Navigating cultural identity: A 20-year longitudinal study of first-generation adult immigrants in Germany

Although cultural identity-a bidimensional construct comprised of identification with one's culture of origin (ethnic identity) and country of residence (national identity)-is an important aspect of identity, little is known about its development during adulthood, the longitudinal relationship between the two dimensions, and the factors that influence their development. As maintaining a sense of sameness and self-continuity is particularly difficult for individuals exposed to great contextual and cultural change, we examined the cultural identity trajectories of first-generation adult immigrants (N = 6,846) in Germany during their first 20 years after immigration and tested the impact of sociocultural background, forcedness of migration, and structural integration factors on these individuals' cultural identity development. We used multivariate latent growth curve models based on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to model cultural identity trajectories. The results show that the cultural identity of these immigrants changed over time-especially in the first decade after immigration-with ethnic identity decreasing in strength and national identity increasing. Initial levels of ethnic and national identity were negatively correlated, as were the trajectories of these two dimensions over time. In the context of acculturation research, this indicates that assimilation is the predominant acculturation strategy among immigrants in Germany. In addition, the unique longitudinal findings from this large-scale German data set suggest high interindividual variability in cultural identity trajectories following migration. Identity levels and trajectories were predicted by sociocultural background and were related in part to the forcedness of migration and the degree of structural integration in the country of residence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).