Session Information
05 ONLINE 00 PS, General Poster Session (online) - NW 05
General Poster Session
Contribution
It is inconclusive whether students’ immigrant background should be considered as a risk factor in terms of personal development and well-being since several studies (Brough et al., 2003; Correa-Velez et al., 2017; Motti-Stefanidi & Masten, 2017) in this field show mixed results. For example, immigrant students often come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds, are discriminated against or are socially isolated (Correa-Velez et al., 2017), however, they could develop a certain level of adaptability and flexibility skills and thrive in their new homeland. Two phenomena are linked to immigrants and their positive development: (1) “immigrant paradox”, where first-generation immigrant students demonstrate a more successful adaptation than second-generation immigrants and even native students (Garcia-Coll & Marks, 2012) and (2) “migration morbidity”, where immigrants display less favourable outcomes (e.g. higher rates of psychological problems, school difficulties and disruptive behaviours) compared to natives (Dimitrova et al., 2017).
The Positive Youth Development (PYD) model with its 5Cs is one of the models which effectively promotes positive aspects of adolescents’ development. It emphasises the importance of identifying and supporting strengths rather than preventing or treating deficits, which proves to be a more effective way of enhancing positive development and resilience (Masten, 2014). It focuses on the positive resources that adolescents possess that can optimise their well-being, personal development and life experiences if they are strengthened, applied and supported appropriately (Lerner et al., 2015). The 5Cs in the model stand for five indicators of positive development known as the 5Cs of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, caring) that are assumed to be interrelated (Lerner et al., 2015):
- Competence: a positive view of one’s actions in specific areas, such as social, academic, cognitive and vocational settings.
- Confidence: internal sense of overall positive self-worth and self-efficacy, a positive identity and one’s global self-regard, as opposed to domain-specific beliefs.
- Connection: positive relationships and bonds between the individual, people and institutions, where both parties contribute to the relationship.
- Character: respect for societal and cultural rules, awareness and internalisation of standards of appropriate and correct behaviour, a sense of morality and integrity.
- Caring: sense of sympathy and empathy for others and the ability to see beyond oneself.
PYD 5Cs model is widely used, extensively empirically supported and flexible in terms of different contexts (Fuligni, 2004; Lerner et al., 2012, 2015), thus it was chosen as a theoretical framework for investigating differences in positive youth development between students with and without a migrant background in this poster. The focus of this poster, therefore, is the positive development of adolescent students with a (non-)migrant background in six countries of the European Union (Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Malta, Slovak Republic and Hungary). The selection of the countries was based on the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) assessment of educational policies, where each chosen country represents one of the six categories of educational policy indicator. The paper examines the outcomes of native and immigrant students (first- and second-generation) as defined by the PISA survey in self-assessed competencies, characteristics and skills based on the 5Cs of the PYD model. The overall goal of the paper is to determine which personal resources students with an immigrant background possess in comparison to their native peers in different EU countries. More specifically, this paper seeks to explore the differences in means of self-reported indicators of the 5Cs between native students, second-generation immigrants and first-generation immigrants in the six chosen countries.
Method
Participants: The current study analyses six PISA 2018 representative student samples from Sweden (N = 5.504; migrant students: first-generation 10 %, second-generation 11 %), Portugal (N = 5.932; migrant students: first-generation 3 %, second-generation 4 %), Germany (N = 5.451; migrant students: first-generation 5 %, second-generation 16 %), Malta (N = 3.363; migrant students: first-generation 7 %, second-generation 2 %) Slovak Republic (N = 5.965; migrant students: first-generation 1 %, second-generation 1 %) and Hungary (N = 5.132; migrant students: first-generation 1 %, second-generation 1 %). The study focuses on sample of 15-year-old students regardless of their grade levels and the type of institution they were enrolled in and whether they were enrolled in full- or part-time education. Instruments and included variables: Each sampled student answered a background questionnaire, where scales were derived from and attributed to 5Cs based on definitions of each of the 5Cs. Students’ immigrant background was used as a grouping variable. Scales used to describe 5Cs are the following: • Competence: perception of the difficulty of the PISA test (level of agreement regarding three statements on the difficulty of the reading tasks in the PISA test) • Confidence: resilience (agreement with five statements on the students’ capacity to successfully deal with and recover from stressful situations) • Connection: subjective well-being: Sense of belonging to school (assessment of the extent of agreement on six statements on sense of connection and belonging to school) • Character: respect for people from other cultures (level of agreement on five statements about respect for people from other cultures in terms of equality, respect for their values and their valuing of the expression of their cultures) • Caring: perspective-taking (agreement on five statements about how far a student takes the perspective of others in different situations) Sampling and procedure: A two-stage stratified sampling design was used. In the first stage schools from the pool of all schools where 15-year-olds are enrolled are sampled. In the second stage 42 (or less) students within each school included were sampled. These sampling procedures ensured the representativeness of the test population. It took approximately 35 minutes for students to respond to the student background questionnaire. Statistical analyses: Data were analysed using the statistical programme IEA IDB Analyzer (Version 4.0.39) due to the two-stage sampling in the study (the programme uses individual student and sample weights). To compute differences between groups, the IDB Analyzer uses a t-test taking sample dependency into account.
Expected Outcomes
Significant differences were found among native students, first- and second-generation immigrants in the self-assessed 5Cs’ indicators that reveal different aspects of adolescents’ development in the light of an immigrant background throughout the selected countries. moreover, the analysis also showed mixed results for the 5Cs in different countries which were not necessary in line with the MIPEX classification of the selected countries based on favourability of educational policy index. Meaning that the data for immigrant students revealed immigrant paradox in certain areas in countries classified as countries with unfavourable or critically favourable education policies and on the other hand migrant morbidity in countries with (slightly) favourable educational policies. It can be therefore concluded that the results regarding immigrant students’ successful adaptation to the countries environment are mixed and slightly inclined to migration morbidity and are as such inconclusive. Therefore, this poster should be used as a preliminary research and a platform for further exploration of the topic.
References
Bowers, E. P., Li, Y., Kiely, M. K., Brittian, A., Lerner, J. V., & Lerner, R. M. (2010). The five Cs model of positive youth development: A longitudinal analysis of confirmatory factor structure and measurement invariance. Journal of youth and adolescence, 39(7), 720–735. doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9530-9 Brough, M., Gorman, D., Ramirez, E., & Westoby, P. (2003). Young refugees talk about well-being: A qualitative analysis of refugee youth mental health from three states. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38(2), 193–208. doi: 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2003.tb01142.x Correa-Velez, I., Gifford, S. M., McMichael, C., & Sampson, R. (2017). Predictors of secondary school completion among refugee youth 8 to 9 Years after resettlement in Melbourne, Australia. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 18(3), 791–805. doi: 10.1007/s12134-016-0503-z Dimitrova, R., Özdemir, S. B., Farcas, D., Kosic, M., Mastrotheodoros, S., Michałek, J., & Stefenel, D. (2017). Is there a paradox of adaptation in immigrant children and youth across Europe? A literature review. In R. Dimitrova (Ed.), Well-being of youth and emerging adults across cultures: Novel approaches and findings from Europe, Asia, Africa and America (pp. 261–298). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-68363-8_18 Fuligni, A. J. (2004). The Adaptation and Acculturation of Children from Immigrant Families. In Gielen, U. P. & Roopnarine, J. (Eds.), Advances in applied developmental psychology. Childhood and adolescence: Cross-cultural perspectives and applications (pp. 297–318). Praeger Publishers/Greenwood Publishing Group. Garcia-Coll, C., & Marks, A. K. (2012). The immigrant paradox in children and adolescents: Is becoming American a developmental risk?. American Psychological Association. Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Bowers, E. P., & Lewin-Bizan, S. (2012). Thriving among immigrant youth: Theoretical and empirical bases of positive development. In Masten, A. S., Liebkind, K., & Hernandez, D. J. (Eds.), The Jacobs Foundation series on adolescence. Realizing the potential of immigrant youth (pp. 307–323). Cambridge University Press. Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Bowers, E., & Geldhof, G. J. (2015). Positive youth development: A relational developmental systems model. In Overton, W. F., & Molenaar, P. C. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology and developmental science. Vol. 1: Theory and method (pp. 607–651). Wiley. Masten, A. S. (2014). Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child Development, 85(1), 6–20. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12205 MIPEX. (2020). Education. Accessed at https://www.mipex.eu/education Motti-Stefanidi, F., & Masten, A. S. (2017). A Resilience Perspective on Immigrants Youth Adaptation and Development. In Cabrera, J., & Leyendecker, B. (Eds), Handbook on Positive Development of Minority Children and Youth (pp. 19–34). Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-43645-6_2
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