Acculturation and Ethnic Identity among Sephardic College Students in Montreal

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are to assess the validity of the orthogonal model of acculturation, and to evaluate the influence of being first or second generation immigrants on styles of acculturation, as well as the impact of having attended an ethnic school on college students' ethnic identity. A sample of 76 immigrants students (43 females and 33 males) who had at least one parent born in Morocco was surveyed in four Montreal colleges. The absence of correlation between the students' identifications with the culture of origin and with the two host cultures, validated the orthogonality of the acculturation model. Results show 93% of the respondants report a strong identification with Sephardic culture. However, more than half of the respondents favour the integration style of acculturation, meaning a strong identification with both Jewish and Canadian cultures. Second generation students are significantly more identified as Canadians or Québécois than first generation ones. Respondents who had attended Ashkenazic schools were less strongly identified with Jewish Sephardic culture than those who had attended either Sephardic schools or public schools. The influence of the family environment is discussed.