ABSTRACT
While relatively few mature sabras strongly identify with the host society, there is a greater likelihood that younger emigrants, including the 1.5 (those who migrated as small children) and second generation may do so (Portes and Rumbaut 1996; 2001). After all, in comparison to their parents, the children of immigrants grow up in the host society, and hence are more familiar with and competent in its language, culture and way of life. On the other hand, emigrant children did not voluntarily choose to confront the new society in the manner of their parents, nor did they arrive as resourceful adults. As such, they sometimes experience greater problems of adaptation than older emigrants (Gold 1995a). Further, the children of immigrants often experience cultural differences from both their foreign-born parents and their native-born peers, making adjustment especially difficult (Rumbaut 1994; Wolf 1997). It is also important to note that as suggested by the theory of segmented assimilation, the children of Israeli emigrants have various possible trajectories for identity formation within the host society (Portes and Rumbaut 2001). They can join the non-ethnic mainstream of the host society, they can merge with the nativeborn Jewish community, they can retain an Israel-oriented immigrant identity, or even follow another pattern.1
