“They Keep an Eye on You”: Minority Pressure and its Implications for Dual Identity Among Six Immigrant Groups in the Netherlands

Abstract

The present study analyses perceived pressure to conform to minority group norms and examines its implications for identity (in-)compatibility among six immigrant groups in the Netherlands ( N = 5,783). We analyzed whether orientation toward the majority and minority and the perceived diversity climate explained individual and group differences in perceived minority pressure. Subsequently, we estimated multigroup models to examine whether perceived pressure moderated the association between minority and majority identifications. We found substantial group differences in perceived pressure that were not well explained by orientation toward the majority and minority groups, or the perceived diversity climate. Immigrants who had spent a larger proportion of their life in the receiving society experienced more, but those who had more work experience in the Netherlands experienced less pressure. Perceived pressure was higher the more the Netherlands was perceived as hospitable for immigrants, but also at higher levels of perceived intergroup hostility. Minority and majority group identifications were negatively associated across all six immigrant groups, but only among the Moroccan-Dutch did perceived pressure significantly moderate this association. Specifically, identifications became more compatible (i.e., more positively associated) at lower levels of pressure, a trend that we also observed among all other groups except the Turkish-Dutch; yet in these groups the interaction, though similar in magnitude and direction, was not statistically significant. We concluded that minority group dynamics may contribute to the (in-)compatibility of multiple group identifications, but more research is needed to understand the group characteristics that explain perceived minority pressure and its implications for minority members’ identification patterns.