Poster #172 - Cultural Conundrum: The Many Shades of Multicultural Youths and the Challenge to Paint Them

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Asian Americans are predicted to become the biggest immigrant population in the United States (Associated Press & Lam, 2016; Brown, 2014). As more than 95% of Asians in the U.S. either immigrated to the U.S. or have parents who did (Pew Research Center, 2013), negotiating multiple cultural identities is a priority and a challenge. Yet, Asian Americans’ mental health issues have received less attention, partly because of the stereotype that they “do well” (a false generalization from socioeconomic adjustment to psychological adjustment) and because most Asian cultures discourage seeking mental health services. One way to address this public mental health conundrum may be to focus on prevention. Because healthy identities can be a major protective factor for individuals’ psychological wellbeing, understanding how Asian American youths adapt to their multicultural identities is an important topic for scientific research and for public welfare.

Elaborating on prior research, Yampolsky, Amiot, and de la Sablonnière (2015) created the Multicultural Identity Integration Scale (MULTIIS) to examine identity development in those growing up with multiple cultural influences. The 22-item MULTIIS used a 7-point scale and consisted of three orientation subscales: exclusive identification with one culture (categorization), context-dependent identification (compartmentalization), and consolidated identification (integration). The MULTIIS was developed and validated with multilingual samples in Canada. Items within each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency, and the categorization and integration subscales were unrelated. Yampolsky et al. found that psychological wellbeing correlated positively to integration and negatively to compartmentalization, but unrelated to categorization.

The present study aimed to validate the MULTIIS with Asian American college students in the U.S. (N = 252; mean age = 18.75). Participants responded anonymously to an online survey. Results showed good internal consistency within the subscales (Cronbach’s alphas > .77). However, there was insufficient distinction between the subscales: All subscales were positively correlated (ps < .001). Predictive validity was tested by correlating the MULTIIS subscales with the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith, Dalen, Wiggins, Tooley, Christopher, & Bernard, 2008). Although BRS was negatively related to compartmentalization as predicted (r = -.17, p < .01), contrary to predictions it was negatively correlated with categorization (r = -.16, p < .05) and unrelated to integration (r = -.03, p > .66). Taken together, these results did not validate the MULTIIS with the current sample.

The failure to validate the MULTIIS in the present study may be attributable to various sampling differences between the present study and Yampolsky et al. (2015). For example, the current sample focused on Asian heritages (mostly Western heritages in Yampolsky et al.); the issue of cultural intersectionality may be relevant. Moreover, the majority of the current sample had foreign-born parents (mostly North American-born parents in Yampolsky et al.); immigration history may impact the development of multicultural identity. The present findings hence highlighted key considerations when implementing the MULTIIS and underscored the complexity in multicultural youths’ experiences.

Authors

• Sovannie Len, San Jose State University
  Presenting Author

• Shinchieh Duh, San Jose State University
  Non-Presenting Author