This research aims to identify factors associated with marital instability among Jewish and mixed (Jewish and non-Jewish) couples following immigration from the former Soviet Union. Based on the Strangeness Theory and the Model of Acculturation, we predicted that non-Jewish immigrants would be less well adjusted personally and socially to Israeli society than Jewish immigrants and that endogamous Jewish couples would have better interpersonal congruence than mixed couples in terms of personal and social adjustment. The sample included 92 Jewish couples and 92 ethnically-mixed couples, of which 82 couples (40 Jewish, 42 mixed) divorced or separated after immigration and 102 couples (52 Jewish, 50 ethnically mixed) remained married. Significant differences were found between Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants in personal adjustment, and between endogamous and ethnically-mixed couples in the congruence between spouses in their personal and social adjustment. Marital instability was best explained by interpersonal disparity in cultural identity and in adjustment to life in Israel. The findings expand the knowledge on marital outcomes of immigration, in general, and immigration of mixed marriages, in particular.
This ethnographic study expands prior understanding of the intercultural encounter process by focusing on 29 Jewish and Arab children attending bilingual preschool and two preschool teachers during 16 class sessions. The findings shed light on a developmental stage at which the seeds of intercultural interaction begin to appear along the separation between Arab and Jewish children in terms of their social preferences. The presence of second language (L2) experts in the classroom prompted the formation of two groups based on children’s bilingual competence, an experts’ group and a novice one. On the one hand, some experts positioned themselves as competent bilinguals and teachers, willing to assume the role of L2 mediators and interpreters. On the other hand, the relative L2 competence prompted novice learners to be flexible and go beyond their ethnic identity in order to establish new social relationships. The data show that the process of L2 acquisition might play a catalytic role in activating a social mechanism for intercultural interaction and that, despite differences in the patterns of social adaptation, all children showed developmental intercultural changes.
EN This ethnographic study expands prior understanding of the intercultural encounter process by focusing on 29 Jewish and Arab children attending bilingual preschool and two preschool teachers during 16 class sessions. The findings shed light on a developmental stage at which the seeds of intercultural interaction begin to appear along the separation between Arab and Jewish children in terms of their social preferences. The presence of second language (L2) experts in the classroom prompted the formation of two groups based on children's bilingual competence, an experts' group and a novice one. On the one hand, some experts positioned themselves as competent bilinguals and teachers, willing to assume the role of L2 mediators and interpreters. On the other hand, the relative L2 competence prompted novice learners to be flexible and go beyond their ethnic identity in order to establish new social relationships. The data show that the process of L2 acquisition might play a catalytic role in activating a social mechanism for intercultural interaction and that, despite differences in the patterns of social adaptation, all children showed developmental intercultural changes.
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