The Third Transitional Identity of Migrant Adolescents. The Case of Hotel House, an Italian Multi-Ethnic Skyscraper-Ghetto
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Hotel House is the most fascinating and perplexing building in Italy: a semi-derelict tower block that has become synonymous, in the Italian imagination, with drug dealing, prostitution and clandestine migrants. Nobody knows how many people live here. In the summer, when large numbers of Bangladeshi and Senegalese people come to the area to work as beach vendors, the number probably surpasses 3000.
1.1. The Context for Hotel House
High-concept architectural projects that have, over time, become dystopian citadels for drug dealers and an Italian and immigrant underclass. These are places where honest destitution mixes with criminal wealth, and where the Italian state often appears to have lost control completely. Today it’s almost inconceivable that a local would buy a flat here, but there’s still a regular turnover of immigrants attracted by the dirt-cheap property and the presence of so many compatriots. It’s a place of strange speculation: when things are this cheap, both the poor and those who exploit them see an opportunity (flat now costs only €6000). For as long as everything is in private hands, the state is unwilling or unable to intervene [5].
1.2. Identity Formation in 1.5 Generation Migrants
2. Aims of the Study
- measures the levels of self-concept clarity, perception of self-determination, ethnic group identification in Hotel House, relationships with mother and father and depression or satisfaction with one’s life;
- evaluates the impact of self-concept clarity, self-determination, ethnic group identification and relationship with the parents on the depressive symptoms or satisfaction with life.
- A lack of self-concept clarity, lower life satisfaction or self-determination, difficult relationships with parents or with ethnic group, disorder symptoms especially with growth and mostly girls compared to boys;
- Self-concept clarity, self-determination, identification with ethnic group and attachment with parents as protective factors against depression, which in turn increases life satisfaction.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
3.2. Procedure
3.3. Measures
- Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCC) [25]: It consists of 12 items, scored on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A sample item is as follows: ‘In general, I have a clear sense of who I am and what I am’. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.73.
- Self-Determination Assessment Scale [26]: It consists of 14 items, scored on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (someone else makes decisions on my behalf) to 5 (it is always me who makes decisions). A sample item is as follows: ‘I make my own decisions’ Cronbach’s alpha was 0.77.
- Short version of the Identification Scale [27]: This scale was used to assess the positive identification processes in the group. It consists of six items with a response scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A sample item is as follows: ‘The success of my ethnic group in Hotel House is also my success’. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.77.
- Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) [28]: It is a self-reporting tool aimed at measuring the quality of the relationships between adolescents and their fathers (12 items) and mothers (12 items). A six-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (completely untrue) to 6 (completely true), was used. The singled-out factors measured three dimensions in the relationship between adolescents and their parents: trust, communication and alienation, recoded as closeness. Some sample items are as follows: ‘My father/mother respects my feelings’ (trust); ‘I talk to my father/mother about my problems and worries’ (communication); ‘My father/mother does not care much about me (Reverse)’ (closeness). The reliability of the factors, based on value of Cronbach’s alpha, was adequate: trust on father and mother = 0.79; communication with father = 0.76; communication with mother = 0.78; closeness with father = 0.71; closeness with mother = 0.71.
- The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) [29]: This tool was used to assess depressive symptoms. The CDI is a self-report questionnaire aimed at screening subclinical depressive symptoms among children and adolescents. The CDI consists of 27 items, scored on a three-point scale: 1 (false), 2 (a bit true) and 3 (very true). A sample item is as follows: ‘I am sad all the time’. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.91.
- The Satisfaction with Life Scale [30]: It is a short, five-item instrument, with a response scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). It measures global cognitive judgments of satisfaction with one’s life. The following is an example: ‘I am satisfied with my life.’ Cronbach’s alpha was 0.71.
4. Results
Regression Analysis
5. Discussion and Conclusions
(1) | |
1I: | Adesso cosa pensi, di preciso di questa tua esperienza? |
What do you specifically think now about this experience of yours? | |
2G: | Adesso, non vorrei né lasciare Italia né Bangladesh. |
Now, I wouldn’t like to leave either Italy or Bangladesh. | |
3 | Vorrei stare in mezzo. Stare in tutte due parti. Veramente. |
I would like to stay in between. Stay in both parts. Really. |
(2) | |
1I | Tu invece D, cosa vorresti fare? |
What would you like to do, D? | |
2D | Io voglio andare in un altro Paese. |
I want to go to another country. | |
3I | Dove? |
Where? | |
4F | In Canada. |
In Canada. | |
5D | No in Canada. (In un posto) più bello d’Italia. |
No in Canada. (In a place) more beautiful than Italy. | |
6G | Io pure mi sa che me ne vado. |
I think I’m going away too. | |
7I | Cos’è che non ti piace dell’Italia? |
What don’t you like about Italy? | |
8D | Che c’è crisi. |
That there is a crisis. |
- When self-determination increases, depression decreases;
- Regarding attachment with parents, when the father’s closeness increases, depression decreases and life satisfaction increases. Mother’s closeness is only negatively associated with depression.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Additional Notes
References
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1 | All municipality data referring to 2018 were collected by one of the authors of this paper, who personally checked the municipal registers. |
2 | The source for all the descriptions about history and the architectural features of the Hotel House was Cancellieri [9]. |
3 | In this article we limit ourselves to presenting only two exemplary excerpts because the qualitative analysis of the whole corpus of in-depth interviews is still in progress. The letters I and G in extract (1) stand for the interviewer and the girl’s name respectively; similarly, the letters D, F, G in extract (2) stand for the names of the participants, which have been removed to ensure their anonymity. |
4 | See also [35]. |
Citizenship | Males n (%) | Females n (%) | Total |
---|---|---|---|
Senegalese | 308 (18.3%) | 75 (4.5%) | 383 (22.8%) |
Pakistani | 262 (15.6%) | 66 (3.9%) | 328 (19.5%) |
Bangladeshi | 199 (11.8%) | 114 (6.8%) | 313 (18.6%) |
Nigerian | 52 (3.1%) | 25 (1.5%) | 77 (4.6%) |
Moroccan | 28 (1.7%) | 26 (1.5%) | 54 (3.2%) |
Afghan | 36 (2.1%) | 0 | 36 (2.1%) |
Macedonian | 17 (1.0%) | 10 (0.6%) | 27 (1.6%) |
Indian | 16 (1.0%) | 4 (0.2%) | 20 (1.2%) |
Italian | 156 (9.3%) | 105 (6.2%) | 261 (15.5%) |
Tunisian | 72 (4.3%) | 50 (3.0%) | 122 (7.3%) |
Algerian | 13 (0.8%) | 6 (0.4%) | 19 (1.1%) |
Chinese | 8 (0.5%) | 6 (0.4%) | 14 (0.8%) |
Egyptian | 4 (0.2%) | 2 (0.1%) | 6 (0.4%) |
Romanian | 2 (0.1%) | 3 (0.2%) | 5 (0.3%) |
Dominican | 1 (0.1%) | 4 (0.2%) | 5 (0.3%) |
Argentinian | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) | 2 (0.1%) |
Bosnian | 1 (0.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.1%) |
Brazilian | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 1 (0.1%) |
French | 0 | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) |
Ghanaian | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 1 (0.1%) |
Eritrean | 0 | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) |
Maliana | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 1 (0.1%) |
Moldovan | 1 (0.1%) | 0 | 1 (0.1%) |
Ukrainian | 0 | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) |
Hungarian | 0 | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.1%) |
11–14 Early Adolescents n = 54 | 15–19 Middle Adolescents n = 37 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Males n = 32 M (SD) | Females n = 22 M (SD) | Males n = 27 M (SD) | Females n = 10 M (SD) | |
Self-concept clarity | 2.55 (0.60) a | 2.78 (0.73) a | 2.60 (0.63) a | 2.56 (0.75) a |
Self-determination | 2.86 (0.75) a | 2.24 (0.86) a,b | 2.88 (1.21) a | 1.12 (0.76) b |
Group identification | 3.44 (0.94) a | 3.65 (0.55) a | 3.41 (0.83) a | 3.57 (1.19) a |
Father attachment | ||||
Trust | 4.97 a (0.72) | 4.82 a (1.11) | 4.26 a (1.46) | 4.2 a (1.58) |
Communication | 4.27 a (1.14) | 4.00 a (0.93) | 3.89 a (1.39) | 3.87 a (0.86) |
Closeness | 4.73 b (1.14) | 4.40 b (0.92) | 4.42 b (1.33) | 3.30 a (1.42) |
Mother attachment | ||||
Trust | 5.08 a (1.09) | 4.88 a (1.22) | 4.95 a (1.06) | 4.60 a (1.57) |
Communication | 4.47 a (1.16) | 4.32 a (1.26) | 4.24 a (1.18) | 4.47 a (0.82) |
Closeness | 5.02 a (1.03) | 4.82 a (1.20) | 4.78 a (1.26) | 4.02 a (1.25) |
Depression | 1.23 (0.23) a | 1. 45 (0.26) a | 1.33 (0.31) a | 1.90 (0.22) b |
Satisfaction | 3.81 (0.56) b | 3.72 (0.56) a,b | 3.66 (0.44) a,b | 3.28 (0.53) a |
Total n = 91 | Depression | Satisfaction |
---|---|---|
Self-concept clarity | 0.01 (0.19) | −0.05 (−0.05) |
Self-determination | −0.20 * (0.20) | 0.14 * (0.14) |
Identification | 0.13 (0.09) | 0.02 (0.06) |
Father attachment | ||
Trust | −0.07 (−0.17) | 0.17 (0.22) |
Communication | 0.07 (0.01) | −0.16 (0.04) |
Closeness | −0.28 * (−0.38 ***) | 0.28 * (0.26 **) |
Mother attachment | ||
Trust | −0.09 (−0.07) | 0.03 (0.11) |
Communication | 0.07 (0.08) | 0.06 (0.03) |
Closeness | −0.19 * (−0.37 ***) | 0.05 (0.22 *) |
R2 | 0.26 *** | 0.16 * |
Depression | Life Satisfaction | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coeff B | Sig. | Exp(B) | Coeff B | Sig. | Exp(B) | |
Gender (ref females) | ||||||
Males | −2.017 | 0.000 *** | 0.133 | 0.687 | 0.137 | 1.987 |
Constant | 1.273 | 0.003 ** | 3.571 | −0.788 | 0.039 * | 0.455 |
Case numbers | 91 | 91 |
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Fermani, A.; Riccioni, I.; Vincze, L.; Cingolani, G.; Bongelli, R. The Third Transitional Identity of Migrant Adolescents. The Case of Hotel House, an Italian Multi-Ethnic Skyscraper-Ghetto. Societies 2021, 11, 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020051
Fermani A, Riccioni I, Vincze L, Cingolani G, Bongelli R. The Third Transitional Identity of Migrant Adolescents. The Case of Hotel House, an Italian Multi-Ethnic Skyscraper-Ghetto. Societies. 2021; 11(2):51. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020051
Chicago/Turabian StyleFermani, Alessandra, Ilaria Riccioni, Laura Vincze, Giorgio Cingolani, and Ramona Bongelli. 2021. "The Third Transitional Identity of Migrant Adolescents. The Case of Hotel House, an Italian Multi-Ethnic Skyscraper-Ghetto" Societies 11, no. 2: 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc11020051