Cyber-extended identity among 1.5 and 2nd generation female Armenian immigrant high school students: a segmented assimilation

Unrestricted Incorporation of immigrant children and their families is a critical issue with widespread implications for educators and researchers. These 1.5 and 2nd generation immigrant youth have increasingly global perspectives and interests. Because they use technologies like the Internet to adjust to life in the United States and maintain connections with their homelands, their social spaces, conceptions of home and ideas about citizenship are dynamic and have yet to be fully researched. Little research has been done on the experience of the contemporary 1.5 and 2nd generations. Their modes of incorporation, means of self-identification, and how these may be related to their experiences at school and work has been neglected.; Seven female immigrant Armenian high school students' interviews are interpreted within three theoretical frameworks. Of primary consideration is how these young women incorporate and how their incorporation differs from their parents and each other. Secondly, how they construct a sense of place, develop citizenship, and shape their identities on the Internet. Finally, the interviews reveal behaviors and beliefs these young women have that support successful modes of incorporation and from where these behaviors and beliefs come. While distinct differences emerged between 1.5 and 2nd generation participants' interactions with websites, the effects of these interactions on their modes of incorporation is clear. These young immigrants create a betweenness that blurs the distinctions between life off-line and online where ethnicity and citizenship are flexible and where they accommodate, as needed, without assimilation.

移民儿童及其家庭的无限制融入（unrestricted incorporation）是关乎教育者与研究者的重大议题，影响广泛。1.5代与第二代移民青年（1.5 and 2nd generation immigrant youth）拥有日益开阔的全球视野与多元兴趣。由于他们借助互联网（Internet）等技术适应美国生活并维系与母国的联系，其社交空间、家园观念与公民身份（citizenship）认知均处于动态变化之中，尚未得到充分研究。现有研究极少关注当代1.5代与第二代移民的生活体验，其融入模式（mode of incorporation）、自我认同（self-identification）方式，以及这些因素与校园和职场经历的关联均被忽视。
本研究基于三大理论框架（theoretical framework），对7名亚美尼亚裔女性移民高中生的访谈资料进行解读。研究首要关注的是这些青年女性的融入路径，以及她们的融入模式与其父母及彼此之间的差异。其次，探讨她们如何在互联网上构建场所感、塑造公民身份并形成自我认同。最后，通过访谈资料揭示助力这些青年女性实现有效融入的行为与信念，及其溯源。尽管1.5代与第二代受访群体在网站互动中存在显著差异，但这类互动对其融入模式的影响却清晰可辨。这些青年移民构建出一种居间状态，模糊了线上与线下生活的边界：在此状态中，族裔与公民身份认知兼具灵活性，她们可按需调适自身，却无需经历文化同化。