Zyuban, Anastasia (9/12) Self-differentiation, nation of origin, religious affiliation, and bicultural identity development in former Soviet Union and Arab Immigrants (Lisa Samstag, Ph.D.;Nicholas Papouchis, Ph.D.; Benjamin Saunders, Ph.D.)
The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether differentiation of self predicted bicultural identity and to clarify whether variations in immigrants' nation of origin and religious identification affected the links between self-differentiation and bicultural identity. To determine these effects, the study compared the strength of the relationship among these variables in first generation immigrant populations from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and Arab immigrants, with dissimilar acculturation experiences in terms of nation of origin and religious identification. The sample consisted of 155 immigrants: 63 from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and 92 from the Arab Emirates. Participants completed nine measures assessing levels of self-differentiation, bicultural identity development, acculturative stress, perceived discrimination, religiosity, and cultural distance. Results suggested that individuals who were better at developing a bicultural identity were also more likely to maintain a strong sense of self and balance autonomy and intimacy. Contrary to the main hypothesis, this association was found for both the FSU and Arab immigrants. Results also showed that when compared to the FSU sample, Arab immigrants experienced significantly higher acculturative stress, more perceived discrimination, and more cultural distance from the US culture. However, these factors did not appear to result in significantly different levels of bicultural identity development or affect the strength of the relationship between self-differentiation and bicultural identity development in the two groups of immigrants. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences in bicultural identity based on religious affiliation. The levels of religiosity had an impact on bicultural identity development but only for the FSU sample.
