Rates of immigration are at an all-time high in many Western countries, and immigration can exert profound influences on identity development. These influences occur both at the individual level and at the group level, but these two sets of influences have rarely been considered simultaneously. Accordingly, this article adopts a multilevel approach to identity development among immigrant youth, with a focus on North American receiving contexts. We focus not only on individual ethnic, national, and personal identity development, but also on the societal-level intergroup processes (e.g., threats and stereotypes) that constrain the identity options available to immigrants. We highlight the prominence of biculturalism – endorsement of both heritage and destination-country identities – but also discuss ways in which biculturalism may be difficult to attain for some immigrants and immigrant groups. We also emphasize the interplay between individual immigrants’ identities and the mechanisms through which defensive policies enacted by “threatened” majority groups may harm identity development among immigrant youth. The article concludes with a listing of priorities for future work.

中文翻译：

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移民青年的身份发展

在许多西方国家，移民率达到了历史最高水平，移民可以对身份发展产生深远的影响。这些影响既发生在个人层面，也发生在群体层面，但是很少同时考虑这两组影响。因此，本文采用多层次的方法来发展移民青年中的身份，重点是北美接受环境。我们不仅关注个人种族，民族和个人身份的发展，而且关注限制移民可用身份选择的社会层面的群体间过程（例如，威胁和成见）。我们强调了双重文化主义的突出地位-既认可了遗产和目的地国家的身分-也讨论了某些移民和移民群体可能难以实现双重文化主义的方式。我们还强调个人移民身份与“受威胁的”多数群体所采取的防御政策可能损害移民青年身份发展的机制之间的相互作用。本文最后列出了未来工作的重点。