What psychosocial factors explain the community integration of immigrants? An experience between digital and face-to-face interaction

Abstract

The social and community integration of foreigners remains a key issue, especially in recent years, where social and political polarisation could significantly influence the integration process of non-natives. In this research, first, a parallel is drawn between community integration and a sense of community to show that the analysis of a sense of community can be a practical instrument to measure the level of community integration of foreigners. In a second step, we analyze certain psychosocial (cultural identification, social support, community participation, and perceived discrimination) and socio-demographic factors, with two types of samples (face-to-face and online) to determine their predictive capacity on community integration. We anticipate that the social support system, identification with the dominant culture, and social participation are the factors that most explain foreigners’ sense of community. Finally, we want to determine the internal reliability of the scales used with both samples and reflect on the possible limitations of the research.