Ethnic identification
The results of this study confirm that ethnic identification is mainly determined by birthplace, for both immigrants and natives (H1). Regarding natives, although we expected that native ethnic identification be mainly determined by birthplace, it is worth mentioning that this rate was quite high (94.4%). Previous research has paid little attention to native adolescents, since ethnic identity is not supposed to be as important for natives as for ethnic minority groups. Based on this argument, maybe we could expect the marginalized identity status to be more prevalent. In the specific context we considered for our study, we think there are other additional circumstances that have been able to make native adolescents rethink their ethnic identification. These youngsters attend educational institutions and live in neighborhoods where there is a large presence of immigrants, so perhaps in ethnical homogeneous centers and neighborhoods the results would have been different. Social identity theory claims that identification with one’s own group can increase by contact with different groups, especially when they are a minority in their immediate contexts (Xu et al., 2015). In addition, this result can be a consequence of the relatively recent immigration in Spain. In other countries, like the USA, these differences have existed for a longer period and do not make mainstream adolescents redefine questions pertaining to ethnic identification.
Regarding immigrants, in accordance with previous research (Fuligni & Tsai, 2015; Fuligni et al., 2008; Kiang & Witkow, 2018), we did not find a large inclusion of concepts referring to Spain in the self-identification of immigrants born outside Spain. Despite the fact that our participants belong to the first-generation immigrants, we observed that about a quarter of them included concepts that refer to Spain in their ethnic identification, whether combined with terms that refer to their origin places or singularity. Even still, there is a minority (about 9%) who did not refer to their origin countries in their ethnic identification. This situation may be caused, to some extent, because we have studied people who emigrated while being children or adolescents (also called the 1.5 generation), which has been considered even the second generation by some authors (usually called children of immigrants, Portes, Aparicio, & Haller, 2016). This is even more apparent when individuals emigrated at a younger age, because they do not have such strong previous memories, unlike those who emigrated as adolescents or adults. Our results confirm this idea, according to previous research (Fuligni et al., 2008), because the inclusion of Spanish terms was mainly present in adolescents who emigrated at an early age (before 7 years old), confirming our second hypothesis. Young people who migrated before 7 years old can be considered members of the second generation (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006), because most of their experience has been lived in the new country. If we consider that they are similar to those who were born in the new country, then the pattern found coincides with previous research that indicates the inclusion of these terms was done by the second- and third-immigrant generations (Kiang et al., 2011).
Ethnic identity in immigrants and natives
Our data confirmed the identity status model proposed by Marcia (1966) and founded in previous research about ethnic identity (Dimitrova, Chasiotis, Bender, & van de Vijver, 2017; Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2017; Yip, 2014). The results of this study confirm that immigrants more often have an achieved ethnic identity than non-immigrants (H3), coincident with previous research (Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2017; Kiang & Fuligni, 2009). As we have reported, immigrants were more represented in the achieved ethnic identity status (36.5%) than natives (22%), and less in the foreclosed (22% vs 29.6%) and diffused (13.5 vs 20.5%), showing they are in more advanced statuses. Solving questions regarding ethnic identity are crucial aspects for people who belong to ethnic minorities, especially for first-generation immigrants, for whom the cultural transition implies a negotiation of a new sense of belonging in the new country (Liu, 2015). They must face fundamental questions such as who they are and who they will become in the new country, while for people who belong to mainstream society this aspect is not as important for their self-concept. Finally, there were no differences in the moratorium status (around 28% where in this status in both groups), indicating adolescence is a period of exploration of ethnic identity.
On the other hand, the relationship between ethnic identity labels used by immigrants and ethnic identity status was not confirmed (H4). In this way, we did not find that youths who identified only with their culture of origin show a higher level of achieved identity as expected from previous research. Authors such as Fuligni et al. (2008) indicated that retaining national labels could require more effort, and this could reflect on higher identity exploration and commitment levels.
However, our results show that immigrant adolescents in Spain are not just accepting labels without exploration and commitment. That could be explained by different factors. First, contrary to most research where they include different generations, all participants in this study were first-generation immigrants, so when they use an ethnic label that refers to the host country, it could imply a deep process of rethinking their ethnic identity. Second, in Spain, official forms in which people are categorized based on their ethnicity are not commonly used as in other countries, like the USA or the UK. Our participants’ lack of familiarity with categorizing themselves could imply an active process of exploration and commitment when they choose to use labels in the present study.
Ethnic identity development
The results of this study do not confirm that older adolescents have a higher degree of achieved ethnic identity (H5), as was expected (Syed, 2015). Moreover, our results show different patterns in ethnic identity development across adolescence for immigrants and natives, and that the development of an achieved ethnic identity is not complete by the end of adolescence. Regarding immigrants, ethnic identity shows the same pattern in all age groups; ethnic status was stable across the three age groups (from youngest to oldest): in the first place achievement (34, 37, and 39%), in the second moratorium (32, 29, and 23%), in the third foreclosed (24, 21, and 22%), and lastly in the diffused (10, 14, and 16%). These results could indicate that immigrants have not yet finished completing their ethnic identity development. Because we have focused on the first generation and in a county with relatively recent ethnic and racial diversity, people who come from other countries may not have the opportunity to develop their ethnic identities during adolescence, but they are forced to develop them from the moment they become aware of these aspects. Ethnic identity may be more important for them and becomes a key factor to understand who they are, in comparison with ethnic minority adolescents who live in a country with a long tradition of immigration, where cultural diversity has always been present, so that they do not feel so different or feel forced to develop an ethnic identity quickly.
On the other hand, the study of natives’ ethnic status shows that there is a progressive decrease of native participants in the achieved status across age groups (from youngest to oldest: 32, 18, and 16%), with higher representation in the other statuses. This may suggest that native adolescents initially identify with their nationality in opposition to other ethnicities, without any developmental process. When the developmental process begins, they start to question their ethnic identity and do not feel so sure about it, increasing the exploration about the meaning of their ethnic identity.
Ethnic identity and life satisfaction
Finally, the results of this study support partially the last hypothesis (H6); although ethnic identity was positively related to life satisfaction for both immigrants and non-immigrants, this relation was not stronger in the case of immigrants. Our results showed that an achieved ethnic identity has a positive influence on life satisfaction, which matches previous research (Abubakar et al., 2014; Adams et al., 2016; Fuligni et al., 2008). However, most of the research has included only immigrant or ethnic minority adolescents, taking for granted that ethnic identity is not important for mainstream adolescents’ life satisfaction. Taking into consideration that ethnic identity is more important for immigrants than for non-immigrants (or minority groups compared to the majority), it would be expected that ethnic identity has more influence on immigrants’ life satisfaction. However, our results support that having an achieved ethnic identity is related with higher levels of life satisfaction, for both natives and immigrants, supporting the idea that ethnic identity is important for mainstream adolescents too, especially in settings where they are exposed to multicultural contexts.
Limitations and future research
This study presents some limitations that are necessary to mention and that could offer guidelines for future research. One of the limitations of this study is that is a cross-sectional study, although it allows us to study differences between age groups, a longitudinal study could provide more information about the development of ethnic identity at an individual level. Kiang et al. (2010), who also did not find differences between age groups in ethnic identity, pointed out that their results do not contradict an identity increment hypothesis throughout adolescence, because individuals change during their lifetime. A longitudinal study is necessary to confirm it could apply the same to immigrant adolescents in Spain.
Another limitation is based on the compositions of schools that where multiethnic. We believed some of our finding, as we have discussed, relied on the specific context of our research which have been carried out. Future research could compare if ethnic identity remains important for native adolescents in Spain in a context where there is no interaction with ethnic minorities. However, in Spain, as well as in most parts of the world, cultural diversity is increasing, so we recommend focusing on multiethnic context, because no interaction between majority and minority ethnic groups is going to turn into an exception.
The last limitation to mention was that the instruments were in Spanish, although prior to data collection we consulted in schools about the necessity of translations to other languages and they informed all immigrants who have a proper level of Spanish, 10 participants refuse to participate alluding they did not have a high enough level to respond properly. We cannot be sure if maybe there are other reasons, but future research could have translations of the questionnaires for these cases.