Suchergebnisse

AbstractAlthough age (at migration) is an important factor to influence the socio-cultural integration process of refugees, we know fairly little about exactly how ageing does so. We consider intergroup contact and identification as member of the host city as socio-cultural integration and take the case of recent refugees in the Netherlands to propose and test two mechanisms; language comprehension and health. Using data from 764 recent refugees from the Bridge survey we employ structural equation modelling to test these mechanisms simultaneously for the two measures of socio-cultural integration. Language comprehension mediates the relationship between age and intergroup contact, while health mediates between age and identification. We conclude that a more careful consideration of age in integration literature is necessary, as up till now it has too often been used as a proxy for an array of (social) phenomena. The findings add to better understanding older refugees' challenges in socio-cultural integration.

AbstractIn European countries, refugees await the approval of their asylum claim in reception centres. Scholars have repeatedly expressed concern about the consequences of a long reception period for refugees' mental health but the mechanisms that drive this negative relationship remain not fully understood. Using survey data from 481 Syrian refugees in the Netherlands, we show that the length of stay in reception centres was associated with an increasing number of forced relocations between reception centres, which weakened refugees' mental health during their resettlement up to 2 years later. In an attempt to improve refugees' mental health, reception centres now offer day‐time activities. However, while we find that length of stay in reception centres was associated with more frequent participation in day‐time activities, it did not substantially improve refugees' mental health. We call for policy makers to reduce the detrimental effects of a frequent forced relocations between reception centres.

AbstractParental support is vital for the well‐being and resilience of children with a refugee background as they navigate resettlement. However, providing such parental support is challenging for parents facing significant life changes due to involuntary migration and are unfamiliar with their new society. This study distinguishes between emotional and informational support, focusing on whether parents prioritize informational parental support–involving advice or exchanging information–and examines its determinants. We applied a multiple linear regression model on a data set with 254 recently‐arrived refugee parents of 10‐ to 16‐year‐olds. Results indicate that informational support is predicted by both the parent's educational level as well as their Dutch language proficiency. We conclude that enhancing language proficiency is crucial to empower parents in offering more informational support to their children, aiding their understanding of the new society.

AbstractA notable increase in immigration into the United States over the past half century, coupled with its recent geographic dispersion into new communities nationwide, has fueled contact among a wider set of individuals and groups than ever before. Past research has helped us understand Whites' and Blacks' attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, and even how contact between Blacks and Whites have shaped their attitudes toward one another. Nevertheless, how contact between Blacks and Whites may correspond with attitudes toward immigrants is not as well understood. Drawing on an original representative survey, we examine U.S.-born Whites' and Blacks' attitudes toward Mexican and South Asian Indian immigrants within the context of ongoing relations between the former two U.S.-born communities. Informed by research on the secondary transfer effect (STE), we model how the frequency of contact between U.S.-born Whites and Blacks predicts each group's receptivity toward two differentially positioned immigrant groups, first-generation Mexicans and South Asian Indians. Multivariate analysis indicates that, among Whites, more frequent contact with Blacks is positively associated with greater receptivity toward both immigrant outgroups, even after controlling for Whites' individual perceptions of threat, their direct contact with the two immigrant groups, and the perceived quality of such contact. Among Blacks, however, we find less consistent evidence that frequent contact with Whites is associated with attitudes toward either immigrant group. While varied literatures across multiple disciplines have suggested that interracial relations among the U.S.-born may be associated with receptivity toward immigrant newcomers, our results uniquely highlight the importance of considering how U.S.-born groups are positioned in relation to immigrants and to each other when examining such effects.