Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IDENTITIES (Managing Identities in Diverse Societies: A Developmental Intergroup Perspective with Adolescents)
Período documentado: 2022-11-01 hasta 2024-04-30
The IDENTITIES project deals with one of the most fascinating questions that all human beings try to answer “Who am I?” Answering this core question entails thinking about “What kind of occupation do I want to pursue? What are my religious values? In which interpersonal relationships do I want to invest? To which social groups do I belong? How do I feel in relation to my ethnicity?” and so on. The identity question starts to arise in childhood, but it becomes the most important developmental task individuals have to deal with during adolescence.
In contemporary societies, characterized by increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, the identity formation task can become particularly challenging for adolescents. Young people with a migrant background (such as first- and second-generation immigrants and refugees) need to manage several (and sometimes even conflictual) alternatives proposed, on the one hand, by their culture and family of origin, and, on the other hand, by the host society. As a result, they can be more uncertain about their identity choices, and they can go on considering and reconsidering their commitments to various life domains. Similarly, adolescents without a migrant background growing up in societies with increasing levels of diversity can consider different cultural systems and explore diverse identity pathways. Thus, it is of paramount importance to improve our understanding of how adolescents' intergroup experiences in diverse societies influence how they manage their identities and how, in turn, this can affect their well-being.
Understanding how adolescents manage their identities in diverse societies has fundamental implications. In fact, it is a priority for contemporary societies to discover how ethnic and cultural diversity can be a resource for adolescents’ identity formation instead of being perceived as a threat. In the first case, in the main socialization contexts of adolescents (i.e. families, schools, and neighbourhoods), it is possible to establish conditions in which intergroup experiences (such as the relationship between Italian and Romanian classmates or Italian and Moroccan football players) can become a resource for young people to understand better who are they and to which groups and aspects of reality they want to commit to. In contrast, when diversity is perceived as a threat, adolescents can remain “hidden” behind physical and psychological barriers and even endorse prejudice and discriminatory behaviours against diverse others. Thus, the results of the IDENTITIES project can be used to develop and test evidence-based interventions focused on identities and aimed to increase adolescents' social integration and well-being. Furthermore, the project can inform local, national, and European youth policies for promoting the well-being of adolescents in inclusive and cohesive societies.
The IDENTITIES project adopts a cross-fertilization approach, integrating developmental and social-psychological models, to provide ground-breaking knowledge on the processes leading to the well-being of adolescents with and without a migrant background. By proposing a multidimensional ecological developmental intergroup perspective, the project aims to reach three overall objectives:
- to understand how intergroup experiences in ecological contexts (from parents, friends, school, and leisure microsystems to cultural macrosystems) influence the development of adolescents’ (personal, social, and human) identities;
- to understand how the interplay of identities affects adolescents’ (physical, psychological, and social) well-being;
- to understand how intergroup experiences in multiple ecological contexts influence adolescents’ well-being disentangling direct and indirect effects (mediated by identities).
In contemporary societies, characterized by increasing cultural and ethnic diversity, the identity formation task can become particularly challenging for adolescents. Young people with a migrant background (such as first- and second-generation immigrants and refugees) need to manage several (and sometimes even conflictual) alternatives proposed, on the one hand, by their culture and family of origin, and, on the other hand, by the host society. As a result, they can be more uncertain about their identity choices, and they can go on considering and reconsidering their commitments to various life domains. Similarly, adolescents without a migrant background growing up in societies with increasing levels of diversity can consider different cultural systems and explore diverse identity pathways. Thus, it is of paramount importance to improve our understanding of how adolescents' intergroup experiences in diverse societies influence how they manage their identities and how, in turn, this can affect their well-being.
Understanding how adolescents manage their identities in diverse societies has fundamental implications. In fact, it is a priority for contemporary societies to discover how ethnic and cultural diversity can be a resource for adolescents’ identity formation instead of being perceived as a threat. In the first case, in the main socialization contexts of adolescents (i.e. families, schools, and neighbourhoods), it is possible to establish conditions in which intergroup experiences (such as the relationship between Italian and Romanian classmates or Italian and Moroccan football players) can become a resource for young people to understand better who are they and to which groups and aspects of reality they want to commit to. In contrast, when diversity is perceived as a threat, adolescents can remain “hidden” behind physical and psychological barriers and even endorse prejudice and discriminatory behaviours against diverse others. Thus, the results of the IDENTITIES project can be used to develop and test evidence-based interventions focused on identities and aimed to increase adolescents' social integration and well-being. Furthermore, the project can inform local, national, and European youth policies for promoting the well-being of adolescents in inclusive and cohesive societies.
The IDENTITIES project adopts a cross-fertilization approach, integrating developmental and social-psychological models, to provide ground-breaking knowledge on the processes leading to the well-being of adolescents with and without a migrant background. By proposing a multidimensional ecological developmental intergroup perspective, the project aims to reach three overall objectives:
- to understand how intergroup experiences in ecological contexts (from parents, friends, school, and leisure microsystems to cultural macrosystems) influence the development of adolescents’ (personal, social, and human) identities;
- to understand how the interplay of identities affects adolescents’ (physical, psychological, and social) well-being;
- to understand how intergroup experiences in multiple ecological contexts influence adolescents’ well-being disentangling direct and indirect effects (mediated by identities).
The IDENTITIES project relies on an ambitious methodology. A large-scale longitudinal study, with a multi-informant, and multi-method approach, has been designed. Secondary high schools in Emilia-Romagna (i.e. the Italian region with the highest percentage of adolescents with a migrant background in the school system) were sampled, according to school track and the level of urbanization of the area, and invited to join the study. Fourteen-year-olds and sixteen-year-olds adolescents and their parents were invited to participate in the study and provided their active consent.
Adolescents are involved in annual, monthly, and daily assessments in which data are collected through questionnaires (including validated measures of the three main pillars of the study, i.e. experiences in ecological contexts, identities, and well-being) and actigraphy (to evaluate physical health). In addition to adolescents, the main “actors” of their social network are also involved in the study. Parents and teachers participate in annual assessments by filling out a questionnaire; school principals provide archive data on the school context; and municipal administrators are interviewed about local policies to foster integration. In addition, local and national journals are analyzed to examine migration narratives.
Assessments were completed in October 2021 (pilot study), January-February 2022 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals), April-May 2022 (monthly assessment with adolescents), July 2022 (daily assessment with adolescents), September-October 2022 (monthly assessment with adolescents), January-February 2023 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals and daily assessment with adolescents), April-May 2023 (monthly assessment with adolescents), July 2023 (daily assessment with adolescents), September-October 2023 (monthly assessment with adolescents), January-February 2024 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals). Furthermore, at the beginning of 2024 municipal administrators were interviewed and archive data on municipalities were collected. Finally, a case study with a narrative approach was started to examine in-depth the experience of adolescents who have spent a period abroad during the study.
Adolescents are involved in annual, monthly, and daily assessments in which data are collected through questionnaires (including validated measures of the three main pillars of the study, i.e. experiences in ecological contexts, identities, and well-being) and actigraphy (to evaluate physical health). In addition to adolescents, the main “actors” of their social network are also involved in the study. Parents and teachers participate in annual assessments by filling out a questionnaire; school principals provide archive data on the school context; and municipal administrators are interviewed about local policies to foster integration. In addition, local and national journals are analyzed to examine migration narratives.
Assessments were completed in October 2021 (pilot study), January-February 2022 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals), April-May 2022 (monthly assessment with adolescents), July 2022 (daily assessment with adolescents), September-October 2022 (monthly assessment with adolescents), January-February 2023 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals and daily assessment with adolescents), April-May 2023 (monthly assessment with adolescents), July 2023 (daily assessment with adolescents), September-October 2023 (monthly assessment with adolescents), January-February 2024 (annual assessment with adolescents, parents, teachers, and school principals). Furthermore, at the beginning of 2024 municipal administrators were interviewed and archive data on municipalities were collected. Finally, a case study with a narrative approach was started to examine in-depth the experience of adolescents who have spent a period abroad during the study.
The preliminary results collected so far have provided important progress beyond the state-of-the-art. First, they have highlighted that adolescents’ intergroup experiences are embedded in their multiple ecological contexts. Adolescents’ attitudes toward ethnic and cultural diversity are rooted in their family context and they are affected by their experiences in the school context as well as by being exposed to socio-historical events. For instance, we found that the increased salience of the war in the national newspaper was significantly associated with a decreased prejudice against Ukrainians. Thanks to the development and application of a new tool, the Attitudes toward Migrant Integration Policies (AMIP) scale, we found that adolescents reported more positive attitudes toward integration policies compared to their mothers and fathers, but not compared to their teachers. Second, the findings pointed to the importance of adolescents’ identities for their well-being. The data collected so far provides preliminary evidence that identities affect not only adolescents’ subjective, psychological, and social well-being but also their physical health. Notably, building a solid identity, namely in the educational domain, can be a protective factor, especially for adolescents with a migrant background.
As the project continues, it will be possible to delve into short-, medium-, and long-term effects. Results are expected to disentangle direct, moderating, and mediating effects to gain a comprehensive understanding of the development of adolescents’ identities in context.
As the project continues, it will be possible to delve into short-, medium-, and long-term effects. Results are expected to disentangle direct, moderating, and mediating effects to gain a comprehensive understanding of the development of adolescents’ identities in context.