The purpose of the study was to find out how immigrants having come to Finland in the early 1990s have adapted to their new environment. It analysed how 457 immigrants having lived in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area in 1997 had become acclimatized.

The study, which also has international significance, has been the first major scientific attempt to analyse how immigrants in Finland have adapted to our conditions during their ten years or more here.

Over the period studied, respondents had improved their skills in Finnish, and more and more of them had found a job. Immigrants wanted to become integrated into the Finnish society. They had managed to make contacts with native Finns without giving up their own ethnical identity and family values. The danger of social exclusion was minor. Attitudes among Finns seem to have become more favourable. Yet despite all these encouraging signs, acclimatization seems to be a slow process. 

In Finland, the number of immigrants has been growing rapidly since the early 1990s, and in the future, too, immigration will increase, especially labour related immigration. For this reason it is important to have a fair idea of how those immigrants who have lived in Finland for over ten years have become acclimatized here. Are there differences between ethnic groups? What factors are important for successful adaptation? Are there signs of social exclusion among immigrants?

This study was conducted by University of Helsinki, Department of Social Psychology and financed by City of Helsinki Urban Facts.

This longitudinal study also compared the experiences reported by seven ethnic groups (Russians, Estonians, Ethnic Finns from abroad, Somalis, Arabs, Vietnamese and Turks), in order to draw an overall picture of how adaptation succeeded in various spheres of life. 

Many factors proved to be important for successful adaptation. Mental adaptation was helped by getting a job and a better economy, learning Finnish and getting involved in social networks. A feeling of social exclusion worked the opposite way. The importance of finding a job and learning Finnish increased over the years, and early problems of mental adaptation made it more difficult to find work later.

Ethnic groups can have partly different kinds of adaptation problems - which it would be wise to acknowledge in the future. We are talking about the discrimination that Somalis and Arabs meet, the risk for social isolation among Somalis, Vietnamese and Russians, mental stress among Russians, a bad self-confidence in languages among Vietnamese, and a stagnation among Arabic-speaking immigrants in learning Finnish.  

University of Helsinki, Department of Social Psychology
Finland
Mr. Riku Perhoniemi (Researcher), tel. +358 30 474 2720

24/05/2006

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Riku Perhoniemi and Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti

research

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Integration of social groups

Ethnic minorities