Parenting, role reversals and the preservation of cultural values among Arabic speaking migrant families in Melbourne, Australia

Immigration often results in changes in family dynamics and gender roles, the loss of social networks and cultural identity, and difficulties interpreting and negotiating a new legal system. Understanding the specific nature of these changes and how factors are interlinked is a challenge for researchers. We explored cultural values, practices and behaviors relating to the family dynamics that Arabic speaking migrants (Sudanese, Iraqi and Lebanese) are confronted with and how they negotiate them in their new Australian environment. This study used qualitative methodology involving seven focus group discussions (n = 64). Participants were purposively sampled from three metropolitan regions of Melbourne, Australia based on (1) geographic location, (2) country of birth, and (3) generation (parents vs. young people). Findings revealed a state of family disharmony characterised by three major themes: (1) parenting and youth freedom; (2) parents’ struggle to preserve cultural values; (3) changes in gender roles post-migration. This study demonstrates that family unity is a core value, a cultural framework through which decisions and the role of family members are determined, and a reference for support and negotiating post-migration experiences and challenges. However, Arabic speaking parents did not trust the legal system, with the perception that it was undermining and against family dynamics and values. Effective family interventions targeting this sub-population will need to incorporate support for parents and positive parenting programs and be built within an intergenerational framework to address an intergenerational acculturation gap.     

Public university students’ preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies

Few attempts have been made to examine the effects of perceived threats that immigrants pose to host society on young people’s preferences for restrictionist or lenient immigration policies. Moreover, the existing literature is scarce on whether such perceived threats mediate the relationship between previously identified demographic antecedents such as gender, race or age and preferences for certain immigration policies. To address these gaps, this study examines direct and mediating effects of perceived economic, cultural and security threats on preferences for lenient or restrictionist immigration policies. Using a sample college students' survey data (N = 604) on their attitudes towards immigration, our findings of logistic regression analysis show that the three dimensions of perceived threat were all positively associated with preference for hardline immigration policies. In addition, regardless of inclusion of perceived threats in the logistic model, being Republican was a consistent positive predictor of the hardline immigration agenda, while female was a consistent negative one. Finally, the results of path analysis of Structural Equation Modeling indicate mediating effects of cultural threat on the relationships between political affiliation (Republican and Independent) and race (Latino) and support for hardline immigration policies.     

Mindsets about language learning and support for immigrants’ integration

People rely on their lay theories, or mindsets, to make meaning of their experience in intercultural contact. Given that proficiency in the local language is a crucial social marker of immigrants’ integration, we argue that language mindsets (i.e., beliefs about whether language learning ability is fixed or changeable) guide members of the receiving society to make inferences about immigrants’ language ability (e.g., “can immigrants improve their language ability?”). This social inference, in turn, predicts their willingness to interact with immigrants and support immigrants’ language education. In a correlational study (n = 231) and an experimental study (n = 106), we investigated whether and how language mindsets influence participants’ support for immigrants’ intercultural contact. We found that trait and experimentally-induced fixed (vs. growth) mindsets led to negative judgments of immigrants’ potential to develop their skills in the local language, which in turn predicted avoidance of contact with migrants and opposition to governmental funding of immigrants’ language education. The effects held even after controlling for participants’ political orientations, perceived difficulties of the English language, and judgments of target immigrants’ language fluency. These findings suggest that promoting growth mindsets about language ability can lead to more positive intercultural attitudes that impact the acceptance of migrants. We discussed the implications of language mindsets for understanding the processes of intercultural communication and forming positive intercultural relations.     

Whither multiculturalism? Global identities at a cross-roads

Technological advancement and the quantum leap in global trade had enabled many countries to enter an era of multiculturalism where intergroup contact with members of another ethno-cultural community is the norm rather than the exception. While this phase of economic development is considered progressive by many, it is also regarded as a perilous stage in nation building. Immigration, acculturation, and intergroup tensions will form the nexus of all future contestations with the various social groups negotiating with and/or vying against one another for political rights and status. At the same time, the notion of culture has become increasingly blurred given the multiplicity and interwoven nature of social identity arising from the transnational human movement and the transmission of values. With these considerations in mind, this chapter explores and extrapolates the emerging fabric of multiculturalism across various continents using a historical, socio-political, and psychological lens. Contemporary acculturation and intergroup frameworks are re-visited with the aim to discover new theoretical insights, while keeping in mind the possible trajectory of multiculturalism and how diversity will be managed in the decades to come.     

Who adopts the culture of ethnic minority groups? A personality perspective on majority-group members’ acculturation

Acculturation is commonly conceptualized as a two-way process in which all groups involved in intercultural contact change. Yet, very little is known about the acculturation orientations of majority-group members and the factors that differentiate those who adopt aspects of minority groups’ culture from those who reject them. In the present research, we for the first time aimed to answer this question from a personality perspective. A total of 301 White majority-group members living in the U.S. first completed a personality assessment and then indicated the extent to which they maintained their own culture and adopted the culture of ethnic minority groups. Our analytic approach combined top-down variable-centered and bottom-up person-centered analyses. In terms of variable-centered analyses, participants who adopted the culture of minority groups scored lower on conscientiousness and higher on openness. Moreover, adoption of minority-group cultures was positively associated with the personality facets sociability and inquisitiveness, and negatively with modesty and prudence. In terms of person-centered analyses, four acculturation clusters emerged, resembling strategies commonly observed among minority groups: marginalization, separation, integration and a diffuse strategy in which participants scored around the midpoint on own culture maintenance as well as minority culture adoption. Interestingly, especially this diffuse cluster differed from the other clusters on personality traits and facets, with participants tending to be more open than integrated and separated individuals, and less conscientious than separated individuals. The present report suggests that personality traits may help explain how majority-group members acculturate and highlights avenues for future research.     

Through the looking glass: Ethnic and generational patterns of immigrant identity

Traditional theories of the “looking glass self” and “social mirroring” assume that people's views of their own group reflect the societal view. Crocker and colleagues (Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R., Blaine, B., & Brodnax, S. (1994). Collective self-esteem and psychological well-being among white, black, and Asian college students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 503–513), however, found ethnic group differences in the extent to which private and public views correspond. We report data from two studies that further examine this correspondence in (a) a sample of first- and second-generation Black immigrants and (b) samples of first- and second-generation Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latino, and White immigrants. Study 1 shows significant shifts for Black immigrants, from a high correlation between public and private regard in the first generation to a non-significant relationship in the second generation. Study 2 replicates the findings for the Black sample and shows different patterns of association for the other three groups. It also shows that endorsement of multiculturalism moderates the relationship between public and private regard among first generation Black and Latino immigrants. We discuss these results in terms of managing the negative value associated with one's group in society and consider immigration as a site for studying social change.     

Criteria of sociocultural adjustment: The case of the Russian Community in Israel since 1989

This research focuses on criteria for evaluating the success of sociocultural adjustment among immigrants in the target society. The major research objective is to clarify whether the desired outcome of integration as described by immigrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and natives (Israelis) reflects the same or different models of sociocultural adjustment. Representative samples of immigrants and long-time Israelis completed a 67-item questionnaire where each item represented a criterion of sociocultural adjustment. These items were organized by factor analysis into 12 spheres of sociocultural adjustment (e.g., psychological, economical, educational, etc.). The immigrants preferred the selected acculturation model of sociocultural adjustment: selective adoption of the target culture while maintaining an affinity to the native one. In comparison, the host Israelis favored an integrative model: general (unselective) adoption of the new culture and preservation of an affinity to the native one.     

Big city,little worries? Little city,big worries? How immigration levels and city size shape safety perceptions in urban Europe

With increasing immigration in European cities, questions surrounding social inclusion and exclusion rise. Although research has often analyzed how the size of the immigrant population in a country or a neighborhood relates to perceptions of safety (even though there is no demonstrated link between immigration and crime), research has not analyzed the presence of immigrants in the wider city, despite the fact that cities are highly diverse places that comprise the daily rounds of most residents. In our study, we analyze how the size of the non-EU immigrant population in a city is linked with how Europeans perceive safety in their neighborhood and their city. Using a survey of approximately 28,000 Europeans from 63 cities in 25 countries, our multilevel binary logistic regression analyses show three primary findings. First, urban Europeans on average feel more unsafe in their cities than their neighborhoods. Second, city-level percentage non-EU born is important only in conjunction with a moderator: city population size. We find that respondents feel more unsafe in cities with more non-EU immigrants in less populous cities, but in more populous cities respondents feel safer in cities with more non-EU immigrants. Third, in an analysis of subset of cities for which crime data were available, the second finding holds when controlling for homicide rates. Our conclusions connect how cities can be an important scale to understand links between immigration and fear of crime.     

“It wasn’t my idea to come here!”: Ownership of the idea to immigrate as a function of gender,age, and culture

The present study investigated gender, age, and culture differences in immigrants’ ownership of the idea to immigrate to Australia. Married immigrants (N = 1702) indicated whose idea it was to immigrate: their own, their partner's, or a joint idea. Consistent with a patriarchal model, female immigrants were significantly less likely to claim ownership of the idea than male immigrants, and this difference partially mediated gender differences in post-immigration satisfaction. In addition, age and culture qualified gender differences in ownership of the idea to immigrate. Young women and nonWestern women were least likely to claim ownership of the idea. The generality of the patriarchal model across age and culture is discussed.     

A two-way process? A qualitative and quantitative investigation of majority members’ acculturation

Acculturation refers to changes that result from intercultural contact. Although it is commonly defined as a two-way process with changes occurring among both minority members and majority members, surprisingly little research has focused on the acculturation of majority members. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, the present study attempted to fill this gap by exploring how and how much majority members change because of exposure to immigrant cultures. In the first part, using an open-response format, majority members reported positive as well as negative cultural change across a broad range of life domains. Most changes were reported in the private as compared to public sphere, and in terms of behaviours rather than values. Second, based on their responses to quantitative acculturation scales, the majority-group participants could meaningfully be clustered into three acculturation strategies commonly used to describe minority-group members’ acculturation, namely a separation, integration and undifferentiated acculturation cluster. No evidence for an assimilation cluster was found. Separated majority members (i.e., who maintain their majority culture but do not adopt immigrant cultures) reported significantly more identity threat and perceived ethnic discrimination, but also higher self-esteem. Interestingly, integrated majority members (i.e., who both maintain their majority culture and adopt immigrant cultures) were three times less likely to live in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods as compared to separated participants. The results of this study offer important insights into majority members’ acculturation experiences and their psychological importance. Implications for culturally plural societies and future research are discussed.     

Declining and splitting: Opposition to immigration in the United States, 1996–2018

The ‘competitive threat’ theoretical model leads to the expectation that flows of documented and undocumented immigrants, economic downturns, and spread of conservative-nationalist ideologies would increase opposition to immigration. Recent studies on attitudes toward immigrants in American society do not show any increase in anti-immigrant sentiment. In the present study, we use data from the General Social Surveys (GSS) and American National Election Survey (ANES) to study change in opposition to immigration between 1996 and 2018. The findings obtained from the two data sources are strikingly similar and lead to the following conclusions. First, opposition to immigration had steadily and monotonously declined throughout the period. Second, the decline is evident even after considering variations and changes in the composition of the population, shifts in political ideologies, regional variations and cohort replacement. Third, the trend of decline in opposition to immigration takes a linear form. Fourth, opposition to immigration is stronger among Republicans and Independent voters than among Democrats. Fifth, the overtime decline in opposition to immigration was evident mostly among supporters of the Democratic Party increasing the division along party lines. The findings suggest that immigration is becoming a major political issue that is steadily polarizing American society.