Variants of biculturalism in migrant and host adolescents living in Italy and Spain: Testing the importance of life domains through the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM)

Abstract

Several variants of biculturalism have recently been proposed (Schwartz, Birman, Benet-Martínez, & Unger, 2016). Nevertheless, few studies have identified different types of bicultural individuals, and no one has addressed the possibility that these types could depend on acculturation domains. By using the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM), this study aimed to explore if different variants of biculturalism could be individuated, and if some of these variants were sensitive to life domains. Four samples of migrant and host adolescents living in Italy (n = 173 and n = 186) and Spain (n = 139 and n = 156) answered a questionnaire about acculturation perceptions and preferences in central and peripheral life domains. Together with acculturation options consistent with Berry’s (1997) model (full-assimilation, full-separation and full-marginalisation), some variants of biculturalism emerged from the latent class analysis: full-high and full-low integration, which were not sensitive to life domains; and “alternate” acculturation options that were sensitive to life domains, with participants switching from their original culture to the host culture according to the peripheral and central domains. Acculturation options varied across the four samples, with Italians switching more from one culture to another, and Spanish adolescents being more full-high or full-low integrated.