TY  - JOUR
A1  - Vietze, Jana
A1  - Schwarzenthal, Miriam
A1  - Moffitt, Ursula
A1  - Civitillo, Sauro
T1  - Beyond 'migrant background': how to select relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories in educational research
T2  - European journal of psychology of education
N2  - Across continental Europe, educational research samples are often divided by 'migrant background', a binary variable criticized for masking participant heterogeneity and reinforcing exclusionary norms of belonging. 

This study endorses more meaningful, representative, and precise research by offering four guiding questions for selecting relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories for collecting and analysing data in psychological and educational research. Using a preregistered empirical example, we first compare selected social categories ('migrant background', family heritage, religion, citizenship, cultural identification, and generation status) in their potential to reveal participant heterogeneity. 

Second, we investigate differences in means and relations between variables (discrimination experiences, perceived societal Islamophobia, and national identity) and academic motivation among 1335 adolescents in Germany (48% female, M-age = 14.69). Regression analyses and multigroup SEM revealed differential experiences with and implications of discrimination for academic motivation. 

Results highlight the need for a deliberate, transparent use of social categories to make discrimination visible and centre participants' subjective experiences.
KW  - migrant background
KW  - labels
KW  - social categories
KW  - discrimination
KW  - academic
KW  - motivation
KW  - national identity
Y1  - 2022
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/63367
SN  - 0256-2928
SN  - 1878-5174
VL  - 38
IS  - 1
SP  - 389
EP  - 408
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  -