Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:48:03.821Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The adaptation and well-being of adolescent immigrants in Greek schools: A multilevel, longitudinal study of risks and resources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2012

Frosso Motti-Stefanidi ,
Jens B. Asendorpf  and
Ann S. Masten
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi*
Affiliation:
University of Athens
Jens B. Asendorpf
Affiliation:
Humboldt University Berlin
Ann S. Masten
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, University of Athens, Panepistimiopoli, Athens 15784, Greece; E-mail: frmotti@psych.uoa.gr.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined growth patterns in adaptation of immigrant youth from a risk and resilience perspective. Students from first- and second-generation immigrant families living in Greece and their nonimmigrant classmates (N = 1,057) were assessed over the first 3 years of secondary school (ages 13–15). Three-level hierarchical linear models were used to disentangle individual and classroom-level effects on initial level and change in academic achievement, conduct, peer popularity, and psychological well-being. At the individual level, adaptation was more related to self-efficacy and parental school involvement (resources) than immigrant status and social adversity (risks). Only for academic achievement did risks explain variance when resources were controlled. Parental school involvement moderated the effect of immigrant status for initial level and growth in achievement. For all students, achievement and conduct worsened over time. At the classroom level, socioeconomic and ethnic composition of the classroom moderated the effects of self-efficacy and immigrant status on academic achievement and peer popularity, respectively. Second-generation immigrants were more popular than first-generation immigrants, but showed a larger decrease over time in school achievement. Results support a developmental, differentiated, and contextualized approach to the study of immigrant youth adaptation.

Type
Special Section Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 2012 , pp. 451 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1990). Multidimensional scales of perceived self-efficacy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Multifaceted impact of self-efficacy beliefs on academic functioning. Child Development, 67, 1206–1222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bandura, A., Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., & Regalia, C. (1996). Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing transgressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 15–135.Google Scholar
Bandura, A., Pastorelli, C., Barbaranelli, C., & Caprara, G. V. (1999). Self-efficacy pathways to childhood depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 258–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A., & Tienda, M. (in press). Better fortunes? Living arrangements and school enrollment of migrant youth in six industrialized countries. In Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (Eds.), Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bengi-Arslan, L., Verhulst, F. C., van der Ende, J., & Erol, N. (1997). Understanding childhood (problem) behaviors from a cultural perspective: Comparison of problem behaviors and competencies in Turkish immigrant, Turkish and Dutch children. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2, 477–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, J. W., Phinney, J. S., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (Eds.). (2006). Immigrant youth in cultural transition: Acculturation, identity and adaptation across national contexts. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Breugelmans, S. M., Chasiotis, A., & Sam, D. (2011). Cross-cultural psychology. Research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bongers, I. L., Koot, H. M., van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2004). Developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence. Child Development, 75, 1523–1537.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradley, H. R., & Corwyn, R. F. (2001). Home environment and behavioral development during early adolescence: The mediating and moderating roles of self-efficacy beliefs. Merrill–Palmer Quarterly, 47, 165–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In Lerner, R. M. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (6th ed., pp. 793–828). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., & Cervone, D. (2004). The contribution of self-efficacy beliefs to psychosocial outcomes in adolescence: Predicting beyond global dispositional tendencies. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 751–763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2002). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 6–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (2009). The past achievements and future promises of developmental psychopathology: The coming of age of a discipline. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 16–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, D. A., Tram, J. M., Martin, J. M., Hoffman, K. B., Ruiz, M. D., Jacquez, F. M., et al. (2002). Individual differences in the emergence of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: A longitudinal investigation of parent and child reports. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 156–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, C. R. (2003). Bridging multiple worlds: Immigrant youth identity and pathways to college. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 1–4.Google Scholar
Eccles, J. S. (2004). Schools, academic motivation and stage–environment. In Lerner, R. M. & Steinberg, L. (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 125–153). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fredricks, J. A., & Eccles, J. S. (2002). Children's competence and value beliefs from childhood through adolescence: Growth trajectories in two male-sex-typed domains. Developmental Psychology, 55, 519–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuligni, A. J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The roles of family, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68, 261–273.Google ScholarPubMed
Fuligni, A. J. (2001). A comparative longitudinal approach to acculturation among children from immigrant families. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 566–578.Google Scholar
Garcia Coll, C., Akerman, A., & Cicchetti, D. (2000). Cultural influences on developmental processes and outcomes: Implications for the study of development and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 333–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Coll, C., Lamberty, G., Jenkins, R., McAdoo, H. P., Crnic, K., & Wasik, B. H. (1996). An integrative model for the study of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Development, 67, 1891–1914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Coll, C., & Marks, A. K. (2011). The immigrant paradox in children and adolescents: Is becoming American a developmental risk? Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Garcia Coll, C., Patton, F., Marks, A., Dimitrova, R., Yang, H., Suarez-Aviles, G., et al. (in press). Understanding the immigrant paradox in youth: Developmental considerations. In Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (Eds.), Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Garmezy, N., Masten, A. S., & Tellegen, A. (1984). The study of stress and competence in children: A building block for developmental psychopathology. Child Development, 55, 97–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Georgas, J., & Papastylianou, A. (1996). Acculturation and ethnic identity: The remigration of ethnic Greeks to Greece. In Grad, H., Blanco, A., & Georgas, J. (Eds.), Key issues in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 114–127). Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Goodman, R., Meltzer, H., & Bailey, V. (1998). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 7, 125–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutman, L. M., Sameroff, A. J., & Eccles, J. S. (2002). The academic achievement of African American students during early adolescence: An examination of multiple risk, promotive, and protective factors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 367–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental school involvement and children's academic achievement: Pragmatics and issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 161–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, N. E., & Tyson, D. F. (2009). Parental involvement in middle school: A meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. Developmental Psychology, 45, 740–763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, J., & Scovronick, N. (2003). The American dream and the public schools. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hox, J. J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahey, B. B., Miller, T. L., Gordon, R. A., & Riley, A. (1999). Developmental epidemiology of the disruptive behavior disorders. In Quay, H. & Hogan, A. (Eds.), Handbook of the disruptive behavior disorders. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Little, R. J. A. (1995). Modeling the drop-out mechanism in repeated measurement studies. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 90, 1112–1121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luthar, S. S. (1991). Vulnerability and resilience: A study of high-risk adolescents. Child Development, 62, 600–616.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luthar, S. S. (2006). Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 3. Risk disorder and psychopathology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Luthar, S. S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masten, A. S. (2007). Resilience in developing systems: Progress and promise as the fourth wave rises. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 921–930.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masten, A. S., Burt, K., & Coatsworth, J. D. (2006). Competence and psychopathology in development. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 3. Risk disorder and psychopathology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Masten, A. S., Burt, K. B., Roisman, G. I., Obradović, J., Long, J. D., & Tellegen, A. (2004). Resources and resilience in the transition to adulthood: Continuity and change. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 1071–1094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (in press). Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masten, A. S., Long, J. D., Roisman, G. I., Burt, K. B., Obradović, J., Roberts, J. M., et al. (2005). Developmental cascades: Linking academic achievement, externalizing and internalizing symptoms over 20 years. Developmental Psychology, 41, 733–746.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCormick, C. M., Kuo, S. I., & Masten, A. S. (2011). Developmental tasks across the lifespan. In Fingerman, K. L., Berg, C., Smith, J., & Antonucci, T. C. (Eds.), The handbook of lifespan development (pp. 117–140). New York: Springer.Google Scholar
McGill, R. K., Hughes, D., Alicea, S., & Way, N. (2011). Academic adjustment across middle school: The role of public regard and parenting. Developmental Psychology. doi:10.1037/a0026006.Google ScholarPubMed
McLoyd, V. C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLoyd, V. (2006). The legacy of Child Development's 1990 special issue on minority children: An editorial retrospective. Child Development, 77, 1142–1148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, T. E. (2006). Life-course-persistent versus adolescence-limited antisocial behavior. In Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 3. Risk, disorder, and adaptation (2nd ed., pp. 570–598). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Motti-Stefanidi, F., Berry, J., Chryssochoou, X., Sam, D. L., & Phinney, J. (in press). Positive immigrant youth adaptation in context: Developmental, acculturation, and social psychological perspectives. In Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (Eds.), Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Motti-Stefanidi, F., Pavlopoulos, V., Obradović, J., Dalla, M., Takis, N., Papathanasiou, A., et al. (2008). Immigration as a risk factor for adolescent adaptation in Greek urban schools. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 235–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motti-Stefanidi, F., Pavlopoulos, V., Obradović, J., & Masten, A. (2008). Acculturation and adaptation of immigrant adolescents in Greek urban schools. International Journal of Psychology, 43, 45–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Motti-Stefanidi, F., Pavlopoulos, V., & Tantaros, S. (2011). Parent–adolescent conflict and adolescents' adaptation: A longitudinal study of Albanian immigrant youth living in Greece. International Journal of Developmental Science, 5, 57–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD. (2010). Closing the gap for immigrant students: Policies, practice, and performance. Paris: Author.Google Scholar
Oppedal, B., & Roysamb, E. (2004). Mental health, life stress and social support among young Norwegian adolescents with immigrant and host national background. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45, 131–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 751–783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Portes, A. (1999). Social and psychological factors in the academic achievement of children of immigrants: A cultural history puzzle. American Educational Research Journal, 36, 489–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W., Bryk, A. S., & Congdon, R. (2002). HLM for Windows (version 6.0.3) [Computer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International.Google Scholar
Roeser, R. W., Eccles, J. S., & Sameroff, A. J. (1998). Academic and emotional functioning in early adolescence: Longitudinal relations, patterns, and prediction by experience in middle school. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 321–352.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rumberger, R. W., & Palardy, G. J. (2005). Does segregation still matter? The impact of student composition on academic achievement in high school. Teachers College Record, 107, 1999–2045.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985). Resilience in the face of adversity: Protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 493–509.Google Scholar
Sam, D. L., Vedder, P., Liebkind, K., Neto, F., & Virta, E. (2008). Immigration, acculturation and the paradox of adaptation. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 138–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Semyonov, M., Raijman, R., & Gorodzeisky, A. (2006). The rise in anti-foreigner sentiment in European societies. American Sociological Review, 71, 426–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiel, C., & Strohmeier, D. (in press). Peer relations in multicultural schools. In Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (Eds.), Realizing the potential of immigrant youth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suárez-Orozco, C., Gáytan, F. X., Bang, H. J., Pakes, J., O'Connor, E., & Rhodes, J. (2010). Academic trajectories of newcomer immigrant youth. Developmental Psychology, 46, 602–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szulkin, R., & Jonsson, J. O. (2007). Ethnic segregation and educational outcomes in Swedish comprehensive schools. SULCIS Working Paper Series, Stockholm University.Google Scholar
Titzmann, P. F., & Silberreisen, R. K. (2009). Friendship homophily among ethnic German immigrants: A longitudinal comparison between recent and more experienced immigrant adolescents. Journal of Family Psychology, 23, 301–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Triandafyllidou, A. (2000). The political discourse on immigration in southern Europe: A critical analysis. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 10, 373–389.3.0.CO;2-R>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verkuyten, M. (2005). The social psychology of ethnic identity. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children. New York: McGraw–Hill.Google Scholar
Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Schiefele, U., Roeser, R. W., & Davis-Kean, P (2006). Development of achievement motivation. In Damon, W., Lerner, R. M., & Eisenberg, N. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., pp. 933–1002). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar