Developmental, Social and Cultural Influences on Identity Conflict in Overseas Chinese

Abstract

The current research examined Baumeister's (1986) concept of identity conflict as a key component in the cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese young adults. According to Baumeister (1986), identity conflict is an intrapersonal struggle that demands the individual to choose between two or more different identities that prescribe incompatible behaviours or commitments. Three major theoretical approaches have been utilized in the current study to identify the possible predictors of identity conflict. Chapter 2 employed a developmental perspective and examined the effects of various identity- and family-related variables on the level of identity conflict among 304 Chinese young adults (aged between 16 and 26) who had immigrated to New Zealand from Mainland China or Taiwan. Variables examined in this study included parental presence, family cohesiveness, parent-child relationship, filial piety, ethnic identity, and perceived intergenerational discrepancies in values. Chapter 3 was based on an intergroup perspective and focused on the influences of various intergroup variables on identity conflict among 205 Chinese young adults (aged between 16 and 26) who had immigrated to New Zealand from Mainland China or Taiwan. Variables examined in this study included contact with host nationals, contact with co-nationals, host language proficiency, perceived discrimination, perceived permeability of intergroup boundaries, sense of cultural continuity, perceived social status, and legitimacy of perceived social status. Finally, Chapter 4 employed a cross-cultural perspective and investigated the role of cultural context (and hence, the impact of cultural distance) in the outcome and development of identity conflict. Specifically, level of identity conflict experienced by Chinese young adults in two culturally different host societies - New Zealand (a predominantly European bicultural society, and therefore, a condition of relatively high cultural distance) and Singapore (a predominantly Chinese multicultural society, and therefore, a condition of relatively low cultural distance) was compared. In addition, the process of developing identity conflict in these two cultural settings (more precisely, the predictive power of developmental- and intergroup-related variables on Chinese young adults' identity conflict) was examined. Results were based on a sample of 186 Chinese young adults in New Zealand and 263 Chinese young adults in Singapore. All participants came from either Mainland China or Taiwan and were between 16 to 28 years of age. Overall, the results from these three datasets suggested that, in both cultural settings, intergroup variables made the most significant contribution to the predictive model of identity conflict, whereas developmental variables only played a slight role in predicting Chinese young adults' level of identity conflict. With regard to the influences of cultural context, results suggested that cultural context only affected the outcome of identity conflict (i.e., Chinese young adults in a relatively different cultural setting experienced greater identity conflict than those in a relatively similar cultural setting), but it did not influence the process of developing identity conflict (i.e., in both cultural settings, intergroup variables were the most significant predictors). In addition to constructing a predictive model of identity conflict, the current thesis also examined the relationship between identity conflict and commonly investigated affective and behavioural outcomes of acculturation (i.e., psychological and sociocultural adaptation). In Chapter 5, the relationship between identity conflict, depression (an affective component of acculturation) and sociocultural difficulties (a behavioural component of acculturation) was examined using structural equation modelling among 170 overseas Chinese young adults in New Zealand and 256 overseas Chinese young adults in Singapore. The results suggested that identity conflict was best conceptualised as part of a global adaptation outcome that reflects cognitive adjustment and coexists with psychological and sociocultural adaptation rather than as a mediating variable that drives the affective and behavioural outcomes.