Cultural identification, perceived discrimination and sense of community as predictors of life satisfaction among foreign partners of intercultural families in Italy and Spain: A transnational study

The aim of this paper was to analyze how cultural identification, perceived discrimination and the sense of community are related to life satisfaction among foreign partners in intercultural families.The study compared 105 and 95 foreign partners in mixed families resident in Italy and Spain, respectively. The phenomenon in both countries displays similar sociodemographic aspects. In contrast to Social Identity Theory, the results show that in both groups the foreign partner's identification with their own ethnic-cultural group is not associated with life satisfaction, nor does it increase perceived discrimination. In turn, increased perceived discrimination leads to a decreased sense of community and life satisfaction among foreigners. Regarding religion, interreligious couples in Italy perceive more discrimination than mono-religious couples. Finally, we found that a low sense of discrimination and a strong sense of community are related to life satisfaction among mixed families in both groups. The implications of the study are described and suggestions for future research discussed.