Belonging and Identity across Contexts among Latinx Immigrant-Origin Youth

• In Event: Identity Development across Developmental Stages and Contexts: Considering Processes and Implications among Ethnic-Racial Minority Youth

Abstract

The importance of belonging has been identified as an overall indicator for better health and life satisfaction (Haslam, Jetten, Postmes & Haslam, 2009). Developing a sense of belonging during adolescence can be vital to support positive identity formation from childhood to adulthood (Greenberg, Siegel, & Leitch, 1983; Newman, Lohman & Newman, 2007). Nevertheless, threats to belonging (being excluded) can be disruptive to youth’s identity development (e.g., Eisenberger, 2012; Gerber and Wheeler, 2009). Research reveals that Latinx immigrant-origin youth are actively being socially excluded (from their country of origin and the U.S.) in a variety of ways (Enriquez, 2016; Yoshikawa, Suárez‐Orozco & Gonzales, 2017), and thus, their belonging and identity formation can be threatened (e.g., Gonzales, Suárez-Orozco & Dedios-Sanguineti, 2013). Understanding how these youth articulate belonging and their identity in spaces of belonging (or exclusion) can inform future studies about ways to intervene when their belonging and identity are threatened, which will help support smoother transitions to adulthood. Using qualitative methods, this study sought to understand and identify how spaces of belonging (or exclusion) influenced how Latinx immigrant-origin youth and young adults from the suburbs of Chicago describe their social belonging and identity formation. Of particular concern are the ways these youth and young adults discuss how being the minority, in a neighborhood with mostly white and middle-class neighbors, influences the spaces of belonging where they feel welcomed and affirmed.

Population: A total of 42 participants were recruited for this study, with all of them being of Latinx origin. Participants mainly had origins from Mexico (83%), except for several participants whose parents’ country of origin are from Guatemala (4%), El Salvador (4%), or Cuba (2%). The interview sample was composed of participants between the ages of 13 to 24 (Mage= 18.70), and were either first (n= 17%), second (n= 81%) or third-generation (2%). Lastly, about half of the participants were part of either a mixed-status family or an undocumented household.

Methods. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews were conducted in an online platform (i.e., Zoom) and typically lasted 60-95 minutes. Participants were asked to complete the interview in a quiet and private space; the P.I completed the interview in the same setting. Participants were given the option to turn off their video camera with audio recording only.

Results. Preliminary results demonstrate that Latinx immigrant-origin youth and young adults’ alternative spaces of belonging (e.g., cultural centers, family, church) and spaces of exclusion (e.g., school, community spaces) informed how they conceptualized their identity. That is, many of these youth and young adults described how exclusionary messages from people in spaces of exclusion (e.g., their neighborhood) made them feel excluded, rejected, or unwelcomed, and so, they participated in spaces of belonging where they felt their identity was affirmed, instead. At the same time, other participants reported that their peers argued that they became “white-washed” in efforts to fit in. The researcher will present further findings speaking to the ways the Trump era influenced participants’ identity narrative and journey, as well as future research and implications for practice.

Author

• Guadalupe Lopez Hernandez, Loyola University Chicago
  Presenting Author