Bicultural Identity and Competence Development

Safa, Maria Dalal, Tempe AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Adriana Umana-Taylor at Harvard University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the antecedents and consequents of biculturalism. Given the continued racial, ethnic, and cultural diversification of the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018), developmental research on biculturalism is needed. Importantly, learning to be a member of two cultural groups - to become bicultural - represents a normative developmental task of minority individuals, including immigrants and individuals who are members of ethnic-racial minority groups. For example, approximately 43 million immigrants live in the U.S. and 40% of the U.S. population belongs to an ethnic-racial group other than White, non-Hispanic (Migration Policy Institute, 2018). For these individuals, attaining some degree of proficiency in each culture (i.e., some degree of bicultural competence) is an important indicator of adjustment with implications for other developmental competencies. It is expected that individuals who are members of two cultural groups (e.g., Latino and American, Chinese and American) will first develop bicultural identities through the processes of exploring their ethnic-racial and American identities and resolving and integrating them. These processes are theorized to promote positive development in the form of bicultural competence and psychosocial adjustment. The mechanisms by which individuals develop bicultural identities and competencies, however, are not well understood. The overall goal of the project, entitled Bicultural Identity and Competence Development, is to develop and advance scientific knowledge of culture and development, specifically relative to the mechanisms by which minority adolescents develop bicultural identities and competencies, and the associations among bicultural identity formation processes, bicultural competence development, and psychosocial adjustment. This research project employs a mixed-method approach organized in two phases. Phase 1 involves a qualitative investigation aimed at identifying and providing adolescents with opportunities and tools to engage in bicultural identity processes and to develop bicultural competence. Phase 2 involves a pilot test of the tools and strategies developed in Phase 1, which will be integrated into an existing ethnic-racial identity intervention. Specifically, two additional intervention sessions designed to promote bicultural identity exploration, resolution, and integration will be developed and pilot tested. The pilot test will enable examining feasibility of implementation and preliminary data regarding effect sizes for the associations between increases in bicultural identity development and increases in bicultural competence and psychosocial adjustment over time. This research advances scientific knowledge that can support the well-being of minority individuals. Notably, it can benefit society by informing promotion efforts focused on the achievement of key developmental competencies. Promoting bicultural identities and competencies can increase positive mutual attitudes among individuals from diverse ethnic-racial groups and strengthen individuals' sense of attachment to the American society at large. This work, therefore, can contribute to the development of a better society for all Americans. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.