Second-generation immigrants are increasingly embracing their biculturalism, equally identifying as American and "other" (Yazykova & McLeigh, 2015). While this allows for ethnic diversity as well as other social and linguistic advantages, the internalization of two different cultures has been linked to causing tensions related to identity development and mental health (Huynh et al., 2018; Ceri et al., 2017; Ritsner & Ponizovsky, 1999). Previous research has shown a link between parental support and an individual's acculturation and psychological well-being (Pawliuk et al., 1996; Abad & Sheldon, 2008). This study seeks to further examine the influence of family on the bicultural identity integration and psychological distress in second-generation immigrants. Researchers recruited 39 participants to explore the relationship of family life satisfaction, family social support, bicultural harmony and blendedness, and self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. A bivariate correlation analysis showed that satisfaction with family life was negatively associated with depression, stress, and overall psychological distress. In addition, perceived social support from family appeared to have a positive relationship to higher scores of depression. Researchers also found that bicultural identity integration had a negative relationship with anxiety, stress, and overall psychological distress.

This study aimed to explore the indirect effect of parental attachment on psychological well-being via bicultural identity integration (BII) in a sample of bicultural young adult children of immigrant caregivers, as well as the moderator effect of language brokering on the relation between parental attachment and BII. The final sample included 107 participants who were recruited through various psychology listservs, social media advertisements, undergraduate psychological courses, and snowball sampling methods to complete an online survey via Qualtrics. Preliminary analyses revealed that age and race/ethnicity were significantly associated with some variables of interest. Results of primary analyses revealed a significant relation between parental attachment and psychological distress, but not with life satisfaction. Bivariate correlations revealed a significantly positive relation between BII blendedness and life satisfaction but no significant relation with psychological distress. However, BII harmony was not significantly correlated with either psychological well-being outcome. There were no significant findings when examining the indirect-effect, moderation, and moderated mediational effects. Findings derived from this study contribute to a greater understanding of the cognitive and affective processes that contribute to the integration of bicultural identities. Relevant literature, conceptual reasoning and empirical evidence for the research methods, and counseling implications of the findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

This master thesis is dedicated to an acculturation process and its relations to life satisfaction. In the theoretical part the concept of acculturation is presented and conceived as changes accompanying migration to a foreign country. Different acculturation strategies are described, as well as some of the factors that affect influence the complex process of acculturation. One of the chapters is dedicated to a Czech milieu and its legislative and social conditions for immigration, and describing two main third country migrant populations - Ukrainians and Vietnamese. Theoretical part is wrapped up with an introduction to subjective well-being and life satisfaction, with a focus on intercultural context. The empirical part consists of a description and results of a quantitative questionnaire survey among immigrants originally from Vietnam and Ukraine (N = 162) and it is based on Acculturation Scale (Cortés, Rogler, Malgady, 1994), Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985) and Bicultural Identity Integration Scale (Chen, Benet-Martínez, Bond, 2008). Most of the respondents adopted integration strategy, however there wasn't a significant difference in life satisfaction among acculturation strategies. The data analysis found several significant variables which participate on...

Att veta vilken identitet man har i ett samhälle där olika normer och regler finns kan för många vara svårt, minst sagt för de individer som är uppväxta med dubbla kulturer. Undersökningen har utförts med syftet att få en djupare förståelse för hur identiteten hos unga vuxna med invandrarbakgrund har påverkats. Studiens empiri samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer där respondenterna var födda i Sverige och hade föräldrar från Mellanöstern. Av datan gjordes en tematisk analys för att ta fram teman. Empirin analyserades med hjälp av fyra socialpsykologiska teorier; social identitet, självrepresentation, ackulturation och bikulturell identitet. De centrala fenomenen som resultaten visar är att respondenterna upplever att kulturerna är som mest olika gällande kollektivism och individualism. Deltagarna berättade att inom ursprungskulturen identifierar individerna sig mer med sin grupp och det finns en annan värme sinsemellan. De berättar att de anpassar sig mycket efter olika situationer beroende på om de är med familj, vänner, på jobbet eller i andra situationer bland svenskar. Detta därför att passa in. Oavsett hur mycket respondenterna anpassar sig uppger de att de ändå inte blir fullt accepterade som svenskar vilket leder till att de identifierar sig som en blandning mellan kulturerna men mer med ursprungskulturen. Respondenterna förklarar att de känner sig mest som sig själva bland familj och vänner som också har en dubbelkultur då de känner att de inte behöver anpassa sig lika mycket. / Knowing your identity in a society where different norms and rules exist can be difficult for many, to say the least for those individuals who grew up with dual cultures. The study aims to get a deeper understanding of how the identity of young adults with an immigrant background has been affected.The study's data was collected through semi-structured interviews where the respondents were born in Sweden and had parents from the Middle East. To find the main themes of the data a thematic analysis was used. The results were analyzed by using four social psychological theories; social identity, self-representation, acculturation and bicultural identity.The central phenomena that the results show is that the respondents feel that the cultures are the most different in terms of collectivism and individualism. The participants told that within the native culture the individuals identify more with their group and there is a different bond between them. They said that they adjust themselves a lot to different situations depending on whether they are with family, friends, at work or in other situations among Swedes. They do this to fit in. Regardless of how much the respondents adapt, they state that they are still not fully accepted as Swedes, which leads them to identifying as a mix between the cultures but more with the native culture.The respondents explain that they feel more like their true selves among family and friends who also have a double culture as they do not have to adapt as much.

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La tesi si focalizza sui processi di costruzione dell’identità in adolescenti e giovani adulti in adozione internazionale analizzandone l’influenza sul benessere. L’approccio quantitativo e l’assunzione di una prospettiva familiare caratterizzano l’impianto di ricerca dei quattro studi che compongono questa ricerca. Il primo studio tratteggia un quadro della famiglia adottiva di fronte all’adolescenza dei figli adottivi prendendone esaminandone dimensioni specifiche a livello individuale, relazionale e sociale. Il secondo studio identifica una tipologia identitaria di adottati alla luce dei pattern di identificazione etnica e nazionale che discrimina rispetto alla qualità della relazione familiare, benessere e motivazioni identitarie dell’adottato. Il terzo studio evidenzia l’influenza di alcune variabili familiari e sociali sui processi identitari degli adottati ed analizza come i diversi esiti identitari siano legati al benessere. Il quarto studio si focalizza sulla socializzazione culturale e la percezione di discriminazione quali predittori della costruzione dell’identità etnica in Italia e negli U.S.A, mettendo in evidenza aspetti comuni e differenze culturali specifiche. Dai risultati emerge che il legame tra il benessere e la capacità di confrontarsi con la duplice appartenenza al proprio gruppo etnico e al nuovo contesto sociale di appartenenza. I genitori assumono un ruolo fondamentale nel sostenere tale processo tramite le strategie di socializzazione culturale. / This work is focused on the identity process among adolescents and young adults internationally adopted and their well-being. The four studies that compose this dissertation are characterize by the quantitative approach and the assumption of a family perspective. The first study explore well-being, ethnic identity, family relations and the perception of social context among adoptees and their parents. The second study identifies a type of identity of adoptees for different patterns of ethnic identification and national. The type of adoptees shows differences with respect to the quality of family relations, well-being and multiple motives on identity construction. The third study develops a model of the explanatory factors determining the adoptees well-being; it confirms the influence of some family and social variables on identity processes and assess whether adoptees’ identity is related to psychosocial well-being. The fourth study is focused on the perception of cultural socialization and discrimination as predictors of ethnic identity in Italy and the USA, highlighting common aspects and specific cultural differences. The results show that family relations and the degree of integration between two cultural identities are important protective factors for psychosocial adjustment and well-being of adoptees. Parents play a vital role in supporting this process through cultural socialization strategies.