Rethinking Ethnic Identity Threat: How Narrative Themes Relate to Psychological Well-Being for Asian American and Asian International Students

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

The exploration and formation of ethnic identity is a critical developmental process for early adulthood (Phinney, 2006). Narrative is a principal means by which young adults construct a coherent identity (McAdams, 2001). Crucially, different cultures provide divergent narratives for scaffolding personal identity (Bruner, 1990). Thus, we suspect that Asian Americans (AA) and Asian international (AI) young adults use different narrative themes to promote psychological well-being (PWB) when reminiscing about difficult experiences.

In the current study, AA (n = 106) and AI (n = 112) students narrated a low point in their life story and an episode of alienation, difference, or unfair treatment based on their ethnic identity. Participants reported Big Five (Rammstedt & John, 2007), acculturation (Gim Chung et al., 2004), and PWB (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). We first conducted a qualitative analysis of a subset of narratives, including the 5 highest and 5 lowest scorers on PWB for AAs and AIs, respectively (n = 20). From this analysis, we decided to code the entire sample (n = 175) for redemption, an American cultural narrative in which narratives move from negative to positive affect (McAdams, 2013), and agency, the motivation for self-determined action (McAdams et al., 1996) (see Figure 1). While contamination (the movement from positive to negative affect) and communion (motivation for connection with others) were not included in the qualitative analysis, they were added as companion schemes to agency and redemption.

In a preliminary investigation, we did not find that AA/AI identification and its interaction with redemption predicted PWB within ethnic identity threat narratives. However, exploratory analyses revealed that redemption interacted with scores on acculturation towards European American values (hereinafter, acculturation) to predict PWB, after controlling for the Big Five. For participants high on acculturation, redemption was positively correlated with PWB; for participants low on acculturation, redemption was negatively correlated with PWB (see Figure 2).

In a pre-registration (https://osf.io/ayfgh/), we hypothesized that this interaction would exist between acculturation and the other narrative themes on PWB after controlling for the Big Five. Specifically, agency will have a positive association with PWB for participants high on acculturation and a negative association for participants low on acculturation, given the emphasis on agency in individualistic cultures (Kitayma & Markus, 2000). Further, contamination will show a stronger negative association with PWB for participants high on acculturation compared to participants low on acculturation, given that contamination is negatively related to PWB for European American individuals (McAdams et al., 2001). Lastly, communion will demonstrate a stronger positive association with PWB for individuals low on acculturation compared to those high on acculturation, as collectivist cultures tend to value interdependence (Kim & Markus, 1999). As cultural identity is emphasized in ethnic identity narratives, we expect these anticipated correlations to be more salient in these narratives than in low point narratives. This study contributes novel findings to narrative, cultural, and developmental psychology by illuminating how Asian young adults’ ethnic identity relates to the narrative self and how their narrative processing of adversity relates to PWB.

Authors

• Yeon Ju Suh, Cornell University
  Presenting Author

• Joshua Perlin, Duke University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ariana Turner, Northwestern University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Elizabeth Gaither, Duke Univeristy
  Non-Presenting Author