Acculturation and Identity in Adolescents in Norway
Abstract
This survey is inspired by the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY), a comprehensive study which has looked at acculturation and cultural identity in adolescents from immigrant families across 13 countries. In the present survey 16 immigrant youths from two different ethnic minority groups in Norway – Somali and Albanian – were interviewed to find out more about their acculturation attitudes and experiences and their cultural identities. Eight Norwegian teenagers were also questioned. As regards acculturation, the Somali and Albanian adolescents were interviewed about how they prefer to live in the Norwegian society, i.e. to what extent they wish to retain their ethnic culture and to what extent they prefer to become involved with the larger society. In addition, they were questioned about their social contacts with peers, language proficiency and use, values as regards family relationships, as well as their perceived notion of discrimination. The Norwegian adolescents, on the other hand, were questioned on their attitudes towards cultural maintenance and intercultural contact, their social contacts with peers and their family relationship values. As to the question of cultural identity, the focus has been on to what extent the respondents identify with their ethnic group and with the larger society. The survey shows that the respondents generally favour an integration profile, and the non-Norwegian adolescents on average display a somewhat stronger ethnic identity than a Norwegian identity.
Full text article
References
Berry, J. W. (1974). Psychological aspects of cultural learning. Culture learning, 2, 17-22.
Berry, J. W. (1980). Acculturation as varieties of adaptation. In A. Padilla (Ed.), Acculturation: Theory, models and some new findings (pp. 9-25). Boulder, CO: Westview.
Berry, J. W. & Sam, D. L (1997). Acculturation and adaptation. In J. W. Berry, H. S. Segall & C. Kagitçbasi (Eds.), Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology: Vol. 3. Social Behaviour and Applications (2nd ed.), (pp. 291-326). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Berry, J. W., Phinney, J. S., Sam, D. L, & Vedder, P. (Eds.). (2006). Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Hall, S., Held, D. & McGrew, T. (Eds.) (1992), Modernity and its Futures. London: Polity Press, Open University.
Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic Identity in Adolescents and Adults: Review of Research. Psychological Bulletin, 108/3, 499-514.
Phinney, J. S. (2003). Ethnic identity and acculturation. In K. Chun, P.
Organista, & G. Marin (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research (pp. 63-81). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Phinney, J. S., Horenczyk, G., Liebkind, K. & Vedder, P. (2001). Ethnic Identity, Immigration, and Well-Being: An Interactional Perspective. Journal of Social Issues, 57/3, 493-510.
Phinney, J. S., Berry, J. W., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Understanding Immigrant Youth: Conclusions and Implications. In J. W. Berry, J. S. Phinney, D. L. Sam & P. Vedder (Eds.), Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition (pp. 211-234). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Phinney, J. S., & Vedder, P. (2006). Family Relationship Values of Adolescents and Parents: Intergenerational Discrepancies and Adaptation. In J. W. Berry, J. S. Phinney, D. L. Sam & P. Vedder (Eds.), Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition (pp. 167-184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Phinney, J. S., Berry, J. W., Vedder, P., & Liebkind, K. (2006). The Acculturation Experience: Attitudes, Identities, and Behaviors of Immigrant Youth. In J. W. Berry, J. S. Phinney, D. L. Sam & P. Vedder (Eds.), Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition (pp. 71-116). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An integrated theory of intergroup conflict. In W. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The Psychology of Culture Shock. (2nd ed.). Hove: Routledge
Authors
Copyright (c) 2008 Henrik Bøhn
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate and free open access to all its content and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as proper attribution is given. This policy is consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.