Bridging cultures: Understanding the construction of relational identity in intercultural friendship.

摘要

The purpose of this research is to advance our understanding of intercultural friendship, specifically focusing on the area of relational identity development. Cupach and Imahori's (1993) Identity Management Theory (IMT) and Casmir's (1999) Third-Culture Building Model are two models that delineate the process of relational identity development, but little empirical research has been conducted to support these two theories. As a result, this research attempts to, first, uncover the stages that define the process of relational identity development. Second, this study aims to identify the strategies that intercultural friendship dyads employ to co-create a relational identity and to examine the relationship between the construction of relational identity and relational closeness. Third, this research functions to test IMT and the Third-Culture Building Model and highlights the similarities between these two intercultural relationship theories.; The interview method was employed to investigate the current research. Overall, 45 individual interviews (n = 30) and conjoint interviews (n = 15) were conducted with 15 intercultural friendship dyads (n = 30) on a Midwestern university campus. Ten out of 15 intercultural friendship dyads were American with international friendships. And, the remaining five friendship dyads were international with international dyads. Participants were originally from countries, such as the United States (including African American culture and European American culture), Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, India, China, Taiwan, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic, Canada, Macedonia, Argentina, and Botswana.; The results indicate that four stages (initial encounter, interaction, involvement, and maintenance) emerge as defining the process of relational identity construction in intercultural friendships. A total of 39 themes are located as the strategies employed in (or contributing to) relational identity construction. Finally, this research finds that IMT and the Third-Culture Building Model both effectively outline the process of intercultural relationship formation but overlook some vital aspects in understanding the development of relational identity (i.e., the influences of third parties and cultural context). Thus, an advanced model of relational identity development in intercultural friendship is created by integrating the insights suggested by IMT, the Third-Culture Building Model, and the results of the current study.