American Journal of Community Psychology
2018

Sociopolitical Control for Immigrants: The Role of Receiving Local Contexts (Article in Press)

Paloma V.* , Lenzi M. , Furlanis N. , Vieno A. , García-Ramírez M.
  • a Department of Social Psychology Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla Spain, Spain
  • b Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova Padova Italy
  • c Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova Padova Italy
  • d Department of Developmental and Social Psychology University of Padova Padova Italy
  • e Department of Social Psychology Universidad de Sevilla Sevilla Spain, Spain

Abstract

This study examines the individual and contextual factors associated with sociopolitical control expressed by immigrants in southern Spain. We used hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the relations between individual (community participation, social connectedness, and perceived cultural competence of receiving community services) and municipality characteristics (city community participation, city social connectedness, and city community services' cultural competence) and immigrants' feelings of sociopolitical control. Data were analyzed using a two-level model based on 707 Moroccan immigrants in 25 municipalities. After adjusting for gender, educational level, and psychosocial confounding factors, we observed a positive association between social connectedness and sociopolitical control at the individual level. At the contextual level, we observed a positive association between (a) city community participation, (b) city social connectedness, and (c) city community services' cultural competence, and sociopolitical control. Indeed, living in a municipality where there are community services with high levels of cultural competence and where, on average, many people participate in organizations and neighbors are connected, was associated with higher levels of perceived control in the sociopolitical domain for immigrants. We also discuss implications for community-based research and practice. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

Author Keywords

immigrants Community participation Multilevel approach Sociopolitical control Social connectedness Cultural competence

Index Keywords

immigrant Morocco Social Identification human organization Cultural Competency ethnology cultural competence Humans migrant psychology Social Control, Formal social control male Emigrants and Immigrants Spain female social welfare community participation Article legislation and jurisprudence social participation gender migration adult politics Emigration and Immigration social behavior

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85050460502&doi=10.1002%2fajcp.12263&partnerID=40&md5=63cd5874e16c89353691210a167fd853

DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12263
ISSN: 00910562
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English