Original article
Acculturation and Well-Being among Arab-European Mixed-Ethnic Adolescents in Israel

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2006.04.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the relationship between two ethnic dimensions (Arab and European), and between a modified version of Berry’s four acculturation styles (integration, assimilation into the Arab heritage, assimilation into the European heritage, and marginalization) and measures of psychological well-being among adolescents born to European mothers and Israeli Arab fathers.

Methods

A total of 127 Arab-European adolescents (aged 13 to 18 years; 64 males and 63 females) in Israel completed ethnic identification and well-being measures.

Results

Arab and European ethnic identifications emerged as being uncorrelated among the participants, providing a basis to use four acculturation styles to describe participants’ variations in ethnic identification. The study found that integration and assimilation into the Arab heritage were connected with higher levels of desirable well-being correlates (self-esteem and positive relations with others) and with lower levels of undesirable correlates (depression and anxiety). The study also found that although assimilation into the European heritage was linked with high levels of self-esteem and low levels of depression, this style was linked with high levels of anxiety and low levels of positive relations with others. The marginalization style was consistently positively associated with high levels of poor mental health.

Conclusions

The underlying assumption of Berry’s four-fold model, notably the independence of ethnic identifications, tends to be borne out among mixed-ethnic individuals. On the basis of this independence the study revealed that a modified version of Berry’s four acculturation styles could prevail among Arab-European individuals over the period of adolescence and that these styles play a predictive role in well-being measures of the individuals. Specifically, integration and assimilation into the Arab heritage emerged to be the best options for individuals’ well-being; individuals’ assimilation into their European heritage seemed to be simultaneously connected with high and low well-being outcomes; and ethnic marginalization of individuals was consistently correlated with poor well-being.

Section snippets

Sample

A total of 127 European-Arab adolescents living in Israel (64 males and 63 females) participated in this study. The sample had a mean age of 15.63 years (SD = 1.20), with the youngest participants being 13 and the oldest 18 years old. About 93% of the participants were born in Israel and the remainder in their mothers’ country; all, however, had lived in Israel from early childhood. All fathers of the adolescents were from Israel and all mothers from Western or Eastern European countries. In

Differences in Ethnic Identity and Measures of Well-Being by Demographic Variables

Preliminary regression analysis revealed nonsignificant relationships between age and Arab or European ethnic identification, and age and each of the measures of well-being. Based on the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), there were no significant mean differences for Arab identity, European identity, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and positive relations with others across mothers’ origin (Western or Eastern European), participants’ gender, or socioeconomic class, or any interaction

Discussion

In dealing with the first research question, this study found evidence that Arab ethnic identification and European ethnic identification were uncorrelated among Arab-European adolescents in Israel. The absence of a correlation between the two heritages confirmed the first hypothesis, emphasizing that mixed-ethnic adolescents’ identification with one heritage is independent of their identification with the other. This finding is consistent with previous research on minority mono-ethnic

Acknowledgments

My thanks are expressed to the Gates Cambridge University Trust, the Overseas Research Student Award Scheme, the Department of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, and Wolfson College, who made funds available for work on this study.

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