Majority acceptance vs. rejection of ‘being both’ facilitates immigrants’ bicultural identity blendedness and positive affect

Abstract

Ethnic minority members experience varying levels of conflict and blendedness between their ethnic and national identities, with important implications for psychosocial adjustment. To examine the critical role of intergroup contexts, we manipulated whether “being both” was accepted vs. rejected by either the majority population or fellow minority members in a survey experiment among Dutch ethnic minority members (N=820)., We subsequently measured Bicultural Identity Integration and Positive and Negative Affect. Identity conflict and negative affect were unaffected, but participants experienced more blendedness and more positive affect when the majority agreed ratherthan disagreed, that “it is a good thing to be both”. We discuss how the findings can help to facilitatte identity integration among ethnic minority populations in diverse societies.