Immigrants' adaptation and place identity: Relationships and moderators (Case study: Immigrants resided in Isfahan city)

Migration, with whatever intention and goal, is a process and requires certain steps, one important of which is adaptation. In the adaptation process, immigrants' behavioral patterns change, which affects some important aspects of their personal and cultural identity. The process of adaptation may lead to identity cohesion and a sense of community that has an important effect on psychological and social well-being; besides it makes immigrants more committed to the values of destination community. Taking the importance of this subject into consideration, the present paper, through studying a sample of 385 migrants settled in Isfahan metropolis and using the data gathered via questionnaire, investigated the effect of various dimensions of adaptation on place identity, and examined the moderating role of some variables. Analysis of the data was carried out using various statistical tests, and applying SPSS software and Process extension. The findings show that the mean value of place identity and three dimensions of adaptation including psychological, social and environmental adaptation are greater than average level. Results showed that adaptation has a significant positive effect on place identity, and approximately 52 % of the place identity variance is explained by variances of psychological, social and environmental adaptation. Based on the findings, the variables of education and psychological, social and environmental adaptation moderate the relationship between environmental adaptation and place identity; While the moderating role of the variables of gender, age and provincial origin of migration in the relationship between various dimensions of migrants' adaptation and  place identity was not supported.