Longitudinal trajectories of bicultural identity integration in recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents: Links with mental health and family functioning |
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| Authors: | Seth J. Schwartz Jennifer B. Unger Lourdes Baezconde‐Garbanati Verónica Benet‐Martínez Alan Meca Byron L. Zamboanga Elma I. Lorenzo‐Blanco Sabrina E. Des Rosiers Assaf Oshri Raha F. Sabet Daniel W. Soto Monica Pattarroyo Shi Huang Juan A. Villamar Karina M. Lizzi José Szapocznik |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA;2. Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;3. Department of Political and Social Sciences, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avan?ats at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain;4. Department of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA;5. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA;6. Department of Psychology, Barry University, Miami Shores, FL, USA;7. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA;8. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA |
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| Abstract: | This study examined, in a sample of recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents in Miami and Los Angeles, the extent to which bicultural identity integration (BII; involving the ability to synthesise one's heritage and receiving cultural streams and to identify as a member of both cultures) is best understood as a developmental construct that changes over time or as an individual‐difference construct that is largely stable over time. We were also interested in the extent to which these trajectories predicted mental health and family functioning. Recent‐immigrant 9th graders (N = 302) were assessed 6 times from 9th to 12th grade. Latent class growth analyses using the first 5 timepoints identified 2 trajectory classes—one with lower BII scores over time and another with higher BII scores over time. Higher heritage and US identity at baseline predicted membership in the higher BII class. At the 6th study timepoint, lower BII adolescents reported significantly poorer self‐esteem, optimism, prosocial behaviour and family relationships compared with their higher BII counterparts. These findings are discussed in terms of further research on the over‐time trajectory of biculturalism, and on the need to develop interventions to promote BII as a way of facilitating well‐being and positive family functioning. |
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| Keywords: | Biculturalism Acculturation Hispanic Identity Mental health Family functioning |
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