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The Role of Dialectical Self and Bicultural Identity Integration in Psychological Adjustment
Author(s) -
Chen Sylvia Xiaohua,
BenetMartínez Verónica,
Wu Wesley C. H.,
Lam Ben C. P.,
Bond Michael Harris
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00791.x
Subject(s) - psychology , biculturalism , dialectic , acculturation , social psychology , immigration , identity (music) , contradiction , developmental psychology , theology , philosophy , physics , epistemology , neuroscience , neuroscience of multilingualism , acoustics , archaeology , history
Objective We applied the concept of naïve dialecticism (Peng & Nisbett, [Peng, K., 1999]), which characterizes E ast A sians’ greater tendency to encompass contradictory, ever‐changing, and interrelated features of an entity, to bicultural contexts and examined its effects on psychological well‐being across various acculturating groups. Method We administered questionnaire measures of the dialectical self, bicultural identity integration ( BII ; B enet‐ M artínez & H aritatos, 2005), and well‐being to H ong K ong C hinese ( N = 213) in Study 1 and M ainland C hinese ( N = 239) in Study 2. In Study 3, a 4‐week longitudinal study was conducted among H ong K ong C hinese ( N = 173) to test the relationships of these variables over time. We then extended similar measures to new immigrants from M ainland C hina ( N = 67) in Study 4 and F ilipino domestic workers in H ong K ong ( N = 153) in Study 5. Results Five studies converged to show that psychological adjustment was positively related to BII , but negatively related to the dialectical self. In Studies 1–3, dialecticism mediated the effect of BII on psychological adjustment among H ong K ong and M ainland C hinese bicultural individuals. Conclusions Our findings reveal the deleterious effects of tolerance for contradiction on well‐being and differentiate biculturalism patterns of immigration‐based and globalization‐based acculturation.