Organizer:

John Berry
Queen's University
CANADA
berryj@psyc.queensu.ca

Description:

While all immigrants experience a process of acculturation, during which they learn to adapt to living in two cultures, immigrant youth experience a more complex set of transitions. First, their acculturation often involves more than two cultures, especially in those countries where there is a high level of immigration from many parts of the world. In such cases, youth have to live with more than their parents' heritage culture and that of the larger society; their peers typically present many alternative ways of living, all of which need to be sorted out. Second, youth experience more than cultural transitions; they are also in the process of moving between childhood and adulthood. This age transition occurs in most societies; but when combined with their cultural transitions (especially where definitions of child and adult roles vary considerably) the task becomes even more difficult. The question arises: how do youth manage this double transition? Some answers are now available from comparative research. Drawing on the concepts of acculturation, identity, stress, and various forms of adaptation (psychological, sociocultural, an academic), this workshop will outline these issues, and portray some of the findings from on going study with youth and parents from 32 ethnocultural groups living in 11 countries. Implications of the findings for immigration, settlement and educational policy will be highlighted.

Presenters