Relationship between perceived acculturation expectations and Muslim minority youth's acculturation and adaptation

Acculturation strategies have frequently been used to describe how members of ethnic
minorities reconcile their heritage culture with the culture of their society of residence.
Recently, studies have started to pay increased attention to the fact that the choice of
acculturation strategy does not take place in a social vacuum. In the present study, we
test whether the perception of assimilation expectations held by the societal majority
(PSAE) as well as separation expectations held by ethnic peers (PESE) may be related
to individuals’ own acculturation strategy. Furthermore, we investigate whether these
perceived expectations are directly related to stress and indirectly to adaptation, mediated
by acculturation strategies.All relationships were investigated using multi-group structural
equation modeling with members from three Muslim minority groups: 301 German-Turks,
302 French-Maghrebis and 262 British-Pakistanis. Across the samples, PSAE was associated
with higher degrees of stress. PESE was negatively related to integration, while it was positively
related to separation. In addition, PESE was indirectly and negatively related with
self-esteem and/or socio-cultural adaptation in all samples. The impact of societal assimilation
expectation appears to be limited in this regard. In all, the present study suggests
that perceived acculturation expectations may influence ethnic minorities’ acculturation
strategy. The results also suggestthat perceived expectations that contrast with individuals’
personal acculturation preference could result in higher levels of stress and lower levels of
psychological and socio-cultural adaptation, mediated by acculturation strategies.