Structural, cultural and social integration among youth: A multidimensional comparative project

该项目旨在描述和了解青年融入社会的基本原理及其在五个国家(挪威、瑞典、英国、德国和荷兰)的差异。我们使用我们收集的大规模CILS4EU/CILS-NOR关于移民和多数族裔年轻人的数据，目的是全面了解融合。我们的理论方法有两个支柱，这两个支柱也指导了实证设计。第一：一体化是一个多层面的过程，结构、文化、社会和心理方面相互交织。其次，整合可以被有效地理解为起源(O)、目的地(D)和曝光(E)之间的交集，我们的数据被设计成最大限度地发挥这些方面的比较潜力。该项目涵盖八个主题，围绕来自国际文献和我们对我们研究的特定背景的知识的问题。这些主题涉及，例如，接触目的地国家的作用、融合的性别模式、穆斯林/非穆斯林鸿沟的突出、有选择的文化适应以及族裔不平等如何通过教育跟踪/分流形成模式。我们根据主题的科学和政策相关性、现有文献中缺乏结论性结果以及我们的数据有可能显著缩小知识差距的情况，仔细选择了我们的主题。通过我们的多维方法，我们寻求将研究版图从碎片化转向更全面的整合视角。我们的主题着眼于(1)结构性融合，例如青年的教育和经济状况；(2)社会融合，例如跨越族裔的友谊，但也包括排斥和欺凌；(3)文化融合，例如价值观、身份认同和宗教信仰；以及(4)心理适应，例如精神健康和反社会行为。我们的研究将回应缺乏系统知识的紧迫的当代问题，从而为基于证据的政策制定提供重要的投入。

This project aims to describe and understand the fundamentals of integration of youth, and its variation across five countries (Norway, Sweden, England, Germany and the Netherlands). We use the large-scale CILS4EU/CILS-NOR data on young people of immigrant and majority origins, collected by us with the purpose of giving a comprehensive understanding of integration. Our theoretical approach has two pillars, which have also guided the empirical design. First: Integration is a multidimensional process where structural, cultural, social and psychological aspects are intertwined. Second, integration can be fruitfully understood as an intersection between origins (O), destinations (D), and exposure (E), and our data has been designed so as to maximize the comparative potential in these respects.The project covers eight themes, centered around questions derived from the international literature and from our knowledge about the specific contexts we study. The themes concern, e.g., the role of exposure to the destination country, gendered patterns of integration, the prominence of a Muslim/non-Muslim divide, selective acculturation, and how ethnic inequalities are patterned by educational tracking/streaming. We have carefully selected our themes based on their scientific and policy relevance, the lack of conclusive results in the existing literature, and the potential of our data to significantly reduce the knowledge gap. With our multidimensional approach, we seek to move the research landscape away from fragmentation and towards a more holistic perspective on integration. Our themes look at patterns of, and interactions between, (1) structural integration, e.g., youth’s educational and economic situation, (2) social integration, e.g., friendship across ethnic lines, but also exclusion and bullying, (3) cultural integration, e.g., values, identity and religiosity, and (4) psychological adaptation, e.g., mental wellbeing and anti-social behavior. Our research will respond to pressing contemporary questions where systematic knowledge is missing, thereby providing important input to evidence-based policy-making.