Ethnic identity commitment and socioemotional well-being among Latinx-origin college students: The influence of maternal and peer relationships

Purpose: Considerable research has noted the association between ethnic identity commitment, which refers to a positive affirmation, sense of belonging and heightened level of engagement to one’s ethnic group, and indices of well-being, but less is known in terms of factors that can explain this link. Research Design: The current study explored the relationship between ethnic identity commitment and indices of well-being, the mediating role of social relationships, and the moderating roles of gender and immigrant generation status. Study Sample: A sample of 707 Latinx college students (79% female, 21% male, M age = 19.08 years, SD age = 1.17, Range: 17.00–25.00) reported on ethnic identity commitment, maternal and peer relationship quality, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and anxiety. Results: Results suggested that ethnic identity commitment was positively associated with socioemotional well-being. Although both types of relationships were significant mediators on their own, maternal relationship quality had a greater influence. Furthermore, gender and immigrant generation status were not significant moderators of these indirect effects. Conclusions: Findings indicate that committing to one’s ethnic identity enhances socioemotional well-being. They also demonstrate the complex interplay of social relationships and the enduring influence of maternal relationships during early adulthood. Results support the development of efforts geared toward facilitating ethnic identity commitment as well as leveraging the impact of social relationships in a manner that supports Latinx individuals.

Health of Immigrant Children: The Role of Immigrant Generation, Exogamous Family Setting, and Family Material and Social Resources

Although the children of first-generation immigrants tend to have better health than the native population, the health advantage of the children of immigrant families deteriorates over generations. It is, however, poorly understood where on the generational health assimilation spectrum children with one immigrant and one native parent (i.e., exogamous families) lie, to what extent family resources explain health assimilation, and whether the process of assimilation varies across health conditions. We seek to extend our understanding of the process of health assimilation by analyzing the physical and mental health of immigrant generations, assessing the role of exogamous family arrangements, and testing the contributions of family material and social resources to children's outcomes. We use register-based longitudinal data on all children residing in Finland, born in 1986–2000, and alive in 2000; these data are free of reporting bias and loss to follow-up. We estimate the risk of receiving inpatient and outpatient care for somatic conditions, psychopathological disorders, and injuries by immigrant generation status. Our results show evidence of a negative health assimilation process, with both first- and second-generation immigrant children having a higher prevalence of physical problems and particularly mental health problems than native children that is only partially explained by family resources. We find that the children of exogamous families are at especially high risk of developing psychopathological disorders. These results provide strong support for the hypothesis that children of exogamous families constitute a specific health risk group and that the impact on children's health of family social and material resources seems to be secondary to other unobserved factors.

The Psychology of Migrant “Illegality”: A General Theory

Critical migration studies emerged to trace how restrictive immigration contexts contribute to conditions of migrant “illegality” and deportability. More recently, researchers have turned to examine diversity in migrants’ experiences, revealing how migrant “illegality” and deportability can take varied forms based on different social factors, including migrants’ immigration status, developmental stage, ethno-racial background, gender, and nationality. Yet, despite increasingly nuanced and contextualized accounts of migrants’ lived experiences, the psychology of migrant “illegality” remains under-theorized, as we lack general concepts and frameworks to explain how deportability shapes, and is shaped by, migrants’ psychosocial lives. This article introduces such a framework by drawing upon findings from two ethnographic studies with undocumented migrants in Canada and the United States. Observing common psychosocial patterns in both groups, I propose cycles of deportability as a framework to capture how migrant “illegality” develops at the psychosocial level through repeated occurrences of status-related stressors, which produce both acute and chronic fears that further require distinct agencies and coping strategies. Next, I examine differences in migrants’ cycles of deportability based on their national context and immigrant generation. I conclude by discussing how this framework can help consolidate previous research findings and guide future psychological and critical migration studies.

Cross-Nativity Partnering and Political Participation: The Effect of Partner's Immigration Background on Voting Across Immigrant Generations

Research on cross-nativity partnering – relationships between immigrants and non-immigrants – has mainly focused on socioeconomic determinants and outcomes of these unions, and their sociopolitical consequences remain underexplored. Extrapolating existing research reveals how cross-nativity relationships may serve as conduits of resources, knowledge, and connections that facilitate political participation; as spaces of political resocialization, bringing together partners with different experiences and understandings of citizenship; and, alternatively, as a selection mechanism whereby immigrant integration results in cross-nativity relationships among those more likely to participate in politics. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and linking information about married and cohabiting couples, this study assesses whether cross-nativity partnering is associated with voting. Logistic regression models predicting voting using respondents’ and their partners’ immigrant generation indicate two broad findings. First, having a second or third+ generation partner is positively associated with voting, consistent with theoretical expectations that US-born partners provide resources or signal selection. Second, and more surprisingly, there is small but significant variation in voting among the third+ generation based on their partner’s immigrant generation. This indicates inadequacies in theorizing US-born partners solely as providers, and is more consistent with political resocialization. Importantly, this finding challenges theoretical and empirical assumptions in immigration research about the third+ generation as a static baseline. Overall, this study contributes to expanding scholarly focus beyond the individual to the role of relationships, in particular of spouses and cohabiting partners, in integrating immigrants into political life, and, more broadly, in shaping and contextualizing interactions between the state and its citizens and subjects.

Does Place Matter? Burial Decisions of Muslims in Canada

This paper is concerned with the complex relationship between immigration, religion, burial decisions, and a sense of belonging. Drawing upon a case study of Muslims in London, Ontario, Canada, we examine Islamic funeral and burial services available in the city and the preferred burial locations of its Muslim communities. Our interviews with different immigrant generations of Muslims show that participants, regardless of their immigrant generation, prefer London as a location of burial for themselves and their loved ones. We argue that four major factors at the structural and individual level shape the preference of study participants with respect to the location of burial: access to an Islamic cemetery and Islamic funeral services; an established Muslim population in the city; relation to and interpretation of religious requirements; and a sense of belonging to Canada. We discuss the findings in relation to multiculturalism and recognition of cultural and religious differences.

Muslim and Buddhist Youths in Switzerland: Individualising Religion and Striving for Recognition?

Since the second half of the 20th century, immigrants and refugees from numerous countries have arrived in Switzerland. With their long-term settlement, the immigrant minorities have established cultural and religious associations to maintain their cultural and religious traditions and to teach their children the faith and religious practices from the country of origin. In contrast to the first immigrant generation, the second generation has had concurrent social influences from the Swiss ordinary school system and the cultural-religious traditions of their parents. This article asks to what extent the young generations have continued the religious traditions brought by their parents and what changes have occurred in adapting religious practices, ideas and collective forms to the new socio-cultural environment. In addition, we study whether and how the second generations have striven to move away from the often-marginalised social position of their parents and engage with social recognition in Swiss society. To provide answers to these pertinent questions, the article will draw on the examples of first and second-generation Muslims and Buddhists in Switzerland and refer to the theoretical model designed by the American scholars Fred Kniss and Paul Numrich. The article argues that not only outward changes of religiosity are observable among second-generation youths, but also that despite an intensified degree of individualisation, some of their newly founded youth associations strive for civic participation and social recognition in the public arena of Swiss civil society.