Why do Youth Support their Families? A Person-Oriented Approach in Migrant and Native Families

Previous studies have observed high levels of family support of migrant adolescents. However, whether culture, context or migration explain this phenomenon remained unclear. This study investigated family support in high SES migrant and native families and identified family support subgroups and predictors as well as implications of subgroup-membership. Participants comprised 165 native Swiss (Mage = 15.9 years, 60.6% female) and 136 German migrants (Mage = 15.3 years, 64.7% female) in Switzerland and 187 native Germans in Germany (Mage = 15.3 years, 54.8% female). A person-oriented multi-group latent-class analysis identified three family support subgroups, which differed particularly in levels of emotional and instrumental family support. Migration was only associated with the medium family support subgroup, whereas family and context characteristics were associated with the high family support subgroup. Furthermore, the high family support subgroup reported the best psychosocial adjustment. These findings highlight that addressing different developmental contexts with person-oriented approaches can provide new insights in the understanding of adolescents’ adaptation processes.