Integration or isolation: Social identity threat relates to immigrant students’ sense of belonging and social approach motivation in the academic context

Abstract

Stigmatized individuals often feel threatened by negative stereotypes about their group. Previous research showed that concerns about being negatively stereotyped (i.e., social identity threat) have detrimental effects on performance in the stereotyped domain. Little research has focused on interpersonal consequences of negative stereotypes, despite their essential role for integration of stigmatized groups like immigrants. The current work examines the relations of social identity threat with sense of belonging and social approach motivation in immigrant university students, and the moderating effect of ethnic and national identity. Two studies with immigrant university students in Norway (total sample N = 252) showed that concerns about being negatively stereotyped at university were negatively associated with immigrant students’ sense of belonging to university which in turn related to lower social approach motivation toward other students. Further, social approach motivation predicted students’ behavioral intentions to approach social events. There was also first evidence for a moderating effect of ethnic and national identity on the relationship between social identity threat and sense of belonging. Practical implications for immigrants’ societal and educational integration are discussed.