Dual identification among recently arrived immigrants in the Netherlands: the psychological processes behind its formation and its development over time.

Abstract

This article aims to make a contribution to the literature by investigating the relation between a direct measurement of immigrants’ dual identification and their host and origin national identification; by examining the role of perceived discrimination, perceived impermeability, and perceived value incompatibility in shaping the formation of immigrants’ dual identification; by investigating dual identification changes during immigrants’ integration or settlement processes. Two waves of panel data from the New Immigrant Survey Netherlands are used targeting recently arrived immigrants from Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, and Turkey. We found that, despite being related to dual identification, host and origin national identification and their interaction do not fully capture its meaning. Furthermore, only those immigrants who have achieved a sense of harmony endorse dual identification. The present research moreover clarifies that dual identification is a quite stable construct.