaze have positive effects on human-robot interaction. In particular, research suggests that when robots are programmed to express introverted or extroverted gaze behavior, individuals enjoy interacting more with robots that match their personality. However, how this affects social-cognitive performance during human-robot interactions has not been thoroughly examined yet. In the current paper, we examine whether the perceived match between human and robot personality positively affects the degree to which the robot’s gaze is followed (i.e., gaze cueing, as a proxy for more complex social-cognitive behavior). While social attention has been examined extensively outside of human-robot interaction, recent research shows that a robot’s gaze is attended to in a similar way as a human’s gaze. While our results did not support the hypothesis that gaze cueing would be strongest when the participant’s personality matched the robot’s personality, we did find evidence that participants followed the gaze of introverted robots more strongly than the gaze of extroverted robots. This finding suggests that agent’s displaying extroverted gaze behavior may hurt performance in human-robot interaction.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (42) ◽  
pp. 7-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hacer Nermin Çelen ◽  
Muharrem Ersin Kuşdil

Research has shown that authoritarian parents limit their children's freedom of expression and monitor their children's behavior according to their rules. Children of authoritative families tend to have high self-esteem and refer to internalized norms. Parenting is a cultural product. In this study the model presented is limited in the sense that it does not consider the cultural diversity. We must evaluate the identity not only with perceived parenting style but also within the socio-cultural context. The present study explored the relationships between identity styles and perceived parenting control patterns in late adolescents. Responses of 402 Turkish university students to the Berzonsky's Identity Style Inventory were factor-analyzed, and patterns of correlations between four identity statuses, Steinberg's Authoritative Parenting Scale, and Kağitçibaş1's Authoritarianism Scale and parental education were examined. The findings are discussed in relation to ways of incorporating the cultural context into the study of identity development.


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