Ethnic identity and acculturation among Chinese Canadians
Date
2002
Authors
Chia, Ai-Lan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to examine the nature of ethnic identity and acculturation, and to evaluate relations among ethnic identity, acculturation, cultural contact, and psychological well-being among Chinese Canadians. Two hundred and thirty-four university students with Chinese origins completed a variety of measures of ethnic identity and acculturation, including a) cognitive aspects: sense of common fate, insult and praise as Chinese and Canadian, and Chinese cultural values; b) affective aspects: Chinese and Canadian Affirmation and Belongingness, Chinese and Canadian Identity Achievement, and Collective Self-esteem as Chinese; and c) behavioural aspects: Chinese and Canadian behavioural orientations and practices. Participants also completed well-being measures of Self-Esteem, Depressive Symptoms, and Acculturative Stress.
A factor analysis revealed a multidimensional structure for ethnic identity. Specifically, three factors emerged, labelled: Chinese-Internal Identity, Chinese-External Identity, and Ethnic Evaluation. This third factor reflects the distinction between one's evaluation of the ethnic group and one's identification with that ethnic group. In a separate factor analysis, acculturation (Canadian Identity) was unidimensional.
Relations between the four factors and participants' contact with Chinese and Canadian culture were examined. Being foreign-born was associated with higher Chinese-External Identity, and residing in Canada longer was associated with higher Canadian Identity. Older chronological age, but not cultural contact, was related to higher Chinese-Internal Identity and Ethnic Evaluation.
A pattern-centred methodology was used to form subgroups of participants based on their identity and acculturation factor scores. Five distinctive cultural groups were discovered: Dual Cultural Identity Group, Chinese Identity Group, Canadian Identity Group, Dual Cultural Identity- Low Chinese Behaviour Group, and Unidentified-High Chinese Behaviour Group. Several of these five groups resembled Berry's four acculturation types. However, the final presentation of these five groups was more complex, due to the multidimensional perspectives of ethnic identity and acculturation, the assessment of acculturation as individuals' orientation towards Canadian culture, and the use of cluster analysis to form subgroups.
The relationship between cultural identity and psychological well-being was examined. Through the variable-centred approach, older age, being Canadian-born, having a higher Ethnic Evaluation, higher Chinese-External Identity, and higher Canadian Identity were associated with better well-being. Higher Chinese-Internal Identity was related to poorer well-being only, when it did not coexist with Ethnic Evaluation. When using the pattern-centred approach, only one between-group difference in the level of well-being was found. This may be because none of the groups were characterized exclusively by risk factors or exclusively by protective factors.
Lastly, the relationship between ethnic identity and acculturation, although conceptualized as orthogonal, varied depending on which factor was under review. Across the whole sample, Chinese-Internal Identity and Ethnic Evaluation were both orthogonal to Canadian Identity, whereas Chinese-External Identity was negatively related to Canadian Identity (i.e., bipolar). The relationship between ethnic identity and acculturation was more complicated when it was examined within each of the five clusters. The results highlight the importance of understanding the uniqueness of subgroups formed within a relatively homogeneous sample.
Overall, the multidimensional assessment of ethnic identity and acculturation, the diverse relationships among multiple dimensions, and the discovery of subgroups with unique cultural identity profiles have significant implications for clinical practice (e.g., the influence of cultural identity on the expression of psychological difficulties), for intervention and prevention programming ( e.g., the need to adapt programs based on the cultural identity profiles of recipients), and for cultural psychology research (e.g., considerations for selecting variable- and pattern-centred approaches depending on the research objectives).