Language, ethnic identity, and the adaptation of Turkish immigrant youth in the Netherlands and Sweden

This study analyzes the relationships between immigrant adolescents' ethnic identity, their first and second language proficiency and their psychological and sociocultural adaptation using three models: the ethnic identity model, the language assimilation model, and the language integration model. The study explores what model best explains adaptation processes of second-generation immigrant youth in the Netherlands and Sweden. Participants were 158 Turkish adolescents in the Netherlands and 237 in Sweden (13-18 years). As expected we found support for the ethnic identity model in the Swedish sample and for the language assimilation model in the Netherlands. We also found weak support for the integration model in the Swedish sample. Overall the findings support a notion that in terms of adaptation outcomes there is no such thing as a preferred acculturation strategy that is valid for all times and places. This paper shows that possibilities for optimizing adaptation outcomes as well as choices of acculturation strategies may vary by context with regard to immigrant language policy and corresponding experiences.