Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the bicultural identity integration between 1st and 2nd generation Bangladeshi in the UK and the relationship between various identity profiles with personal and family life satisfaction measures. In line with Boski’s (2021) theoretical framework, cultural identity has been conceptualized in a theoretical three steps model. First, cultures are described on a set of values, to establish their joint and mutually exclusive characteristics. Next participants express their personal preferences on the same set of values. Lastly, each cultural identity is operationalized as a sum of products of cultural descriptors (their weights) and personal preferences. This approach is different from the conventional approach in which social identity (group membership and/or attachment to the ethnic and national culture) were considered as the cultural identity. Bicultural identity indices obtained in our model were compared and cross-validated with the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale (BIIS 2, Huynh, 2009).
We compared the cultural identity of 1st generation (N = 36) and 2nd generation (N = 17) bicultural people with their Bangladeshi (N = 33) and British (N = 28) monocultural counterparts. Results showed that Bangladeshi identity was strongest among 1st generation and not among the country’s residents as predicted, while British identity dominated among British monocultural people. Exploring dimension-specific cultural identities (conservatism, interdependence, and social desirability), 1st generation showed cultural fitness with Bangladeshi identity, which is conservative, whereas British monocultural people were more culturally fit with British identity, which is non-conservative. Cross-validation of two sets of our measures revealed only a negative correlation between the model-based biculturalism and BIIS-2 dimension of blendedness (vs compartmentalization), such that the higher model-related biculturalism, the lower the blendedness. Also, higher Bangladeshi identity was linked to higher compartmentalization. Neither of the BII dimensions predicted personal or family life satisfaction but the model-based Bangladeshi identity predicted family life satisfaction.
ScholarWorks Citation
Sharmin, R. & Boski, P. (2024). Bicultural Identity Integration and Life Satisfaction: Two Generations of Bangladeshi in the UK. In E. E. Buchtel & W. Friedlmeier (Eds.), Year of the Golden Jubilee: Culture Change in the Past, Present and Future. Proceedings from the 26th Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.4087/TOLL1733
