Understanding adolescents’ acculturation processes: New insights from the intergroup perspective

Recent developments in the acculturation literature have emphasized the importance of adopting intergroup perspectives that provide a valuable background for investigating how acculturation orientations (i.e., maintenance of the culture of origin and the adoption of the destination culture) of adolescents from migrant families are embedded in their proximal socialization contexts. Accordingly, we sought to understand the combined effects of the perceived parents’ acculturation orientations and classmates’ acculturation preferences on adolescents’ own acculturation orientations in two independent cultural contexts, namely North-East of Italy (Study I) and South-East of Turkey (Study II). Participants were 269 (53.2% female; Mage = 14.77) and 211 (71.1% female; Mage = 15.37) adolescents from migrant families in Italy and in Turkey, respectively. Findings indicated that adolescents’ acculturation orientations were influenced by their perceptions of both parents’ acculturation orientations and classmates’ acculturation preferences. In addition, the effects of parents’ adoption of the destination culture were stronger than the effects of classmates’ preferences for adoption of the destination culture in both countries. However, the effects of parents’ maintenance of the culture of origin were stronger than the effects of classmates’ preferences for maintaining the culture of origin in Turkey, but not in Italy.