Strategie di acculturazione e processi di adattamento.

In Italy immigration is a rather recent phenomenon, because for a longtime this country has been a starting-point towards North Europe and America for many people. Many researches in Social and Health Psychology have highlighted that migrants are a particularly vulnerable group. They commonly face discrimination and xenophobic hostility. Several studies suggested the importance of social support in these problematic situations, and the requirement of integration, that means preference for both minority cultural heritage and for engagement with other groups. This study refers to the first step, a qualitative research that analyzes perception about life events, strategies of migration and availability of social support in individuals coming from different countries and living in a town in Tuscany. The aim is to explore, using real groups, self-categorization and processes that might be useful in order to develop effective strategies for social integration and for the reduction of prejudice and discrimination. Participants are women, varying in age, status and national origin living in Tuscany, and privileged witnesses working in institutions and/or NGO caring migration problems. Semi structured interviews to collect information about: migration strategies, work satisfaction, relationship with Italian people and with migrant people, acculturation strategies, maintenance of heritage culture and effectiveness of formal and informal social support. All interviews are audio-taped and transcribed. Data analysis was based on qualitative methodology, by means of the program Atlas.Ti. Results have highlighted participants’ attitudes and emotions in social relationships, and the perception about the difficulties of integration. Participants referred the lack of information about public services, particularly about health services. They state themselves as involved in relationship with Italian people, but social support is often found only in worksites (generally families) or in their children school site. Social identity is defined as a “mix” and this may be a difficulty whether towards heritage culture or towards host society culture.