Entitled “Psychological aspects of Tunisian children and youth in dual cultural context”, the survey was conducted on a sample of 236 young Tunisians from Europe (83.5%) and North Africa (16.5%) to spend their summer vacation in Tunisia from 2 to 22 July 2012. Half of the population believes that Tunisia is a land vacation.
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It appears, also, that whatever the host country (in Europe or in the Maghreb), the academic performance of teenagers is low. 63% of binational children have poor academic performance and 37% have a medium yield . Regarding adolescents, school performance is low at 94% of the population. Furthermore, 61.5% of the academic performance of children and young Tunisian from Arab countries is average while 17.9% of the group have a low level and 20.5 have a very low level.
For binationals, intellectual abilities are well above the average for 55% of the population, but they are significantly lower than the average for 68% of adolescents. 60% of binational children emphasized that they are exposed to racism in schools and 90% of teens report that they are frequently exposed through teachers. Meanwhile, 64% of children and young Tunisian coming from Maghreb countries say they are not perceived with discrimination at school.
The level of socioeconomic status of the parents is high with 67% of binational children and teenagers while 75% of participants from the Maghreb countries have a low socioeconomic level.
According to the study, groups of children and adolescents from the Maghreb countries do not suffer from depressive symptoms, except for a few. As against the profile is completely reversed among binational children and teenagers 45% with depression and are a bad sign in relation to their mental health.
The survey results also showed that 50% of the group of the Maghreb countries say they have no acculturative stress while more than 75% of children of binational acculturative stress and 90% of teenagers binational confirm the presence of this stress. This is explained by the cultural distance between Tunisia and the host country.
The survey points out that the acculturative stress occurs when there is a tension between two cultures and learning a new culture calls into question certain values and beliefs of the native culture. It can profoundly affect the individual from a psychological viewpoint causes in children and adolescents negative emotional states such as anxiety and depression as well as a set of specific behaviors (school failure, delinquency …).
The secure attachment to parents and peers are the main factors of protection against acculturative stress .
OTE is expected to adopt the strategic plans as structural framing for a new approach, more professional and more assertive, young people from migration, recommend the investigation.
Note that 98% of young people interviewed were born in the host country, 94% are from the marriage of two Tunisian parents and 6% from a mixed marriage. 57% of the sample were male and 43% female. 21.6% of binational write in Arabic, said the survey covered a sample aged between 8 and 18 years.
Source: TAP
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