Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant- Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-Being of Nicaraguan Immigrants

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate student Marisa L. Prosser, supervised by Dr. Roy G. D'Andrade, will undertake research on immigrant identity formation and nationalism. Her focus will be a case study of immigrant adaptation and well-being in Costa Rica, where a two-decade wave of Nicaraguan immigration has challenged concepts of national and personal identity among immigrants and the host population. The research will build upon existing scholarship that suggests a strong sense of cultural identity can protect against a variety of stressors faced by immigrants, particularly when it forms part of a bicultural identity that fuses aspects of both home and host cultures. This study also considers how social relations between groups influence identity formation and moderate its protective effects upon well-being. The researcher will undertake nine months of field research in Costa Rica. The first phase of the the research will involve participant-observation, semi-structured and structured interviews among samples of Nicaraguan immigrants and Costa Rican citizens. Cultural consensus analysis, which measures quantitatively the degree of cultural sharing across informants, will be used to reveal cultural models of identity. In the second phase of the research, a survey will be distributed to a large sample of informants to test the relationship between individuals' cultural consonance or the degree to which they personally approximate the shared models of identity, and a variety of standard measures of psychological well-being. This research introduces a method for operationalizing the construct of identity and furthers an understanding of how immigrants forge their identities under varying cultural conditions. The research will contribute to refining social science theories about immigrant well-being and social integration. It also will inform policies and programs to foster the successful integration and adaptation of immigrant populations while preserving their well-being and unique cultural heritages.