To be, or not to be ... german, russian, or ethnic german: ethnic self-labeling among adolescent ethnic german immigrants

Abstract

Immigration is a stressful event for any individual; even more so in adolescence. The teenage years are regarded as a critical period during which adolescents usually struggle with determining their identity, asking themselves who they are and who they want to be (ethnic self-labels). The aim of this dissertation was to answer the following two main questions: One, how do contextual and individual factors correlate with the formation of (multiple) ethnic self-labels? And two, are these ethnic self-labels related to acculturative outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and delinquent behavior? Altogether, 968 adolescents of the first generation age twelve to 19 participated in this questionnaire study. Those with higher ratings on the successful immigration variables were adolescents that included the German category in their label (German,ʺ German-Russian,ʺ and German-ethnic Germanʺ). Adolescents labeling themselves as Russian,ʺ German-Russian,ʺ or Noneʺ reported less parental knowledge, a sign of less successful immigration. Interestingly, the effect of perceived discrimination played no significant, and length of residency only a minor role. Adolescent ascribing themselves to the Germanʺ label reported fewer depressive symptoms and less delinquent behavior than all others. Adolescents labeling themselves as Noneʺ reported the most depressive symptoms and adolescents labeling themselves as Russianʺ the most delinquent behavior. The results of this dissertation underline the importance of a sense of belonging to Germany for adolescent ethnic Germans.