Ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, life satisfaction and school achievement of Roma ethnic minority youth

Abstract

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant Youth across Cultures. This study tested a mediation model of ethnic socialization (i.e., parental practices that promote children's knowledge about their history, heritage culture, cultural authenticity, and ethnic bias management) in Roma youth. Roma are the largest ethnic minority group in Europe subjected to severe discrimination, both currently and historically. Participants were 202 Roma youth aged 14 to 19 years old (M ¼ 16.25, 53% females), who provided selfreports on their experience of ethnic socialization, ethnic identity, school achievement, and life satisfaction. Cultural pride reinforcement was related to better school achievement, whereas cultural coping with antagonism was positively related to life satisfaction. The study confirmed the model in that ethnic socialization was positively related to life satisfaction through effects on ethnic identity but negatively associated with school achievement. Findings have implications for adaptive cultural mechanisms promoting positive developmental outcomes among historically disadvantaged groups including those intersecting immigrant and multigenerational ethnic minority group categories.

Peer cultural socialisation: a resource for minority students’ cultural identity, life satisfaction, and school values

“…Third, we provide further evidence that heritage and mainstream identity may individually mediate the relationship between cultural socialisation and positive youth adjustment (e.g. Dimitrova, Johnson, and van de Vijver 2017). In line with previous research, the identification with the heritage and mainstream culture individually helped explain psychological and school adjustment of cultural minority youth in Germany (e.g.…”

“…More recently, parental mainstream socialisation has also been linked to positive school adjustment of cultural minority youth (Wang and Benner 2016). Importantly, heritage and mainstream identity may mediate the relationship between parent heritage socialisation and psychological and school adjustment (Gartner, Kiang, and Supple 2014;Dimitrova, Johnson, and van de Vijver 2017;Schachner, van de Vijver, and Noack 2014). In this study, we add to previous research by investigating this mediational effect among peers, and between perceived peer heritage and mainstream socialisation with life satisfaction and school values of cultural minority students.…”

“…Developmental psychologists have shown that parent heritage socialisation is directly associated with a variety of positive psychological and school adjustment outcomes (see Hughes et al 2006, for a review), including achievement, engagement, and school belonging (Gartner, Kiang, and Supple 2014;Wang and Benner 2016;Dimitrova, Johnson, and van de Vijver 2017). More recently, parental mainstream socialisation has also been linked to positive school adjustment of cultural minority youth (Wang and Benner 2016).…”

The health of segregated Roma: first-line views and practices: a case study in Slovakia using ethnographic methods

“…However, scientific studies mostly do not document the whole region, as most are only focused on single countries (e.g. Andreassen et al 2018;Cook et al 2013;Dimitrova et al 2013;Dimitrova et al 2018;Kamberi et al 2015;Kósa et al 2015;Nikolic et al 2015;Sedlecky et al 2015;Walfisch et al 2013;Zeljko et al 2013). Findings on other determinants of health in CEE Roma are even more varied and sparse.…”

‘No, I Don’t Like the Basque Language.’ Considering the Role of Cultural Capital within Boundary-Work in Basque Education

“…The concept of ethnic and social boundaries has been tested using students' voices to understand their interethnic and intraethnic relations and their connection to academic achievement, (Boda and Néray 2015;Dimitrova et al 2017;Lund 2015;Munniksma et al 2015;Thijs 2017;Van Praag et al 2015). For instance, Lund (2015) describes the multiethnic Swedish education system and suggests that, at school, students are categorized in terms of their Swedish or immigrant background.…”