Abstract
The present study sought to build upon the body of literature centered on Bicultural Identity Integration (BII), which conceptualizes the process of bicultural identity development as consisting of two independent dimensions: 1) harmony vs conflict and 2) blendedness vs compartmentalization (Benet-Martinez & Haritatos, 2005). Previous research has suggested that there may be a directional relationship between these variables. Specifically, the degree to which an individual’s cultures are objectively different may lead to a sense of conflict between those cultures (low BII harmony), which would then affect the degree to which an individual chooses to integrate or compartmentalize their cultures (BII blendedness vs compartmentalization) (Huynh et al., 2011).
Accordingly, it was hypothesized that BII harmony would mediate the relationship between cultural distance and BII blendedness and that higher levels of objective cultural distance would predict lower overall BII scores. A convenience sample of 159 bicultural participants was gathered via social media and recruitment at a private Midwestern university. The first hypotheses was tested using a mediation analysis. Results of the mediation analysis did not support the hypothesized directional relationship, b = .414, BCa CI [-1.979, .0386]. The second hypothesis was tested using a simple linear regression. Results of the regression analysis did not yield significant results, (F (1,157) = .350, p = .555. Instead, the demographic variables of race and ethnicity emerged as statistically significant predictors of BII harmony and blendedness rather than cultural distance. Overall, these findings have implications for how BII is conceptualized on a theoretical level and how mental health practitioners approach their work with bicultural clients