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We examined whether German adolescents who participated in an adapted 8-week school-based intervention, the Identity Project, reported greater changes in heritage and global identities and perceptions of classroom cultural climate. We used a longitudinal, wait-list control design pooling eight classrooms across the school years of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The sample included 195 seventh graders (M-age = 12.35 years, SD =.79, 39% female, 83% of migration background). Findings showed moderate support for more heritage identity exploration and greater perceptions of unequal treatment and critical consciousness climate in the intervention group. There were also important differences across conditions regarding how identity and climate related to adolescent outcomes. We conclude that the Identity Project can be adapted and applied in other cultural contexts such as Germany. It provides a necessary space for adolescents to engage in discussions about diversity, cultural heritage, social inequities, and their relevance to one's identities.
Ethnic discrimination has a negative impact on the socioemotional, behavioral, relational, and academic adjustment ofadolescents, while belonging with classmates, teachers, heritage, and national group may promote positive socioemotional and academicadjustment. We investigate (1) whether greater discrimination by peers and a lower sense of belonging with classmates, teachers, heritagegroup, and national group are associated with lower socioemotional and academic adjustment of adolescents of immigrant descent inGermany; and (2) whether a sense of belonging with these different sources acts as a protective factor lowering the negative effects ofdiscrimination on adjustment. Our sample included 439 7th-grade adolescents (51% female,Mage= 12.4 years) of immigrant descent from15 Berlin secondary schools. Results showed that higher discrimination was related to greater physiological stress, depressive symptoms,and disruptive school behavior. Higher heritage (but not national) identity, a higher sense of belonging with classmates and with teacherswere associated with better socioemotional and academic adjustment. An examination of interaction effects between discrimination andforms of belonging on adjustment revealed that, while the association between discrimination and poorer adjustment weakened for thosewith higher heritage identity, the association between discrimination and physiological stress increased for those with higher teacherrelatedness. We conclude that heritage identity (but not national identity or sense of belonging with classmates) can indeed be a protectivefactor against the negative effects of discrimination for adolescents of immigrant descent in Germany. Even though belonging with teachersmay exacerbate discrimination effects, further investigation with longitudinal data is needed. The findings underline the important role ofheritage ties among adolescents of immigrant descent as a source of adjustment, especially in light of discrimination experiences.
We examined whether German adolescents who participated in an adapted 8-week school-based intervention, the Identity Project, reported greater changes in heritage and global identities and perceptions of classroom cultural climate. We used a longitudinal, wait-list control design pooling eight classrooms across the school years of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The sample included 195 seventh graders (M-age = 12.35 years, SD =.79, 39% female, 83% of migration background). Findings showed moderate support for more heritage identity exploration and greater perceptions of unequal treatment and critical consciousness climate in the intervention group. There were also important differences across conditions regarding how identity and climate related to adolescent outcomes. We conclude that the Identity Project can be adapted and applied in other cultural contexts such as Germany. It provides a necessary space for adolescents to engage in discussions about diversity, cultural heritage, social inequities, and their relevance to one's identities.