National Identity Development Among Minority Youth: Longitudinal Relations with National Fit Perceptions and School Belonging.

Across Western Europe, immigrant-origin minority youth often struggle to belong socially and to develop national self-identification. Yet, almost no research to-date has asked how these youth perceive the cultural contents of the national identity in their residence country-or rather, to what extent they perceive youth like them to (mis)fit the national identity. The present study addressed this research gap by centering schools as developmental contexts of evolving belonging and national self-identification and newly inquiring into minority youth's perceptions of national (mis)fit as critical levers of their national identity development. Drawing on data from two annual waves of the Leuven-Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Leuven-CILS), a sample of 942 Moroccan- and Turkish-origin youth (Mage-T1 = 14.98, SD = 1.22; 52% female) in 62 Belgian schools was used. Cross-lagged analysis combined repeated measures of school belonging and national self-identification with vignette measures of the perceived national fit of (imagined) culturally different peers. While school belonging and national self-identification were unrelated over time, earlier perceived national fit uniquely enabled more national self-identification one year later, over and above evolving school belonging. These findings suggest that experiencing belonging in school does not suffice for minority youth to develop national self-identification. Schools may, however, promote national identity development through redefining national identities to include cultural diversity-thereby signaling to minority youth that they can fit the national identity.

The Role of SES in Preadolescence: Understandings and Group Evaluations based on Income, Education, and Occupation.

Socioeconomic status (SES) predicts many facets of preadolescents' life opportunities, yet little is known about how children perceive SES and whether it plays a role in their group evaluations. This study examined preadolescents' socioeconomic understandings and biases (investigated presenting fictitious peers varying in SES), while separating the three SES-indicators income, education and occupation. Five classes (Grade 4-6) with 89 students (Mage = 10.44, SD = 0.93; 40% female) participated. Overall, preadolescents understood that the SES indicators income, education and occupation are related to each other. At the same time, they differentiated between the indicators in their group evaluations; they showed a positive bias for peers with high-educated parents, whereas for occupation and income there was no clear overall bias. This shows that differences between SES indicators are meaningful for children, which emphasizes the importance to distinguish between specific SES-indicators when studying the role of SES for preadolescents' social life.

Researching religion and migration 20 years after '9/11': Taking stock and looking ahead.

This contribution to the special issue on religion and migration reviews two decades of large-scale survey research on changes in immigrant religion and the relationship between immigrants' level of religiosity and their integration into European societies. The body of work reveals that Muslims in European societies stand out due to their comparatively high levels of religiosity and greater stability in religiosity over time and across immigrant generations. While the comparative picture is rather clear, findings regarding the long-term trend in Muslims' religiosity and its association with immigrant integration are instead inconclusive. A systematic review of empirical studies of the association of (various indicators of) individual religiosity with immigrant integration reveals positive, negative and non-significant results for all outcomes and domains. Thus, based on the current state of art it is hard to assess whether and why religion forms a bridge or barrier to immigrant integration in Europe. To move the field forward, the contribution ends with a twofold proposal for a research agenda that includes a broadened empirical scope, moving beyond the focus on Sunni Muslims, and a conceptual extension that focuses on differences in reasoning about religion and religious meaning-making as additional, potentially more consistent and more powerful explanation for immigrants' social relations and positions in their new societies.

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

Little is known on how ethnic minority adolescents develop acculturation profiles of identification (i.e., how they combine their ethnic and national identification, such as being high on both and thus rather "integrated" or high on ethnic and low on national and thus rather "separated"). In a first step, this 3-year longitudinal study classified Turkish (n = 344) and resettler-origin (n = 121) ethnic minority adolescents living in Germany (Mage = 14.2, SD = 1.54, 51.6% female) according to their levels of ethnic and national identification. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles (separated, integrated, medium-ethnic, low-ethnic) for the former and three profiles (separated, integrated, low-and-medium ethnic) for the latter group. Latent transition analyses revealed considerable instability of profile attributions over time. Integration declined among both groups and results provided no evidence that national group boundaries are more permeable for resettler-origin than for Turkish-origin adolescents. Additional analyses revealed that perceived ethnic discrimination affected the probability to be in a particular profile but did not moderate transition probabilities. Overall, results suggest that during early-to-mid adolescence it is increasingly difficult to uphold a dual identity.

Similar or divergent paths? Religious development of Christian and Muslim adolescents in Western Europe.

Little is known about the religious development of youth in Europe. In light of the growing ethnic diversity of Western European populations, this paper examines two groups of youth with an immigrant background, i.e. Christian and Muslim youth, and compares their religiosity to that of Christian native youth. We differentiate between three indicators of religiosity, namely, subjective importance of religion, frequency of service attendance, and praying frequency. In addition to comparing the changes in the mean of religiosity between groups, we also investigate variations within groups over time. We employ the first three waves of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), which were collected between 2010 and 2013 with adolescents residing in 958 classes within 480 schools in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Multiple group linear growth models show that there is an overall slight decrease in subjective importance of religion, frequency of service attendance and praying frequency for Christian youth, while Muslim youth do not experience any significant change on these accounts. Furthermore, the changes in service attendance and praying frequency vary significantly between youth within all groups, while the change with regard to subjective importance of religion varies most within Christian youth and least within Muslim youth.

Identity threat and identity multiplicity among minority youth: Longitudinal relations of perceived discrimination with ethnic, religious, and national identification in Germany.

The notion that ethnic and religious minority identities are inherently incompatible with the national identities of European immigrant-receiving societies is popular in public discourse. Although findings documenting such negative associations seemingly support this claim, other research shows that the intergroup context matters for the extent to which minorities' ethnic and religious identities are conflicting (i.e., negatively associated) or compatible (i.e., positively associated) with European national identities. However, previous research relied on cross-sectional data and therefore could not capture the dynamic process through which minority youth come to develop compatible or conflicting identification patterns. We extend this work with a longitudinal approach by capturing developmental trajectories of identity multiplicity among ethnic minority early adolescents in Germany over three waves with 9-month intervals. At each measurement point, participants reported their ethnic, religious, and (German) national identification and their experiences with discriminatory treatment. We estimate a cross-lagged panel model to study how identification relates to perceived discrimination and how this affects (changes in) associations between ethnic, religious, and national identification of minority youth. Our results show prevalent positive associations between ethnic, religious, and national identification across minority youth in the sample. Those who report more frequent discrimination, however, lower their (German) national identification over time, which in turn predicts increased minority identification. We conclude that identity threat indeed triggers a development of more conflicting identification patterns.

Contingent National Belonging: The Perceived Fit and Acceptance of Culturally Different Peers Predicts Minority Adolescents' Own Belonging.

Prevailing definitions of national identities in Europe equate belonging to the nation with "fitting in" culturally and leave immigrant minorities who are culturally different from the majority group struggling to belong. The present study focuses on an under-researched minority perspective on the intersubjective cultural contents of the national identity. We propose that minorities' national belonging is contingent on their perception that minority peers who deviate from the majority culture are accepted as real nationals. Our study aims to establish (a) minority perceptions of the national fit and acceptance of culturally different peers, and to test (b) the consequences of perceived fit and acceptance for minority adolescents' own national belonging, and (c) its affordances by the local peer context. Drawing on a large random sample of 1,489 Moroccan and Turkish minority youth (aged 12-18) and their peers across 312 classes in 63 Belgian schools, we varied cultural difference from the majority in three vignettes describing imaginary acculturating peers. Minority participants rated to what extent they saw each peer as a real national (perceived fit) and whether other nationals would accept this peer (perceived acceptance). As a measure of their own national belonging, they indicated their national self-identification. Additionally, the multi-level design included classroom contextual measures of majority peer presence and peer acculturation norms (peer norm of heritage culture maintenance). As expected, minority youth who perceived better national fit of culturally different peers, self-identified more strongly as nationals than those who perceived worse fit. This association was not explained by their own acculturation attitudes. In line with the contextual affordance of national fit, only in classes with majority peers, minority youth perceived higher national fit and acceptance of culturally different peers when peer norms supported the maintenance of a distinct heritage culture. We conclude that the national belonging of minority youth is contingent on the peer context through the perceived fit and acceptance of culturally different peers.

Religion and National Identification in Europe: Comparing Muslim Youth in Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

How inclusive are European national identities of Muslim minorities and how can we explain cross-cultural variation in inclusiveness? To address these questions, we draw on large-scale school-based surveys of Muslim minority and non-Muslim majority and other minority youth in five European countries (Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey [CILS]; Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden). Our double comparison of national identification across groups and countries reveals that national identities are less strongly endorsed by all minorities compared with majority youth, but national identification is lowest among Muslims. This descriptive evidence resonates with public concerns about the insufficient inclusion of immigrant minorities in general, and Muslims in particular, in European national identities. In addition, significant country variation in group differences in identification suggest that some national identities are more inclusive of Muslims than others. Taking an intergroup relations approach to the inclusiveness of national identities for Muslims, we establish that beyond religious commitment, positive intergroup contact (majority friendship) plays a major role in explaining differences in national identification in multigroup multilevel mediation models, whereas experiences of discrimination in school do not contribute to this explanation. Our comparative findings thus establish contextual variation in the inclusiveness of intergroup relations and European national identities for Muslim minorities.

Dual identity among immigrants: Comparing different conceptualizations, their measurements, and implications.

OBJECTIVES: This article aims to make a contribution to the literature by comparing 3 existing and often used conceptualizations and measurements of immigrants' dual identity: (a) high levels of identification with separate ethnic and national identities (Studies 1 and 2), (b) dual self-identification (Study 1), and (c) the strength of dual identification (Study 2). METHOD: Large-scale survey data are used in 2 studies, capturing 6 recent immigrant groups (Afghanis, Chinese, Iranians, Iraqis, Polish, and Somalis; Study 1, N = 5,877) and immigrants from Turkey (Study 2, N = 427) to The Netherlands. We investigate the associations between the different measures of dual identity as well as how each relates to indicators of intergroup relations (perceived subgroup respect and perceived discrimination) and immigrants' psychological outcomes (feeling at home in The Netherlands, happiness, affect toward the Dutch). RESULTS: The findings show that dual self-identification differs most markedly from high identification on separate ethnic and national identities. The latter conceptualization largely overlaps with the strength of dual identification, both in terms of the classification of who is a dual identifier, as well as the associations with intergroup relations and immigrants' psychological outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings help to clarify discrepant approaches to dual identity in the existing literature and provide guidelines for future research into dual identity among immigrants in Western societies. In particular, they suggest that a distinction between dual self-identification and measures of group identification is needed.

Gender and migration on the labour market: Additive or interacting disadvantages in Germany?

Despite substantial differences in labour market attainment according to gender and migration status, gender and ethnic differences in labour market behaviour are most often studied separately. In contrast, this study describes and analyses interactions between gender, ethnic background and immigrant generation with regard to labour market participation, part-time work, and occupational status. The double comparison aims to reveal whether gender gaps in these labour market outcomes among the majority population generalise to ethnic minorities. Moreover, we ask whether variation in gender gaps in labour market behaviour follows the patterns in migrants' origin countries, and whether gender gaps show signs of intergenerational assimilation. Our heterogeneous choice and OLS regressions of 2009 German Microcensus data reveal considerable variation in gender gaps in labour market behaviour between East and West Germany, across ethnic groups and across generations. Intergenerational comparisons show that most ethnic minorities assimilate towards German patterns of gendered labour market attainment.

Contextualizing ethnic educational inequality: the role of stability and quality of neighborhoods and ethnic density in second-generation attainment.

This study examines the joint impact of neighborhood structure and ethnic density on the educational attainment of the second generation. Using second-generation samples and a majority reference sample from the Belgian Census, multi-level analysis yields the expected positive effects of neighborhood stability and quality and ethnic density on second-generation school completion. Reflecting the ethnic stratification of the Belgian housing market, majority residential concentration tends to coincide with high neighborhood stability and quality and high completion rates, whereas Moroccan concentrations overlap with low neighborhood quality, and low completion rates. For the Turkish and Italian second generation, neighborhood structure moderates ethnic density effects on school completion, in line with segmented assimilation. Our findings suggest distinct Moroccan, Turkish and Italian incorporation modes which reflect differential access to, and investments in ethnic versus mainstream social networks.

Religious identification and politicization in the face of discrimination: support for political Islam and political action among the Turkish and Moroccan second generation in Europe.

Taking an approach from religion as a social identity and using large-scale comparative surveys in five European cities, we investigate when and how perceived discrimination is associated with religious identification and politicization among the second generation of Turkish and Moroccan Muslims. We distinguish support for political Islam from political action as distinct forms of politicization. In addition, we test the mediating role of religious identification in processes of politicization. Study 1 estimates multi-group structural equation models of support for political Islam in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden. In line with a social identity model of politicization and across nine inter-group contexts, Muslims who perceived more discrimination identified (even) more strongly as Muslims; and high Muslim identifiers were most ready to support political Islam. In support of a competing social stigma hypothesis, however, negative direct and total effects of perceived discrimination suggest predominant depoliticization. Using separate sub-samples across four inter-group contexts in Belgium, Study 2 adds political action tendencies as a distinct form of politicization. Whereas religious identification positively predicts both forms of politicization, perceived discrimination has differential effects: Muslims who perceived more discrimination were more weary of supporting political Islam, yet more ready to engage in political action to defend Islamic values. Taken together, the studies reveal that some Muslim citizens will politicize and others will depoliticize in the face of discrimination as a function of their religious identification and of prevailing forms of politicization.