The Motivation to Integrate and Perceived Discrimination as Antecedents of Cultural Identity Styles

Objectives: The research examined the motivation to integrate and perceived discrimination as antecedents of cultural identity styles, the cognitive and behavioral strategies that bicultural individuals use for decision making in managing and maintaining their ethnic and national identities. Two major cultural identity styles have been distinguished: the alternating identity style (AIS, changing cultural identities depending on the circumstances) and the hybrid identity style (HIS, blending selected aspects of these identities in a unique way). Based on earlier cross-sectional research, we tested the hypotheses that the motivation to integrate would predict greater use of both styles and that perceived discrimination would predict greater use of the AIS, but not the HIS, over time. Method: A community sample of 493 Chinese Americans (56% female, 51.5% first generation, M-age = 53.27 years) completed an online survey at two points in time with approximately a 1-month interval. Path modeling controlling for demographic factors (age, generation) and cultural identity style (AIS and HIS at T1) was used to test our hypotheses. Results: Analyses revealed that younger Chinese Americans made greater use of the AIS and that both the motivation to integrate and perceived discrimination were significant predictors of the AIS at T2. In contrast, only the motivation to integrate predicted the HIS at T2, confirming our hypotheses. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that both personal and situational factors affect the management of cultural identities. The findings are discussed in relation to research on acculturation and integration and theories of social and situated identity identities.