‘Migrant adolescents benefit from limited assimilation’

We are constantly hearing in the public debate that young migrants have to integrate, and preferably assimilate. 'This is a misconception,' in the opinion of remedial education specialist Mitch van Geel. ‘Young migrants who retain their ethnic values have a better sense of self-worth and exhibit fewed behavioural problems.' He defended his PhD dissertation on this subject on 9 December.

Language deficiency

‘We have to put the brake on assimilation,' Van Geel proposes. He has carried out research into the wellbeing of non-Western adolescent migrants aged between 12 and 17 in VMBO (lower secondary professional education). This is a section of the population that at times appears in news articles in a none too positive light. At school these youngsters are less successful than their Dutch counterparts and they often drop out of education early. Two frequently heard explanations for these statistics are their lower socio-economic status and their language deficiencies. 

Adaptation

Van Geel questioned whether their poor educational performance and low socio-economic status also translates into poorer adaptation.  But, first, the term adaptation has to be defined. 'It is an umbrella term covering a range of factors.' he explains. 'Psychological problems, school performance, language competence, etc. You can make a general distinction between psychological adaptation and socio-cultural adaptation. The first indicates how a person feels, and the second indicates how well he is actually performing.'

Self-worth

Van Geel was mainly interested in the aspect of psychological adaptation. The key question was to what extent young migrants suffered from psychological problems and whether they had a firm sense of self-worth. Van Geel: ‘It was surprising that the first generation of migrants, adolescents who had experienced migration, suffered fewer psychological problems and had a better sense of self-worth than their Dutch counterparts. They exhibited no more and no fewer behavioural problems. The second generation of migrants were more like Dutch youngsters in terms of adaptation. The advantage that the first generation migrants had, has been gradually lost.'

Acculturation

Researchers seeking an explanation for this have to be aware of the change process that takes place when an individual comes into contact with a different culture, a process known as acculturation. In general, we see that minority groups change much more quickly than the dominant culture. There are a number of different aculturation profiles, such as the integration model, where the individual adapts partially to the dominant culture and partially retains his own identity. There is also the assimilation model where  all aspects of the new culture are taken over, and the diffuse model where no choice is made either in favour of the individual's own culture or of another culture.

Family bond

Young migrants with the ethnic and the integration profile demonstrate by far the most successful adaptation. It is also noticeable that young migrants having the ethnic profile have a significantly lower socio-economic status than youngsters with the other profiles. This means that migrants who live in unfavourable economic circumstances benefit from retaining particular aspects of their own culture. Van Geel: ‘Support from the ethnic community plays a major role, as do strong family bonds and contacts within the ethnic community. This is related to the fact that these young people are sensitive to family obligations. They want to avoid the family being ashamed of them and so they exhibit fewer behavioural problems. It is therefore much more important that these young people have a strong bond with their families and with the ethnic community than they they celebrate Sinterklaas or marry a Dutch partner.'

Assimilation

According to Van Geel, we have to relinquish the idea that assimilation is an ideal goal. He does not mean by this that young people should not integrate, but that they should do so only to a limited degree. 'Young people should assimilate in areas that lead to economic progress. They have to learn the language, be educated and learn to live together with other cultures.' This is where he draws the line. 'There has to be greater understanding of the fact that not every change and adaptation to Dutch culture is necessarily an improvement. Migrant young people, in particular from poorer families, feel better and behave better if they retain their own culture. It is important that they are supported in this.' 

PhD defence: Wednesday 9 December
Mitch van Geel
Acculturation, adaptation and multiculturalism among immigrant adolescents in junior vocational education
Faculty: Social and Behavioural Sciences
Supervisor: Professor P. Vedder

(8 December 2009)