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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Psychological adaptation of adolescents with immigrant backgrounds
1Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Norway. david.sam@psych.uib.no
Abstract:
In the present study, the author examined 3 theoretical perspectives--family values, acculturation strategies, and social group identity--as predictors of the psychological well-being of adolescents from immigrant backgrounds. The 3 perspectives share the view that immigrants' successful adaptation involves the balancing of their heritage culture and the culture of the society of settlement. The participants were 506 adolescents from 4 backgrounds--Vietnamese, Pakistani, Turkish, and Chilean--who were living in Norway. The 3 theoretical perspectives together accounted for between 12% and 22% of the explained variance of mental health, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. The predictive powers of the different perspectives, however, were dependent on which outcome was predicted. On the whole, social group identity showed the strongest predictive power.
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