School Adjustment and Friendship Quality of First- and Second-Generation Adolescent Immigrants to Spain as a Function of Acculturation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the links between school adjustment, friendship, and identification with both the cultures of origin and with the host culture. Our overriding hypothesis was that integration in Berry’s terms, that is, simultaneous identification with both the culture of origin and the majority Spanish/Catalan culture, would predict better school adjustment. We also expected the same integrated acculturative stance to be linked with closer and less conflictual friendships. The participants were 682 students, in six public high schools in Catalonia, Spain. Of these, 226 were first- and second-generation immigrants, and this subset was used in most of the analyses reported herein. The results showed that acculturation to the host culture and acculturation to the culture of origin are both adaptive but in different ways. These results applied to both first- and second-generation immigrants. Identification with the culture of origin was a significant predictor of closeness in friendship. In contrast, identification with the host culture is linked with school adjustment. Integrated adolescents, who identify simultaneously with host culture and culture of origin, do best at school according to teachers but not significantly better than assimilated students, who identify primarily with the host culture.

Keywords

adolescents immigrants acculturation friendship school adjustment

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to determine the implications of adolescent immigrants’ identification with the host culture and with the culture of origin in terms of school adjustment, and friendship in the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain.

Berry (1997), in his influential acculturation theory, classified immigrants to contemporary multicultural societies into four categories of acculturation according to their identification with their cultures of origin as well as their contact and participation in the cultures of their home countries. Integrated individuals maintain simultaneously a strong identification with their cultures of origin and with the host cultures. In contrast, assimilated individuals identify primarily with the host cultures, while segregated or separated individuals cling to their cultural roots, minimizing contact with the host culture. Finally, marginalized immigrants identify neither with the host culture nor with the culture of origin. We based the current study on these views, using Berry’s contention that the integrated pattern of cultural adaptation is the most adaptive in the formulation of our hypotheses and our methods for studying adolescents of immigrant communities in Catalonia.

Catalonia identifies itself officially as a multicultural society that respects linguistic and cultural pluralism (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2009). There have been major initiatives since the 1990s in inter-cultural education in a substantial effort to leave segregationist attitudes behind. Nevertheless, this movement toward multiculturalism is widely seen as much weaker than the stronger assimilationist trends, with their emphasis on immersion in the Catalan language (Zapata-Barrero, 2010). It has been reported that Catalonian teachers are reluctant to even discuss multicultural issues, which are difficult to coordinate with previous policies familiar to them, which were aimed at promoting total assimilation. Help to immigrant pupils is primarily academic, not social in nature (Garreta, 2004). Some very recent reports, however, indicate interest in, and sensitivity to, the cultures of origin of the immigrants (Garreta, 2011).

Consistent with Berry’s views on the adaptive value of different forms of acculturation, a series of studies, conducted with adolescents in a number of different countries but not Catalonia, demonstrates that it is optimal for immigrants to achieve integration by identifying with the host culture without relinquishing identification with the culture of origin and/or the ability to function effectively in the culture of origin (e.g., Berry & Sabatier, 2010; Birman, Trickett, & Vinokurov, 2002; Cooper & Smalls, 2010; Kovacev & Shute, 2004). Measures of adjustment in these studies include self-worth, peer acceptance, and academic achievement. Consistent with Berry’s views as well are studies showing that the marginalization orientation is the least adaptive (e.g., Gil, Vega, & Dimas, 1994). It is important to note that findings vary from host country to host country, and that some data are not consistent with Berry’s contention that the integrated identification is the most facilitative of successful adaptation. Some of these contrary findings support the view that it is most adaptive for immigrants to assume an assimilated pattern of cultural identification. Assimilation may protect immigrant adolescents from stressful experiences of discrimination and may facilitate school success in particular (e.g., Deng, Kim, Vaughan, & Li, 2010; Horenczyk & Ben-Shalom, 2001). Some critics have remarked that Berry’s theory does not encompass the communication processes that may be fundamental to acculturation and that Berry does not adequately articulate the distinct functions of the elements of cultural identification and contact participation (e.g., Lakey, 2003).

As emphasized by Güngör and Bornstein (2013), it is important to bear in mind that immigrants do not necessarily acculturate in the same ways or to the same extent in all domains of life. The eminent American sociologist Milton Gordon (1964) organized the different domains of assimilation into a stage-like model, distinguishing such areas as language, dress, daily routines, several types of values, family and marital relations, membership in social clubs, and participation in civic/political life. Indeed, several of the previous studies conducted with immigrant adolescents have shown that the implications of the different patterns of cultural identification vary according to the specific life domain being considered. In the present study, we distinguished between the domains of close friendship and adjustment to school, including both academic achievement and behavior. Güngör and Bornstein also emphasize individual differences in the trajectory of the acculturation process, especially gender differences. They also argue that the acculturation process is stronger for adolescents than for younger children.

Friendship and School Adjustment of Adolescent Immigrants

Friendship is an intimate state of mind that is co-constructed by the two friends. Especially in adolescence, friendships bring security, social support, companionship, and protection from hostility by third parties. Friends also validate a person’s self-worth and confirm his or her values and aspirations (Bukowski, Newcomb, & Hartup, 1996). A number of studies have demonstrated without doubt that friendships are linked in many ways to positive psychosocial adjustment and especially to school adjustment (e.g., Altermatt, 2011; Schneider, 2000; Wang & Eccles, 2012).

Weinreich (1983) maintained that friendships play a fundamental role in the process of redefinition of the personal and social identities of adolescent immigrants. In their attempts to resolve the inevitable discrepancies between the cultural values of their families and of their school culture, they often turn to friends for guidance, support, and validation (Shih, 1998). Adolescents undergo the typical growing pains of the adolescent years in counterpoint with the challenges of moving to a new and unfamiliar culture. Several aspects of friendship are related to the well-being of immigrants, including social support (Vitoroulis, Schneider, Cerviño, Soteras del Toro, & Gonzales, 2012). Communication with friends seems to be an integral part of acculturation to the school experience (Tong, 2014).

The cultural background of a pupil’s friends may mediate the extent and nature of their influence. Studies conducted in the United States have shown some benefits in terms of successful acculturation for having friends both inside and outside one’s own cultural group (Chan & Birman, 2009; Hamm, Brown, & Heck, 2005).

Unfortunately, the positive influences of cross-ethnic friendships may sometimes be limited by the fact that they are often not as stable or satisfying as co-ethnic friendships (Jugert, Noack, & Rutland, 2013; Schneider, Dixon, & Udvari, 2007). Cross-ethnic friendships may also be characterized by greater conflict than inter-ethnic friendships (Schneider et al., 2007). This conflict may lead to dissolution of friendship, as reflected, perhaps, in the short half-lives often found for inter-ethnic friendships. Most authorities on friendship regard conflict between friends as inevitable and not necessarily unhealthy. However, they highlight the adaptive importance of the conflict resolution abilities that enable a good friendship to continue and grow (Schneider, 2000). Akhtar (2009) observed that having friends of one’s own culture typically helps counteract the profound feeling of being alone that he sees as integral to the lives of immigrants. Encountering other members of their cultures of origin provides immigrants with a feeling of belonging and kinship. Perhaps for this reason, most available data indicate that adolescents tend to choose friends from among fellow members of the same ethnic group (e.g., Smith & Schneider, 2000; Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2006; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002).

The School Experience of Adolescent Immigrants in Spain

Spain is among the European Union countries with the highest percentage of inhabitants of foreign birth (Arango, 2013). Immigrants to Spain experience considerable difficulties in finding their place within Spanish society, given the unclear status of their cultures of origin in a country that lacks a clear commitment to multiculturalism. As noted by Calero (2006), many official documents espouse a doctrine of mutual respect, respect for basic human rights, and pluralism. However, it is commonly noted that these official documents are not widely disseminated and often fail to correspond with the reality faced by immigrants attempting to succeed in school or at work in Spain (Cea D’Ancona & Valles, 2009). Failure and school dropout during the secondary school years is often cited as a particular problem in immigrant communities (Aparicio, Portes, & Haller, 2009; Serra & Palaudàrias, 2010). Aggravating the situation is the fact that immigrant adolescents are enrolled in a school system that is already faced with problems of alienation, violence, underachievement, school dropout, and low staff morale (Garreta, 2011; Piñuel & Oñate, 2007).

In her qualitative study of Ecuadorean immigrant adolescents in Madrid, Lucko (2011) documented many of the obstacles the participants faced at school. They encountered, first of all, prejudice, embodied in stereotyping Latin American students as having limited academic ability. Many teachers expected all Latin American pupils to proceed to the non-academic tracks that are very distinct from the academic tracks of Spanish schools. Lucko (2011) found that once placed in the non-academic tracks, they tended to befriend other Latin American immigrants who were disillusioned with the educational system and who did not make academic achievement a priority. With specific regard to adolescent immigrants, Briones, Verkuyten, Cosano, and Tabernero (2012), focusing on two large immigrant groups, Moroccan and Ecuadorian, found that identification with the Spanish host culture was positively linked in general with psychological well-being in terms of self-efficacy and life satisfaction. Perceived discrimination was linked to lower levels of psychological well-being.

In addition, several studies conducted with Spanish adolescents have revealed a high degree of social encapsulation in friendship networks, that is, a tendency to forge friendships with other adolescents from the same cultural/ethnic/racial background (Dominguez & Maya, 2008; Lanza, Moreno, De Diego, Ruz, & Moreno, 2012). This encapsulation has been found to apply to male adolescents more than females. In a study conducted in Barcelona by Aparicio et al. (2009) with children of immigrants, it was found that this ethnic/racial encapsulation indeed characterized the “second generation” very strongly. The implications of this deeply ingrained encapsulation for school adjustment are not yet clear. We conducted the present study primarily to elucidate this.

We also wanted to elucidate the effects of nativity (generation status) and country of origin. Researchers in the United States have identified an “immigrant paradox” (Crosnoe & Turley, 2011), the phenomenon of immigrant children demonstrating higher academic achievement than American peers of majority culture born in the United States, despite all the challenges and barriers faced by immigrants. In U.S. research, the immigrant paradox varies considerably as a function of the origin and culture of the immigrants; Asian Americans typically achieve very high levels of achievement, whereas Mexican Americans typically lag behind most other ethnic and cultural groups (Crosnoe & Turley, 2011). Although Latin Americans arrive in Spain with the advantages of already understanding the Spanish language and sharing much of the Spanish culture (Arjona Garrido & Checa Olmos, 2009), the Latin American immigrant adolescents in their sample displayed lower attainment than the participating immigrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. However, Vaquera and Kao (2012), in their longitudinal study of the adjustment of adolescent immigrants to Barcelona, Spain, found that adjustment varied only slightly according to the immigrants’ countries of origin. It is interesting to note that several American researchers have also documented a unique and problematic second-generation effect. Having acquired the language skills and knowledge of the countries in which they were born, second-generation immigrants may become particularly aware of discriminatory behaviors by teachers and school peers, resulting in alienation from the school experience (Chun & Mobley, 2014). We wanted to explore a possible second-generation effect among adolescent members of cultural minority groups in Catalonia. It is important to note that second-generation immigrant status is considered distinct from native Spanish status in many Spanish writings and in most previous studies on Spanish immigrants (Aparicio, 2005; Casas, 2007).

The Present Study

The major purpose of our study was to determine the links between school adjustment, friendship, and identification with both the cultures of origin and with the host culture. Our overriding hypothesis was that integration in Berry’s terms, that is, simultaneous identification with both the culture of origin and the majority Spanish/Catalan culture, would predict better school adjustment, understood as adaptation to both academic and behavioral demands of the school (Berry, 2006; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). Because friendship is an important aspect of adjustment, we also expected the integrated acculturative stance to be linked with closer and less conflictual friendships than the other forms of cultural assimilation discussed by Berry. We also anticipated that the friendships of immigrant adolescents would be from among members of the same culture of origin and that having friendships with adolescents of the host culture (i.e., inter-ethnic friendship) is associated with the better school adjustment than is intra-ethnic friendship.

Method

Participants

The research participants were 682 adolescents, 15 and 16 years old, from six schools in Barcelona and Girona. Forty-seven percent were male; 53% female. Of these, 226 pupils were first- or second-generation immigrants, 52% female, and this subset was the main focus of our analysis. Schools were selected according to the availability of immigrant pupils. The proportion of immigrants in each school ranged from 22% to 55%. Sixty percent of the participants in Girona were from a secondary school in the city center, the remainder from several smaller schools in rural areas surrounding the city. The participating Barcelona schools were from different parts of the city.

First- or second-generation immigrants represented between 30% and 36% of the enrolment of the participating schools; only 3% of the total immigrant sample had immigrated within 3 years of the start of the study. The largest groups of immigrants were from Latin America (17%; Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras, Cuba, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina) and Asia (16%; Pakistan, India, and China). There were also participants from sub-Saharan Africa (principally Senegal and Gambia, 5%), the Middle East (Morocco, Syria, Egypt, Libya; 3%), and other European countries (3%, including Portugal, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, and Georgia). Given the possible effects of generation status and of Latin American origin (with the Spanish language possibly facilitating acculturation), we included these variables in subsidiary analyses.

A substantial minority reported that they were having academic problems: 53% said that they were obtaining satisfactory grades, and 23% self-reported above-average school achievement. Only 4% reported receiving excellent school marks, whereas 20% were receiving failing grades. In terms of socio-economic status (SES), 8% were from low-SES homes, 87% from middle-class homes, and 5% from upper-class homes. The SES classification was based on the parents’ professions and incomes, classified according to criteria proposed by Spanish sociologist M. A. Alegre (2008).

Procedure

With the approval of the regional educational authorities, we specifically approached schools known to enroll substantial numbers of immigrants. Accordingly, we contacted eight schools in the provinces of Barcelona and Girona. Two schools with substantial immigrant participation in Barcelona declined to participate. After the school authorities agreed to the study, we sought written informed consent from the parents as well as assent of the pupils. All students in the participating classes agreed to take part.

The pupils participated in the data collection during extended homeroom periods in the presence of their homeroom teachers. Data collection took approximately 1 hour. Homeroom teachers are subject teachers who coordinate communication with parents and are basic links between the pupils and the school administration. They typically know the pupils somewhat better than other subject teachers.

In order to minimize stigmatization and disruption of school routine, all pupils, immigrant and non-immigrant, completed the demographic information and friendship-quality measures. Only first- and second-generation immigrants completed the cultural identity questionnaire; teacher ratings were only obtained for immigrants as well. University-based research assistants administered the questionnaires at times they arranged with the homeroom teachers. The consent rate was 100%. No time limit was imposed.

Instruments

The original instruments were translated from English into both Spanish and Catalan by the first author and back-translated into English by the second author in order to ensure the accuracy of the translation. A series of back-translation procedures was employed to verify the accuracy of the translations. The initial translation was prepared by the first author, a native speaker of Spanish and Catalan compared with a back-translation prepared by the second author, a native speaker of English. Any discrepancies were discussed and the questionnaires revised and again back-translated in the few instances where this was necessary. The questionnaires were administered in the language of instruction at each school, Spanish or Catalan.

Cultural self-identification

The participants were asked to write down with the culture that they considered themselves as belonging to. We added a remark, adapted from the Canadian national census and Canadian government research, to the effect that “many of us regard ourselves as Spanish and/or Catalan. However, some people who feel that they are Spanish and/or Catalan also feel that they are part of another culture.” The participants were then asked to indicate the other culture with which they identify. Other sections of the demographic questionnaire were devoted to the places of birth of the participants, their parents, and grandparents. We also asked the respondents to indicate the language they speak at home. In our analysis, we used the self-identification to indicate the participants’ cultural heritage. Our perusal of the other sections indicated that almost all of these data were consistent with the data pertaining to grandparents’ birth places and language spoken at home.

Our decision to juxtapose in this questionnaire cultures of origin with the undifferentiated Spanish/Catalan culture was based on existing literature on the culture identity of immigrants to Catalonia. Despite strong nationalist Catalan sentiment in much of the population, several sources make it clear that most residents of the region embrace a dual cultural identity to a considerable degree. For example, survey data reported by Moreno, Arriba, and Serrano (1997), for example, indicate that 12.5% of Catalonians consider themselves only Catalan compared with 16.7% who consider themselves only Spanish, with the rest reporting some combination of the two. However, 51% of immigrants to Catalonia considered themselves only Spanish compared with 9% who considered themselves only Catalan. Furthermore, Bernaus, Moore, and Azevedo (2007), who studied patterns of language use by 176 adolescents who had immigrated to Barcelona from different parts of the world, found that although they used Catalan as required in school, they almost always conversed in Spanish among themselves and after school. Similarly, Cots and Nussbaum (2008), in a detailed ethnographic and linguistic analysis of the discourse of 15 immigrants, found that they mostly used Catalan in conversing with teachers but Spanish in their exchanges with peers. Although immigrants use Spanish more than native Catalonians do and live in parts of the region where Spanish is spoken relatively frequently, it has been noted that immigrants to the region learn to use Catalan strategically when the context requires it (Pujolar, 2010). Because it was not our purpose to explore this issue beyond the data from other studies, we decided not to ask our participants to subdivide their representations of a host culture that is largely characterized by dual cultural identity according to available data.

Friendship nominations

We asked the participants to name up to four close friends and to indicate the cultures to which those friends belong.

The Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000) is based on a two-factor model of acculturation and, therefore, measures identification with both the culture of origin and the host culture. Ryder, Alden, and Paulhus report impressive validity data for the instrument. Factorial validity is demonstrated by the robust two-factor structure. There is also evidence of concurrent validity based on correlations with measures of cultural self-construal and other relevant variables. In this study, we used the adolescent version obtained from the author rather than the more familiar adult version, whose wording was not suitable for adolescents. Thus, the scale we administered consists of 16 Likert-type items with a 5-point response scale, with 8 items referring to the culture of origin and 8 items referring to the host culture, in this case, indicated as “Spanish or Catalan.” Sample items are as follows: “I am interested in having Spanish/Catalan friends,” “I enjoy the jokes and humor of my heritage culture,” and “I enjoy social activities with typical Spanish/Catalan people.” Given its content, we only administered this scale to pupils who were first- and second-generation immigrants. The scale yields two scores, one for identification with the host culture, the other for identification with the heritage culture. In our sample, the alpha coefficients for internal consistency were .82 for the host culture and .80 for the heritage culture. We split the two-factor acculturation scores at the mean for each of the two scales in order to classify the participants into Berry’s four acculturation types. As noted in the “Results” section of this article later, we complemented these categorical scores in multiple regression equations using the full range of continuous data.

The Friendship Quality Scale (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994) was used as a measure of the core features of the friendships of the participants. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire with regard to their best friend in the whole world. This scale consists of 23 items worded as a 5-point Likert-type scale. It was designed to assess the qualities of specific friendship relations, including the dimensions of companionship (sample item: “My friend and I spend all our free time together”), help (e.g., “My friend would help me if I needed it”), security (e.g., “If there is something bothering me, I can tell my friend about it even if it is something I cannot tell other people”), closeness (“I think about my friend even when my friend is not here”), and conflict (e.g., “I can get into fights with my friend”). These five dimensions loaded on five separate dimensions in the original study by Bukowski and his colleagues. However, as in the majority of subsequent studies (see Furman, 1996, or Schneider, Fonzi, Tani, & Tomada, 1997), a two-factor structure represented that data much better. In the current Spanish sample, the items pertaining to help, security, closeness, and conflict were best described by a single Intimacy factor, whose alpha for internal consistency was 88. The alpha for the four-item Conflict factor was .66. The Conflict factor pertains primarily to disagreements between the friends. Inasmuch as the internal consistency of the Conflict factor was marginal, we included these data for heuristic value only given their substantive importance. The results should be interpreted with caution.

In addition to rating the quality of the friendship, the participants indicated whether the friend was of the same culture, another immigrant of a different culture, or a non-immigrant. The teacher version (Grades 7-12) of the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliot, 1990) was completed by the homeroom teachers of first- and second-generation immigrant participants only because of time constraints. Teachers rated how often each participant typically engages in the behavior specified using a scale ranging for 0 (never) to 2 (very often). There are 30 items referring to socially competent behavior, equally distributed among Cooperation, Assertion, and Self-control. In addition, there are 18 problem behaviors, equally distributed, which pertain to Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, and Hyperactivity. Finally, in the Academic Competence section, teachers rated on a 5-point scale (with 1 representing the lowest 10% of the class) each student’s academic performance relative to the other pupils in the class. The alpha coefficients for internal consistency averaged .82 in the current Spanish sample.

Following the collection of the quantitative data, we conducted interviews with a subsample in order to explore their friendship experiences in greater depth. All interviews were conducted by the third author. We conducted these in-depth interviews with a total of 90 participants, constituting both members of 45 dyads, 20 co-ethnic dyads, and 25 inter-ethnic dyads. These individually administered interviews were adapted from a protocol developed by Azmitia, Ittel, and Radmacher (2005). We asked the participants to describe an ideal school friend and state the expectations he or she would have of that friend. We then asked them why this friendship is special for them. Finally, we asked them to describe a conflict that they may have had with the friend and the strategies they used to resolve it. The first and third authors first independently read the transcribed interviews to create summaries of each adolescent’s friendship experiences they narrated. We used three a priori categories derived from the friendship literature to structure the analysis: friendship closeness, conflict, and conflict management. These were subdivided into additional categories based on the responses as they emerged. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for analysis. Three independent raters performed the same categorization, with an inter-rater agreement rate of 86%.

Acculturation as a Predictor of Teacher-Rated School Adjustment and Friendship Quality

As preliminary steps in demonstrating the benefits of an integrated acculturative stance, we tested the basic hypothesis that bicultural acculturation is liked to better adjustment in terms of both adaptation to school than the other types of acculturation in Berry’s model. Data on school adjustment were obtained from the teacher version of the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliot, 1990), which covers three aspects of school adjustment: socially competent behavior (Cooperation, Assertion, and Self-Control), problem behaviors (Externalizing Problems, Internalizing Problems, and Hyperactivity), and Academic Competence.

Results

Extent and Quality of Inter-Ethnic Friendship

A total of 45% of the friendships of immigrant participants were with other members of the same cultural group, 26% with other immigrants, and 29% with members of the Spanish/Catalan majority culture. In contrast, 85% of the friendships of majority-culture participants were with other participants of majority cultural origin, as hypothesized. There were no significant differences in friendship quality between the co-ethnic and inter-ethnic friendships of the immigrant adolescents.

Prediction of School Adjustment and Friendship Quality From Acculturation Variables

Although Berry’s theory is probably tested best by categorical analysis, which appears later in this section, some of the criticisms of the theory suggest separate analysis of its separate components. The analysis of continuous data also avoids the inevitable loss of information when cutting scores are used. Therefore, we first performed multiple regression analysis, with the predictors entered in a pre-specified order that was determined substantively. Each of the outcome variables (n = 9; seven pertaining to school adjustment and two to Friendship Quality) was entered as a separate outcome variable in nine different regression analyses. In the first step, we entered participants’ sex, which we expected to emerge as a correlate of school adjustment. In order to test our expectation that identification with both the host culture and culture of origin would be related to school adjustment over and beyond the effects of sex, we entered the continuous data in the two acculturation scales in the next step. The final step included all the interaction terms; this step was added in order to determine whether either or both of the acculturation scales predicted school adjustment specifically for boys and girls. It is important to remember that this analysis could only be conducted on data from first- and second-generation immigrants, because acculturation data were only pertinent to them and only obtained from them.

Correlations between the variables involved in the regression equations are displayed in Table 1. Table 2 contains a summary of the multiple regression results.

Table 1.

Correlations Between Acculturation and Outcome Variables (n = 226).

	Identification with culture of the origin	Identification with host culture
School adjustment
Cooperation	−.04	.20*
Self-control	−.11	.21**
Externalization	−.04	−.19*
Internalization	−.08	−.23**
Hyperactivity	.00	−.16*
Assertiveness	−.04	.11
Academic competence	−.06	.24**
Friendship quality
Intimacy factor	.24**	.08
Conflict factor	−.14	−.06

p < .05. **p < .01.

Table 2.

Summary of Multiple Regression Results: Acculturation as a Predictor of School Adjustment and Friendship Quality (n = 226).

	Step 1		Step 2			Step 3
	Sex		Identification with culture of the origin	Identification with host culture		Sex × Identification with culture of the origin	Sex × Identification with host culture
Dependent variable	β/t	ΔR²	β/t	β/t	ΔR²	β/t	β/t	ΔR²
School adjustment
Cooperation	−.14/−1.15	.02	−.09/−1.15	.21/2.16**	.07	.87/1.77	−.14/−0.34	.08
Self-control	−.16/−1.96	.03	−.16/−2.06*	.23/2.87**	.09	.66/1.29	.04/0.11	.01
Externalization	.21/2.80***	.05	−.01/0.08	−.17/−2.14**	.07	−.61/−1.25	−.20/−0.50	.08
Internalization	−.14/−1.84		−.05/−0.62	−.19/−2.45*		−.21/−0.85	−.67/−1.35
Hyperactivity	.13/1.71	.02	.05/0.59	−.17/−2.18*	.05	−1.23/−2.51**	−.29/−0.72	.09
Assertiveness	−.01/−0.09	.00	−.06/−0.70	.08/0.964	.01	−.06/−0.70	−27/−0.63	.01
Academic competence	−.18/−2.26*	.03	−.13/−1.66	.26/3.39***	.10	1.47/2.97***	−.27/−0.69	.15
Friendship quality
Intimacy factor	−.39/−5.83***	.15	.23/3.32**	.00/0.00	.20	.24/0.59	.00/0.01	.20
Conflict factor	.09/1.38	.01	−.13/−1.79	−.05/−0.65	.03	−.08/−0.18	−.67/−1.76	.05

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

The predictors accounted for significant (p < .05) portions of the variance in most of the school adjustment variables: Cooperation, F(1, 157) = 2.94, p < .05, at the final step; Self-Control, F(1, 157) = 3.51, p < .01, at the final step; Externalization, F(1, 157) = 2.83, p < .05, at the final step; Internalization, F(1, 157) = 2.97, p < .05, at the final step; and Academic Competence, F(1, 157) = 5.09, p < .001, at the final step. The results for Hyperactivity were not significant. Despite the significant findings, many of them were not in the hypothesized direction: It was identification with the host culture, not the cultural origin, that predicted school adjustment.

The hypothesized pattern did emerge, however, in the friendship data. The total prediction of Friendship Intimacy was highly significant: F(1, 157) = 11.33, p < .001, at the final step. Identification with the culture of origin was a significant predictor of closeness in friendship; identification with the Spanish/Catalan host did not predict Intimacy in friendship. The predictors failed to account for a significant portion of the variance in friendship conflict.

There were only two significant interaction effects. Host-culture acculturation was significantly and negatively correlated with hyperactivity for boys but not for girls. Host-culture acculturation was a significant positive correlate of academic competence for boys. However, both host-culture acculturation and culture-of-origin acculturation were very strong, significant predictors of the academic competence of girls.

Categorical Analysis of Acculturation Types

We also conducted categorical analysis in light of the typology implicit in Berry’s theory. We split the two-factor acculturation scores at the mean for each of the two scales in order to classify the participants into Berry’s four acculturation types: Integration, Segregation, Assimilation, and Marginalization. The sample size did not permit us to include participant sex in this analysis.

As shown in Table 3, very different results emerged from the MANOVAs and ANOVAs performed on the two main variables in this study, namely, teacher-rated school adjustment and self-rated friendship quality. The multivariate F(21, 405) for school adjustment was 1.791, p < .05. Consistent with Berry’s theory, it was the integrated adolescents who received the highest ratings for school adjustment. Follow-up Tukey tests revealed that the adjustment ratings of the integrated adolescents were significantly higher than those of the segregated adolescents on most aspects of adjustment, with the scores of the segregated and assimilated adolescents somewhere in between.

Table 3.

Outcome Data Based on the Categorical Analysis of Acculturation Types (n = 226).

	Integrated (n = 79)		Segregated (n = 39)		Assimilated (n = 41)		Marginalized (n = 67)
Dependent variable	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
SSRS
Cooperation	5.88^a	1.76	4.44^b	2.18	5.19^a,b	1.92	5.13^a,b	2.10
Self-control	20.70^b	4.70	17.30^a	6.19	19.42^a,b	5.12	19.52^a,b	4.86
Externalization	1.28^a	1.8	2.41^a,b	2.75	2.78^b	3.94	2.48^a,b	2.36
Internalization	2.31^a	2.26	3.97^b	2.40	3.61^a,b	2.77	3.84^a,b	3.25
Hyperactivity	2.24	2.24	3.47	2.60	2.78	2.59	3.08	2.50
Assertiveness	7.08	3.07	6.28	2.85	7.04	3.70	6.78	3.05
Academic competence	13.23^a	2.52	11.19^b	2.56	12.54^a,b	2.53	12.40^a,b	2.67
Friendship quality
Intimacy factor	75.25^a,b	9.75	77.63^a	7.80	71.45^b	10.39	69.88^b	11.40
Conflict factor	10.82	3.06	10.56	3.60	11.66	3.84	11.60	3.21

Note. Different letters (superscripts) in the results for a single variable indicate that this group differs significantly from the rest. Significant at the p < .05 level. SSRS = Social Skills Rating System.

With regard to friendship quality, the multivariate F(6, 347) value of 2.746 was significant at the .05 level. As shown in the table, follow-up univariate ANOVAs indicated significant results only for the friendship intimacy, not for conflict between friends, with segregated participants—who identify primarily with their cultures of origin—tending to have the closest friendships, with Friendship Intimacy scores that were somewhat, but not significantly, higher than those of the integrated acculturation group. Marginalized and assimilated participants had significantly lower scores than either the integrated or segregated groups.

School Adjustment by Ethnic Background of Friends

We hypothesized that having friendships with adolescents of the host culture (inter-ethnic friendship) would be associated with better school adjustment. Contrary to our expectations, our ANOVA results, summarized in Table 4, indicate no significant differences in school adjustment between adolescents whose friends are primarily of their own cultures of origin and those with good friends from the host culture.

Table 4.

Ethnic Composition of the Immigrants’ Friendships as a Function of the SSRS (n = 226).

	Co-ethnic friendships (n = 164)		Inter-ethnic friendships (n = 62)
SSRS
Cooperation	5.5	(2.1)	4.9	(1.9)
Self-control	20.1	(4.9)	19.1	(5.1)
Externalization	1.9	(2.1)	1.8	(2.3)
Internalization	3.3	(2.8)	2.9	(2.5)
Hyperactivity	2.8	(2.5)	2.8	(2.2)
Assertiveness	7.3	(3.5)	6.6	(2.7)
Academic competence	12.7	(2.9)	12.1	(2.3)

Note. Standard deviations are indicated in parentheses after the means. SSRS = Social Skills Rating System.

Additionally, we performed supplementary MANOVAs and ANOVAs comparing the four acculturation types using only the data from Latin American immigrant participants who might conceivably be better integrated into the mainstream Spanish/Catalan society because of their mastery of the Spanish language. However, the results of these supplementary analyses demonstrated that the data obtained from Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrants did not differ from the main pattern of results.

Generation Status

We also conducted MANOVAs and ANOVAs to compare first- and second-generation immigrants in terms of acculturation, school adjustment, and friendship. Caution must be exercised in interpreting the findings because of reduced n and, in some cases, very small cell sizes. We did note some differences: First-generation immigrants were less assertive and lower in academic achievement, but had friendships of greater intimacy. These 3 of the 14 ANOVAs yielded significant univariate results but were not significant after Bonferroni correction. The most substantial difference was in terms of friendship intimacy, which was considerably higher among second-generation immigrants (M = 74.6; SD = 9.7) and non-immigrants (M = 75.3; SD = 9.1) than first-generation immigrants (M = 71.6; SD = 11.2), F(4, 1186) = 2.495, p = .041 (not significant after Bonferroni correction). Interestingly, there were no differences between the first- and second-generation immigrants in terms of cultural identification. The pattern of results for the second-generation immigrants was identical to that of the full immigrant sample. Small cell size precludes interpretation of the parallel analyses for first-generation immigrants only. However, all results were in the same directions as those of the main analysis, with identification with the host culture predicting school adjustment, whereas identification with the culture of origin predicted friendship intimacy.

The Subjective Experience of Friendship by Immigrant Adolescents

Understanding of the concept of friendship and friendship expectations

Our qualitative data were collected to complement the quantitative results with regard to the possible dynamics linking identification with the host culture and the culture of origin with friendship and school adjustment. In the qualitative section of our study, we compare the narratives of immigrant participants who reported high levels of friendship closeness and identification with country of origin with other participants who reported lower levels of friendship closeness and identification with host country. In doing so, we focused on their essential understanding of the nature of friendship, conceptions of closeness, conflict, and conflict resolution in their friendships.

The first theme that emerged from our interviews of selected immigrant participants is that of friendship based primarily on reciprocal help. This theme is present in much of the literature on adolescent friendship, although most authors consider adolescent friendship to be characterized increasingly by shared intimacy. Concrete mutual assistance, which is very typical in the thinking of school-aged children, does not, however, disappear with the onset of adolescence in typical U.S. samples (Schneider, 2000). The narratives of our immigrant participants who adopted a segregated stance with regard to their identification with the host culture demonstrated a very different understanding of friendship from the concept evident in the narratives of those classified as assimilated. In the assimilated group, reciprocal help appeared to be the core of the nature of friendship. In sharp contrast, intimacy appeared to be at the core of friendship as understood by the participants classified as segregated.

For example, Miguel (Chilean, segregated, Intimacy factor = 82; Conflict factor = 8) described his best friend in the following way:

Someone who listens and who is always sincere . . . I don’t know . . . who tells you his opinion . . . who supports you, who listens to you when you need it, someone you can count on. We talk . . . We know each other well, you see. I know what he is like as a person and I think that he knows what I am as a person. Maybe is just one person who happens to want to relate to me as close friends. Or maybe he is just one person with whom I happen to want to relate as close friend. If at times I seem a bit “down.” he worries about what is happening to me. I know that he is listening to me when I talk about something that is important to me. That’s what I like about our relationship. I know for sure that I can talk, you know, whether I feel good or feel bad. He cares about me.

In sharp contrast, Ekue, a first-generation immigrant of African origin (assimilated, Intimacy factor = 55; Conflict factor = 11), emphasized the expectation of help in his conceptualization of friendship, with some mention of companionship with the friend. Affective ties were relatively unimportant to him in comparison with the general trend of the narratives of the participants classified as segregated in their patterns of cultural identification.

A good friend is someone you can always count on, someone who won’t say anything bad about you, just as you wouldn’t say anything bad about him. There are other people in my class that I talk to but just a bit but I am always there talking with my friends. If they don’t have money for something I give it to them, just as they do for me. We go out together, we play football on Fridays. We talk about almost anything, whatever come out, like whether you have a girlfriend, or about videogames, about football, about many things. Once in a while, and just with a very close friend, about how we feel. The most important thing for me, like for just about anybody, is not to be alone. If you don’t have friends you will be alone, in school, outside. You don’t get to talk with anybody. That isn’t good. No one likes to be alone; it’s better to have friends. But of course, if they are not good people, it’s still better to leave them and look for others [as friends].

In discussing what might put their friendships in jeopardy, most participants, regardless of cultural-identification pattern, mentioned disagreements, which were not seen as important conflicts. Some of the agreements were about infrequent but not inconsequential jokes that were interpreted on as mild insults. The following examples illustrate this:

She gets upset about some kinds of jokes that I make and that I think have a funny side. Other people may not see them that way even though they are really jokes. That has caused some conflict between us. It made us really angry but wasn’t really a major conflict, you see. One day we were talking about immigrants and I know where I come from and what my culture is: I am going to be Chilean forever. Maria, though, is a bit embarrassed about being Ecuadorian. She doesn’t like the stereotype associated with people from her own country. So, once we were talking about these things and I made a joke and she took it way too seriously. But two days later it all blew over. (Carlos, Chilean, segregated)

Once I lost a trading card. I thought my friend stole it. I told him but he denied it. Later on I saw that he had it in his album. I told him that he was made of shit and was also very stupid, something like that. I got very angry, that I was the stupid one and that he really wasn’t a friend. I felt very bad. So we fought and I didn’t speak to him for a week, at least not about that. He called me a fucking nigger or something like that. For sure, I was very upset. (Ekue, assimilated)

Despite these remarks about conflict, the narratives indicate clear concern about protecting relationships. In general, the interview participants emphasized the strength of the friendship bond “that cannot be broken by differences of opinion or minor spats.”

Despite the similarities in the strategies used by participants in the assimilated and segregated groups to resolve conflicts, we could discern different nuances. Members of the assimilated group appeared more condescending than members of the segregated group, who tried to resolve conflicts overtly and immediately, showing their anger, rather than diffusing the conflict and making sure that it is not blown out of proportion.

The following excerpt is an example of reflections about conflict resolution by a member of the segregated group:

. . . mm . . . Let’s see . . . the hardest part for me is asking forgiveness for silly little things. Of course, what I consider silly little things might seem like something else to another person. What I learned from her is that is important to say you’re sorry, even if doing that is not important to you. I asked her to forgive me and now I try to control myself a bit better because I know that she doesn’t like it when I make jokes like that. (Carlos, Chilean, segregated)

This overt conflict resolution strategy was avoided by most members of the assimilated cultural-identification group, who preferred to deflect attention from the conflict and resolve it in indirect, non-confrontational ways, for example,

Well, what I try to do is just ignore him. If he passes right in front of me I say something but otherwise not. But I think it’s a strong friendship that will survive a bit of time in which we give each other a bit of space . . . (Ekue, assimilated)

Despite the different modes of conflict resolution strategies, participants felt that their attempts at conflict resolution made their friendships stronger.

Discussion

The main purpose of this study was to determine the implications of adolescent immigrants’ identification with the host culture and with the culture of origin in terms of school adjustment and friendship. Our findings indicate that Berry’s position about the advantages of the integrated acculturation stance depends very fundamentally on the life domain in which the acculturation takes place. In terms of school adjustment, the scores of the integrated group were generally higher than those of other participants in absolute terms. The scores were not, however, significantly higher than those of the assimilated group on any of the teacher-rating scales. In terms of friendship, the highest absolute scores were for those participants in the segregated group who identified primarily with their cultures of origin rather than the host culture, although this group’s scores were not significantly higher than those of the integrated group. This shows that, in any case, it is possible to maintain one’s own culture and language.

Thus, our results indicate that acculturation to the host culture and acculturation to the culture of origin are both adaptive but in different ways. Host-culture acculturation (assimilation strategy) seems to facilitate school adjustment to some extent (Horenczyk & Ben-Shalom, 2001; Portes & Schauffler, 1994), but maintaining the culture of origin (segregated acculturative stance) is linked somewhat with better friendships. Indeed, there was not a significant difference between the intimacy of the friendships of students endorsing integrated and segregated acculturation stances. The fact that the friendships of assimilated and marginalized participants were less intimate provides nonetheless some support for Berry’s contentions. In any event, the data indicate the need to consider different situations when contemplating the implications of acculturation patterns. In addition, with regard to adolescent immigrants’ school adjustment, our results also show some gender differences, which have also been found in other studies (e.g., Kiang, Supple, Stein, & Gonzalez, 2012; Qin, 2003). It seems that immigrant boys are a vulnerable group.

Our findings supported our assumption that a proportion of the friendships of immigrant adolescents would be from among members of the same culture of origin (Smith & Schneider, 2000; Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2006; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002). As previously shown, adolescent immigrants nominate their friends among adolescents of their own culture and others belonging to different cultures but with whom they share the condition of being immigrants. However, native adolescents’ friends mainly belong to their own culture. The tendency toward ethnic encapsulation that emerged in our results offers empirical support to the study carried out by Aparicio et al. (2009) in Barcelona. In our Spanish/Catalan setting, most of the friendships of immigrants are with other immigrants, especially those of the same cultural origin, as in studies conducted in other parts of the world (Akhtar, 2009; Smith & Schneider, 2000; Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2006; Verkuyten & Thijs, 2002).

Despite the ubiquity of co-ethnic relationships within schools, the secondary school system is heavily steeped in the host culture (Phinney, Horenczyk, Liebkind, & Vedder, 2001). Therefore, it is logical that identifying completely or partially with the host culture is linked to success at school (Horenczyk & Ben-Shalom, 2001), as we found. Perhaps this would not occur in schools and societies that are very explicit in their multicultural orientation. These results highlight the need to look further into the causes of the school failure of many adolescent immigrants, which has been documented in Spain and in many other countries (e.g., Garreta, 2011; Piñuel & Oñate, 2007). Further research is also needed on the dissatisfaction of adolescent immigrants to Spain with their school experience, which has also emerged in several studies (Briones et al., 2012; Serra & Palaudàrias, 2010).

Research Limitations and Perspectives

In general terms, the surprising complexity of our findings indicates that researchers interested in continuing this study should explore a wider range of independent and control variables. The academic aspects of school adjustment are related to educational opportunities in both the host culture and the cultures of origin. The social aspects of school adjustment are related to previous interpersonal experiences. Had these variables been considered, we might have been able to account for adjustment more completely.

Hopefully, immigrant adolescents to Catalonia do not have to choose between maintaining their cultures of origin and achieving peer support for academic success. Data about small social groups within schools may unfortunately indicate that there are cliques of immigrants who value their cultures of origin but see themselves as excluded from opportunities to excel at school. This has sometimes been reported in the United States and may not apply to other countries, although a recent in-depth qualitative comparison of the situation of immigrant adolescents in California and Catalonia indicates many more similarities than differences (Gibson, Carrasco, Pamies, Ponferrada, & Rio-Rojas, 2013).

Several methodological limitations should be noted first of all. The teachers’ ratings of the pupil’s adjustment may reflect in some part the teachers’ feelings about immigrant pupils of all or some cultures. Our analyses do include the reciprocity of friendship but do not encompass the way the friendship is perceived by the other member of friendship dyad, who may or may not be of the same culture and, in any case, who many see things differently. Our findings about the important construct of conflict in friendship are of limited value because of the marginal internal consistency of that scale. We did not collect data on a number of variables that might be relevant, including the immigrants’ age at the time of arrival and their fluency in the Spanish and Catalan languages. Although we do have data on the proportion of immigrants in each school, which is a relevant variable, these data are not normally distributed and are restricted in range, making them unsuitable for use in parametric statistical analysis. Importantly, there are a number of features of schools that may affect the welcome they offer immigrant students. These school variables should be included in future studies whenever possible.

Cultural diversity in the school settings is the reflection of a social reality, that of immigration, which was almost inexistent in Spain a couple of decades ago, and which calls for special attention in order to prevent it from becoming the cause of conflicts or social exclusion, both within and outside educational settings. However, it is frequently observed that teaching staff, despite seeming to have a positive attitude toward non-native students, in general, tend to have lower expectations from them, and subsequently offer them less demanding tasks (Gay, 2000). In this regard, it is likely that in Catalonia, immigrant students, perceived to be a group at risk of abandoning school, may become more interested in improving their academic achievement when the means to do so reflect elements that coincide with their identity and life experiences beyond the school context. Perhaps it is those pupils in the segregated group who maintain primary identification with their cultures of origin, that evoke lessened expectations on the part of their teachers, perhaps because they are more identifiable than other immigrants as being of foreign heritage.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was financially supported by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants in Catalonia (AGAUR; Ref. ARAFI 2009-100015).

Author Biographies

Ibis M. Alvarez Valdivia, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Department for Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her research interests focused on cultural aspects of learning and psychological development.

Barry H. Schneider, PhD, is a professor Emeritus at the School of Psychology, University of Ottawa (Canada), and senior lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Boston College. His major research interest focused on peer relationships of children and adolescents, especially the peer relations of children at risk of long-term maladjustment.

Cecilia Villalobos Carrasco is a bachelor in teaching from the University of the Concepción, Chile. Currently, she is a doctoral student at the Department of Psychology and Education, University of Barcelona. Her research interests focused on preparing teachers for inclusive classrooms.

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