Abstract
This study examined the impact of family interaction, perceived discrimination, stressful life events, and the hosting country on the adjustment of Israeli and German immigrants. Results show that changes in self-esteem between the 1st year of immigration and 2 and 4 years later were significantly related to family relations: the better the functioning, the greater the improvement. The patterns of relationships in the family, however, only partially explained changes in psychological well-being and language proficiency. Perceived discrimination explained discrepancies over time in psychological well-being among fathers and adolescents and the discrepancies in language proficiency among mothers: the lower the discrimination, the greater the improvement. Adult immigrants who experienced more stressful life events presented deterioration in their psychological well-being over time. Finally, adults who immigrated to Germany were more likely to acquire the new language than their counterparts who immigrated to Israel.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 92-123 |
| Number of pages | 32 |
| Journal | Journal of Family Issues |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2009 |
Keywords
- adult and adolescent immigrants
- discrimination
- family relationships
- former Soviet Union
- life stressors
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)