European Journal of Developmental Psychology
Volume 16, Issue 5, 2019, Pages 581-594

Can children develop a dual identity when immigrant mothers feel homesick? A short-term longitudinal study among Turkish immigrants (Article) (Open Access)

Spiegler O.* , Thijs J. , Verkuyten M. , Leyendecker B.
  • a Department of Psychological Methods and Evaluation, Hagen University, Hagen, Germany, Department of Developmental Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
  • b Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • c Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • d Department of Developmental Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Abstract

Turkish immigrant-origin youth in Western Europe often develop strong ethnic and weaker national identities. To advance our understanding of this pattern, we investigated the concurrent development and intergenerational transmission of both identities over time in conjunction with maternal homesickness. Our study was based on a sample of 176 Turkish mother-child dyads from Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. Mothers (M t1 = 38 years) reported on their identities and homesickness at T1 and children (M t1 = 12 years) on their identities at T1 and T2. Our results showed that children’s ethnic and national identities became more incompatible over time, mother’s homesickness strengthened children’s ethnic identities, and mother’s ethnic identities in combination with high levels of homesickness weakened children’s national identities. We conclude that early adolescence is a critical time for Turkish immigrant youth’s identity development and that a focus on parental acculturative stressors can advance ethnic socialization and cultural transmission research. © 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Author Keywords

Homesickness national identity Acculturative stress Intergenerational transmission Dual identity Ethnic identity Immigrant youth

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85048093500&doi=10.1080%2f17405629.2018.1482742&partnerID=40&md5=36c900c8ea1bbf23ed967b31f048b4e1
DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2018.1482742
ISSN: 17405629
Original Language: English