Cultural Intelligence in Adolescents: Initial Evidence From The Identity Project in Multiethnic Schools in Italy

In today's multiethnic schools, promoting youth connectedness and well-being requires equipping students with the skills to navigate cultural diversity. Cultural intelligence (CQ), defined as the ability to interact effectively across diverse cultural contexts, is a key asset in this regard. This study explored whether the Italian adaptation of the Identity Project, an 8-week school-based intervention originally designed to support ethnic-racial identity development, could also enhance adolescents' CQ as a secondary outcome.

A total of 594 adolescents (M_age = 14.2 years, 51.9% girls, 38.6% immigrant background) from three high schools in northeastern Italy participated in a randomized controlled trial at the classroom level. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed four CQ dimensions: motivational, cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral. Post-intervention focus groups further explored students' subjective experiences across the sessions to provide contextual information and complement the quantitative findings.

At posttest, students in the intervention group reported significantly higher metacognitive CQ compared to controls. Motivational CQ also increased, but only among youth without an immigrant background. No significant effects emerged for cognitive or behavioral CQ. Thematic analysis of focus group data reflected this pattern, with adolescents describing more cultural awareness and interest in learning about other cultures.

Albeit preliminary, these findings suggest that identity-focused interventions like the Identity Project may yield small changes in the metacognitive dimension of CQ, with subgroup-specific patterns for motivational CQ. Replication is needed to determine whether such small effects translate into secondary benefits for youth intercultural competence in diverse school settings.