Bicultural Identity Conflict in Second-Generation Asian Canadians

摘要

Researchers have shown that bicultural individuals, including 2nd-generation immigrants, face a potential conflict between 2 cultural identities. The pres-ent authors extended this primarily qualitative research on the bicultural experience byadopting the social identity perspective (H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1986). They developedand tested an empirically testable model of the role of cultural construals, in-group pro-totypicality, and identity in bicultural conflict in 2 studies with 2nd-generation AsianCanadians. In both studies, the authors expected and found that participants' construalsof their 2 cultures as different predicted lower levels of simultaneous identification withboth cultures. Furthermore, the authors found this relation was mediated by participants'feelings of prototypicality as members of both groups. Although the perception of culturaldifference did not predict well-being as consistently and directly as the authors expected,levels of simultaneous identification did show these relations. The authors discuss resultsin the context of social identity theory (H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner) as a framework forunderstanding bicultural conflict.