Presentation Master’s thesis -Kyra Gantrel – Developmental Psychology

Adolescents with a migration background often face unique challenges, especially regarding school adjustment. One important factor influencing school adjustment is national language proficiency. Nonetheless, research is inconclusive about how fluency in the national language impacts school adjustment among immigrants, suggesting that there might be a third factor at play. Hence, this thesis proposes a sequential mediation model in which this relationship is mediated by national peer contact and self-esteem. The thesis uses secondary data from the ICSEY study. 633 second-generation immigrants between the ages of 13 and 18 residing in Sweden completed a survey. Results show that national peer contact and self-esteem independently mediate the relationship between national language proficiency and school adjustment. However, no significant effects were found for a sequential mediation. This study concludes that national peer contact and self-esteem play important roles in individually shaping school adjustment in second-generation immigrants.