"Now I Am Living in Norway": Immigrant Girls Describe Themselves

Abstract

Self-esteem, self-descriptions, and self-portraits are studied among 561 adolescents (ages 12 through 16) attending schools in Norway. The participants included 199 adolescent children of immigrants and refugees to Norway who came from 29 different countries, with the largest percentage coming from Pakistan and Vietnam. Contrary to expectations, immigrant adolescent girls had, overall, more positive perceptions of self than did Norwegian girls. Immigrant girls endorsed the item, "I like most things about myself," from the American Association of University Women Survey (1990) more