Dual Identity Development and Adjustment in Muslim Minority Adolescents

Abstract

Dual identity (e.g., strong ethnic and national identity) is a psychological resource for minority groups, but how it develops during adolescence is less clear. In this 3-wave longitudinal study, a person-oriented approach was used to examine dual identity development in a sample of 2145 Muslim adolescents (MT1 = 15 years, 51% female) in four Western European countries. The results of a growth-mixture model pointed toward four distinct developmental Classes: (1) “Dual identity”, (2) “Separation to dual identity”, (3) “Assimilation to dual identity”, and (4) “Separation”. Multiple group comparisons further showed that adolescents in Class 1 were well adjusted, but well-being (e.g., internalizing problems, life satisfaction) and health were even higher among adolescents in Class 2. Adolescents in Class 3 had consistently lower levels of well-being, and adolescents in Class 4 had lower levels of socio-cultural adjustment (e.g., problem behaviour at school, delinquent behaviour, and lack of intergroup contact). The findings underscore that most Muslim minority adolescents in Western Europe develop a dual identity, and that the developmental process, not simply the outcome, matters for adjustment.

Changes in Turkish- and Resettler-origin Adolescents’ Acculturation Profiles of Identification: A Three-year Longitudinal Study from Germany

“…The other two classes could be described as different kinds of integration, one group where individuals start from separated and move to integrated, and another class where both identifications are moderately high and stable over time. Another study with Muslim adolescents in four Western European countries (Spiegler et al 2019 ) found four different trajectory classes, integrated (both increasing), moving from separated to integrated, moving from assimilated to integrated, and separated (both decreasing).…”

Changes in Turkish- and resettler-origin adolescents’ acculturation profiles of identification: A three-year longitudinal study from Germany

“…What we observed, in contrast, was that the Integrated class was very large to begin with but decreased by 15 % points among Turkish-origin and by 25 % points among resettler-origin youth. This decline of integration is surprising given that other studies found that most ethnic minority adolescents develop some form of dual identity over time (Spiegler et al, 2019;Stoessel et al, 2014). To be sure, despite its decline the Integrated class is still the largest class compared to the other classes across all measurement occasions.…”

“…Both classes were characterized by high stability across time, and when changes occurred, individuals were more likely to transition from high to low integrated than vice versa. However, previous research (e.g., Spiegler et al, 2019) suggests that identification profiles are more varied in German samples.…”

“…Previous research has not always found support for the marginalization cluster and has sometimes found additional classes not theorized in Berry' model (e.g., Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008). We expected the integration profile to be the largest API (H1) based on previous findings that have observed integration to be the most common API among immigrant adolescents in mid-to-late adolescence (Spiegler et al, 2019;Stoessel et al, 2014). We examined discriminant validity of the final class solution with a number of auxiliary correlates of ethnic and national identificationethnic-national self-categorization, dual identification, perceived impermeability of national identity, attitudes toward ethnic majority members, GPA, and proportion of ethnic majority friends (cf.…”

“…The other two classes could be described as different kinds of integration, one group where individuals start from separated and move to integrated, and another class where both identifications are moderately high and stable over time. Another study with Muslim adolescents in four Western European countries (Spiegler, Wölfer, & Hewstone, 2019) found four different trajectory classes, integrated (both increasing), moving from separated to integrated, moving from assimilated to integrated, and separated (both decreasing).…”