Sticks and stones can break my bones, but ethnophaulisms can alter the portrayal of immigrants to children

An archival study examined the portrayal of ethnic immigrants to children as a function of the prevailing cognitive representation of those ethnic immigrant groups in ethnophaulisms. The complexity in ethnophaulisms (and, to a lesser degree, the valence in ethnophaulisms) predicted the portrayal of ethnic immigrant groups. Overall, ethnic immigrant groups characterized in terms of ethnophaulisms of low complexity were less frequently present in children's literature, children from these ethnic groups were described more in terms of physical appearance than in terms of personal traits, fictional child characters from those ethnic groups were portrayed with smaller heads and with lower verbal complexity, and the folksongs attributed to these groups had a more negative affective tone. The implications of these results for approaches to intergroup relations are considered.     

Ethnophaulisms for ethnic immigrant groups: the contributions of group size and familiarity

An archival analysis was conducted on the ethnophaulisms for ethnic immigrant groups as a function of the size and the familiarity of those groups. Cognitive representation was operationalized as the degree of complexity in, and the valence of, the ethnophaulisms applied to ethnic immigrant groups in the United States during each of 15 consecutive 10‐year time periods. Group size was operationalized as the number of first‐generation persons in these ethnic groups during each of these same 15 10‐year time periods. Familiarity was operationalized in terms of the number of times each ethnic immigrant group was mentioned in social histories and popular songs for each of these same 15 10‐year time periods. Ethnophaulisms for smaller groups tended to be less complex and more negative and ethnophaulisms for less familiar groups tended to be less complex and more negative. Analyses delineate the interrelations between ethnic immigrant group size, ethnic immigrant group familiarity, and the cognitive representations of these groups. The implications of these results for research on intergroup perceptions are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are cognitive differences between immigrant and majority groups diminishing?

A review is given of scores on various cognitive measures, comparing groups of ethnic Dutch and non‐Western immigrants using a large number of datasets. The research shows that there are large group differences in school results, work proficiency, and g for Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese, Netherlands Antilleans, and Indonesians from the Moluccans compared with ethnic Dutch. However, South‐East Asians score higher, and persons with one immigrant and one ethnic Dutch parent score only slightly below the mean of the Dutch. When comparing first‐generation disadvantaged immigrant groups with later generations the data show substantial improvements for g, a remarkable stability of educational differences for younger children, and a clear improvement in educational achievement at the end of primary school. Indirect data on intergenerational improvements in work proficiency appear suggestive of a trend of closing gaps. Some of the data reflect higher cognitive capacities over time, and this enhances integration of immigrants into Dutch society. Causes of group differences and improvements in mean level of g are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural influences for college student language brokers

Children from immigrant families often translate communication for parents, a process known as language brokering (LB). LB begins in childhood, but may continue through emerging adulthood, even when individuals are in college. We surveyed 1,222 university students with two immigrant parents and compared non-language brokers, infrequent language brokers, and frequent language brokers on a variety of ethnic, cultural, and identity measures. Significant differences emerged for cultural heritage value orientation, ethnic identity, and dimensions of acculturation with frequent language brokers scoring highest, infrequent language brokers scoring in the middle, and non-language brokers scoring the lowest on these measures. There were no significant differences on acculturative stress among these three groups. These results suggest that LB experiences may contribute to the development of psychological assets for ethnic minority, emerging adults from immigrant families.     

Acculturation Among Three Racial/Ethnic Groups of Host and Immigrant Adolescents

This study compares Latino host, Latino immigrant, Asian-American host, Asian-American immigrant and European-American host groups of adolescents with respect to four acculturation-related variables: ethnic identity exploration, ethnic identity affirmation/belonging, outgroup orientation, and American identity. Using the five ethno-generational categories as a grouping variable, we conducted analyses of 313 survey responses to the acculturation items at two time periods, 9 weeks apart. Results showed that differences among the three host racial/ethnic groups can best be explained by a group dominance perspective, whereby the two racial/ethnic minority groups are more similar to each other than they are to the European-American group. Furthermore, the relationship between American identity and ethnic identity components is stronger among the three host groups, as compared to the immigrant groups. Implications for future research with adolescent members of the host group whose heritage culture is non-European are drawn.     

Understanding subgroup differences with general mental ability tests in employment selection: Exploring socio-cultural factors across inter-generational groups

In employment selection, general mental ability (GMA) tests predict training and job performance but also lead to subgroup differences which in turn can produce adverse impact against minority groups. Although researchers have explored genetic, developmental, and environmental explanations for ethnic group differences, few studies have explored socio-cultural factors comparing immigrant and non-immigrant job applicants. Given that many ethnic job applicants may also be immigrants, understanding these factors can provide insight into GMA test score differences. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of individual and socio-cultural factors on GMA test scores with immigrant and non-immigrant bus driver applicants. This is the first study of its kind to our knowledge that has attempted to disentangle the effects of socio-cultural factors from race/ethnicity in the study of subgroup differences. Incorporating these variables between non-visible minority and minority groups accounted for considerable variance in GMA test scores across groups. The implications of focusing on socio-cultural variables to enhance our understanding of subgroup differences are discussed. Our results specifically suggest that practitioners attend to the issue of the intersecting grounds of potential discrimination when using GMA tests in personnel selection.     

Conceptualizing Culturally Infused Engagement and Its Measurement for Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Children and Families

Despite the central role culture plays in racial and ethnic disparities in mental health among ethnic minority and immigrant children and families, existing measures of engagement in mental health services have failed to integrate culturally specific factors that shape these families’ engagement with mental health services. To illustrate this gap, the authors systematically review 119 existing instruments that measure the multi-dimensional and developmental process of engagement for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families. The review is anchored in a new integrated conceptualization of engagement, the culturally infused engagement model. The review assesses culturally relevant cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral mechanisms of engagement from the stages of problem recognition and help seeking to treatment participation that can help illuminate the gaps. Existing measures examined four central domains pertinent to the process of engagement for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families: (a) expressions of mental distress and illness, (b) causal explanations of mental distress and illness, (c) beliefs about mental distress and illness, and (d) beliefs and experiences of seeking help. The findings highlight the variety of tools that are used to measure behavioral and attitudinal dimensions of engagement, showing the limitations of their application for ethnic minority and immigrant children and families. The review proposes directions for promising research methodologies to help intervention scientists and clinicians improve engagement and service delivery and reduce disparities among ethnic minority and immigrant children and families at large, and recommends practical applications for training, program planning, and policymaking.     

Using the Youth Self-Report internalizing syndrome scales among immigrant adolescents: Testing measurement invariance across groups and over time

Although the Youth Self-Report (YSR) has been used in many studies throughout the world, little is known about the equivalence of the factor structure of this instrument for immigrant adolescents. Measurement invariance of the three internalizing syndrome scales of the YSR was tested across four ethnic groups (native Dutch, Surinamese, Turkish, Moroccan) and over time. Results of the present study showed that the scales were invariant across all ethnic groups and over time. Together, the results indicated that the YSR can be used for developmental studies in these immigrant populations.     

Unilateral Facial Contractions Produce Mood Effects on Social Cognitive Judgements

Abstract

This study demonstrates that left and right unilateral facial contractions have similar effects on the expression of ethnic stereotypes as do negative and positive moods induced by more conventional means. Subjects who con tracted the left side of their face (negative mood inducer) were more likely to express negative stereotypes of ethnic groups than were subjects who contracted the right side of their face (positive mood inducer). This parallels previous findings obtained using two standard mood inductions: the Veltens mood induction procedure; and a musical mood induction procedure. Given that unilateral facial contractions manipulate mood without cognitive involvement, this mood induction may have advantages over previously used procedures, the effects of which are subject to cognitive mediation explanations. In addition, these results suggest that, at least for the expression of ethnic stereotypes, mood's influence on cognition does not depend on a cognitive component of mood induction.     

Formation, consolidation, and diversification of the ethnic elite: The case of the Chinese immigrant community in the United States

The Chinese immigrant community in the United States has gone through several historically significant periods: unrestricted immigration, Chinese exclusion, immigration on restricted quotas, and immigration on equal basis. Each historical period marks a unique pattern of immigrant adaptation and community development, which influences the formation, consolidation, and diversification of the elite. The aim of this article is to illuminate these processes within the greater Chinese immigrant community in the US. Members of the old elite are powerful to the extent that they are not assimilated; yet they remain powerless in the larger society because of their lack of participation. Members of the new elite groups, in contrast, achieve power by integrating themselves economically and socially into the larger society; yet their very integration, often at the expense of ethnic cohesiveness, subjects them to allegation of inferiority from the ethnic hierarchy. Thus they are powerless because they are too assimilated.     

The Relation Between Social Identities and Outgroup Hostility Among German Immigrant-Origin Citizens

One of the major drivers of societal conflict are the intergroup relations which rely mainly on social identity and which are rarely analyzed for immigrant groups. This article changes this point of view by investigating the extent to which national, ethnic, and religious identities relate to outgroup hostilities towards the majority of the German population, towards other immigrant groups, and towards Syrian refugees among immigrant-origin citizens. We employ a theoretical framework based on the social identity approach and use new representative survey data from 2017 for Germans of Turkish descent (N = 480) and Russian Germans (N = 471). Based on multivariate linear regression analysis, we show that ethnic identity has the strongest positive relation with outgroup hostilities, with the exception of the Russian-Germans' evaluation of the German majority population. National identity among Germans of Turkish descent lessens their hostility towards other immigrants. Our results show the importance of analyzing immigrant groups with different migration trajectories separately before making generalized claims. Not only are the identity relations different between an ingroup identification and various outgroup targets, but they are also different between the immigrant groups for the same ingroup identification and outgroup target.     

Anti‐Immigrant Propaganda by Radical Right Parties and the Intellectual Performance of Adolescents

In recent years radical right political parties have become a substantial electoral force in many countries around the world. Based on the vision of a mono‐ethnic state, anti‐immigration is these parties' core message. Connecting research on discrimination, social exclusion, and social identity threat, it was assumed that this anti‐immigrant propaganda undermines the intellectual performance of immigrant adolescents. In an experiment conducted at Austrian schools, the intelligence test performance of adolescents with an immigration background decreased after they were exposed to radical right election posters whereas ethnic majority adolescents remained unaffected. The results further suggest that individuals with a strong ethnic minority identity are less vulnerable to the detrimental impact of the radical right propaganda.     

An Intergroup Perspective on Immigrant Acculturation with a Focus on Collective Strategies

This study adopted an intergroup perspective on immigrant acculturation, which views immigrants as members of a disadvantaged social category. Its primary purpose was to relate the relative disadvantage of certain immigrant groups to a preference for collective acculturation strategies. Questionnaires were administered to immigrants from four ethnic groups, two of which (blacks from the Caribbean, and Chinese) were considered to be relatively more “stigmatized” within the Canadian context than the other two (Greeks and Italians). In addition, a cross-generational methodology provided comparisons between first-generation immigrants (n = 116), and their adult children (n = 133). It was hypothesized and found that the more “stigmatized” immigrants perceived themselves to be at a greater social disadvantage and were more supportive of a collective integration orientation than less stigmatized immigrants. Parents were more likely to endorse a collective acculturation orientation and exhibited a stronger ethnic identification than their children. The results are interpreted using an intergroup approach to immigrant acculturation.     

The Relationships of Teacher Ethnic Discrimination,Ethnic Identification,and Host National Identification to School Misconduct of Turkish and Moroccan Immigrant Adolescents in Belgium

We focus on school misconduct and how ethnic teacher discrimination, ethnic identification, and host national identification are associated with school misconduct of male and female immigrant adolescents. Additionally, we verify the moderating role of ethnic identification and host national identification. The results show that discrimination and host national identification are related with the school deviance of immigrant adolescents. The relationship between discrimination and school deviance differs for male and female adolescents. Ethnic identification and host national identification only moderate the relationship of ethnic teacher discrimination and school delinquency for girls who experienced ethnic teacher discrimination on a frequent basis.     

Bonds to the homeland: Patterns and determinants of women's transnational travel frequency among three immigrant groups in Germany

Technology developments have changed immigrants' adaptation patterns in modern societies, allowing immigrants to sustain dense, complex connections with homeland while adjusting in the host country, a new phenomenon termed transnationalism. As empirical studies on immigrant transnationalism are still scarce, the purpose of this study was to investigate mean levels and determinants of a core component of transnationalism—transnational travel. Hypotheses were based on context of exiting homeland, living conditions in Germany and demographic and sociocultural variables. Transnational travel behaviour was assessed as frequency of return trips in three immigrant groups in Germany: ethnic Germans, Russian Jews and Turks. Interviews were conducted with 894 women participants from these groups. Results showed substantial transnational travel behaviour in all groups with Turks reporting higher levels than ethnic Germans and Russian Jews. Interindividual differences in transnational travel within groups were also examined. Results indicated similarities (e.g. network size in home country related positively to transnational travel frequency in all groups) and group‐specific associations (e.g. co‐ethnic identifying related positively to transnational travel frequency among Turks, but negatively for the other groups). Our study highlights the need for a new understanding of immigration and emphasises the consideration of group‐specific mechanisms in transnational travel behaviour.     

Immigrant Parents and Their Emigrant Adolescents: The Tension of Inner and Outer Worlds

This article examines different experiences of immigrant parents and their children in transit between the parents' ethnic world and American culture through three clinical cases: a 16-year-old male, whose mother is Persian and father East Indian and who presents with depression and lack of focus; an 18-year-old girl, whose mother is Nigerian and father African American and who was reporting depressive symptoms and confusion about sexual identity; and an 18-year-old depressed male from an Assyrian Iraqi background whose parents both are from Northern Iraq, but have lived in the United States for 20 years. Adolescents of immigrant families have much more complicated tasks during this phase of their development to establish a future sense of self-identity. A well-consolidated sense of self-identity is more complicated for these types of multiethnic immigrant families. The adolescents must rely on parental ego functions and their coherent sense of identity to weather this stage of their turbulent experience. In their strong fantasy framework, these adolescents strive to belong to their new peer groups, in which parents do not belong, particularly when the immigrant parents present a variety of different social and cultural values discordant to the contemporary culture. The cases suggest that both positive and negative aspects of ethnic identification become diluted during adolescence, when identification with parental mores occurs.     

Effects of quantity and quality of home proximal processes on Dutch,Surinamese–Dutch and Turkish–Dutch pre‐schoolers’ cognitive development

This study examines the effects of mother–child literacy and problem solving interactions on 3–4‐year‐old children's cognitive development in a sample of Dutch middle‐class, Dutch lower‐class, Surinamese and Turkish immigrant families (n=130). Following the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner and Ceci, mother–child book reading and problem solving interactions are viewed as proximal processes actualizing genetic cognitive potential. Interactions are studied from a quantitative perspective, based on questionnaire data, concerning frequency of exposure to these interactions, and a qualitative perspective, based on observational data, concerning affective quality and cognitive content. The study was designed as a 1 year longitudinal study. It was found that effects of mother–child interactions on cognitive development differed across the groups, controlling for earlier cognitive competence and family's SES. The findings are interpreted within the frame of the bioecological model and the behavioral genetic research paradigm. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work and its place in the lives of immigrant women: Garment workers in New York City's Chinatown

Working wives and mothers are traditionally considered secondary wage earners, and employment is not automatically accompanied by occupational attainment of individual workers. For immigrant women, the double burden is compounded by lack of English, transferable education and skills, and knowledge of the larger economy. In this article, we have illustrated the special meanings of immigrant women's work in the context of ethnic enclave employment and family responsibility. Based on census data and fieldwork in the garment industry in New York's Chinatown, we have found that the particularly high rate of immigrant Chinese women's labor market participation is largely accounted for by the availability of jobs provided by the ethnic enclave economy, that those women are overrepresented in low-wage menial jobs, and that they tend to perceive their work as meaningful, despite of low wages, long working hours and poor working conditions. These findings suggest that survival is more important for immigrant Chinese women than their own rights in the workplace, at least in the earlier stages of immigrant adaptation, and that their wage labor is an indispensable part of the collective family effort for social mobility. The results imply that, for socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, it is difficult to achieve long-term social mobility merely through individual efforts. Therefore, policies dealing with those groups mired in poverty and confined to survival at the margins of society should put more emphasis on community development in connection to the promotion of individual education and job training.     

Beyond the Ethnic‐Civic Dichotomy: Cultural Citizenship as a New Way of Excluding Immigrants

In European Union (EU) countries, public debates about immigrants and citizenship are increasingly framed in cultural terms. Yet, there is no agreement within the citizenship literature on whether a cultural citizenship representation can be distinguished from the more established ethnic and civic representations and on how its measures relate to anti‐immigrant attitudes. The present study tested measures of citizenship representations among high school students (N = 1476) in six EU countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden). Factor analyses favored a three‐factor model of citizenship representations (i.e., ethnic, cultural, and civic factors), which showed partial metric invariance. Across countries, ethnic and cultural scales correlated positively with each other and negatively with the civic scale. Moreover, ethnic and cultural scales related positively and the civic scale negatively to anti‐immigrant attitudes. However, when analyzed simultaneously, relations of the ethnic scale with anti‐immigrant attitudes were no longer significant, while those of the cultural and civic scales proved to be robust. Implications of these findings are discussed.