Acculturation fit matters: Perceived acculturation discordance across work and family contexts differentiates majority threat perceptions and anti-migration attitudes

Objective This study examined whether perceived acculturation fit between majority-group members’ own acculturation preferences and the acculturation orientations they attributed to refugees differentiated anti-migration attitudes and perceived intergroup threat, and whether these patterns differed across family and work domains and between Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. Methods Drawing on the Concordance Model of Acculturation and the Relative Acculturation Extended Model, we distinguished between consensual and discordant perceived acculturation fit in the family and work domains. A sample of N = 352 German majority-group members evaluated both Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to examine mean differences in antimigration attitudes and perceived threat as a function of perceived acculturation fit. Results Perceived acculturation fit significantly differentiated anti-migration attitudes and several dimensions of intergroup threat, although patterns varied across domains and refugee groups. For Syrian refugees, family-domain discordance differentiated anti-migration attitudes and most forms of perceived threat, whereas work-domain differences were more selective. For Ukrainian refugees, significant differences were more limited and varied across domains and outcomes. Exploratory analyses further indicated that participants perceiving discordance in both family and work domains reported highest levels of several negative intergroup responses regarding Syrian refugees. The broad pattern of findings was supported by alternative operationalizations of acculturation discordance. Conclusion These findings suggest that majority-group evaluations vary systematically according to perceived acculturation fit across social domains and refugee groups. Perceived discordance differentiated intergroup evaluations in a domain- and group-specific manner, underscoring the importance of considering both domain-specific expectations and group-specific perceptions in contemporary acculturation research.