To be an adolescent with migrant background it is not an easy task.  During this phase of life, self-image and self-concept have to be reworked, so one is more fragile and more exposed to one's own evaluation and that, particularly relevant, of peers.  Besides, as children of immigrants, they have to cope with many cultural systems of reference, and their identities’ multiple faces to build a coherent sense of identity (Syed, 2010). They face the fundamental key task of exploring and defining their cultural and ethnic identity. Succeeding in this task is considered to be an important resource for accomplishing the generic developmental tasks faced by all young people.   This identity challenge (i.e.,) has been studied by many researchers (i.e. Baumert et al., 2024; Benet-Martinez et al., 2002; Behtoui, 2021; Lilgendahl et al., 2018; Portes et al., 2011).   Most published research has used a quantitative approach, which leaves very little room for adolescents' lived experiences. In this scenario, qualitative research (QR) for its characteristics, allows us to have access and includes the pre/adolescents’ voices and perspectives (ages 10/11–19/20). Conducting a meta-summary on QR on this topic allows us both to access these subjects’ perspectives and to understand the development in the field (which kind of and how much research has been conducted). The thematic summaries of data resulting from the systematic review can give us insight into little-explored topics and provide suggestions on possible new work paths. To the best of our knowledge a systematic review in this field, with this goal, has not yet been done.

This research by underlining the pre/adolescent point of view, can contribute to enhance the knowledge on this topic.

Systematic review refers to a family of research approaches that use second-level analysis to answer a specific question. The data used are the results collected from the primary research. Ann Oakley defines a systematic review as a process characterised by transparency and replicability, the result of which is - potentially - also updateable (2000). They differ from other types of research syntheses in the way they formulate a research question, the overall approach to research, the critical appraisal strategy, and the transparency of the inclusion and exclusion criteria of primary studies for review (Davies, 2004). Such a process makes it possible to synthesize the results of many different research in a given field, thus leading to a gain in knowledge that is not only theoretical but also practical (since it provides insights into what works). To sum up, reviews of qualitative studies allow for a deeper understanding of concepts and findings beyond the single qualitative studies. They aim to achieve abstraction and transferability at a higher level beyond the included original studies. To answer this study's aim, we performed a systematic review and a meta-summary following the 4-step procedure outlined by Sandelowski and Barroso (2006). This method entails a: i) comprehensive search, ii) appraising reports of qualitative studies, iii) classification of studies, and iv) synthesis of the findings.

We searched for qualitative articles published from 2011 to 2020 to retrieve the more recent studies. The following electronic databases were searched: ERIC, PsycINFO (Ebsco), PsycARTICLES (Ebsco), BEI (Ebsco), and Scopus and Web of Science, with no language limitations. The amount of the abstract downloaded was 1804. Following the merge of the duplicates we analyzed 1452 of them. The screening of the abstracts, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria defined at the beginning of the research process, led to the elimination of 90.3% of the abstracts found on the databases . We selected 142 abstracts for further analysis of the entire article in order to check whether they met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We created a drive folder for an intersubjective comparison of the articles to be included and excluded. At the end of the analysis, we included 38 articles that met all the inclusion criteria. To analyze the adolescents’ voices quoted in the selected 38 articles retrived by our search, we used NVivo, a Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). Through Nvivo we got 871 nodes, and we classified 69 labels. Then, we conducted a further grouping, organizing the 69 labels into 9 main themes. This research, by emphasizing the viewpoint of preadolescents, can help increase knowledge of this topic to inform future research and to explore topics not addressed by traditional research.

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