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Article
Converging Identities: Dimensions of Acculturation and Personal Identity Status Among Immigrant College Students
Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology (2013)
  • Seth J. Schwartz, University of Miami
  • Su Yeong Kim, University of Texas at Austin
  • Susan Krauss Whitbourne, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Byron L. Zamboanga, Smith College
  • Robert S. Weisskirch, California State University
  • Larry F. Forthun, University of Florida
  • Alexander T. Vazsonyi, University of Kentucky
  • Wim Beyers, Ghent University
  • Koen Luyckx, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Abstract
The present study was designed to ascertain the extent to which dimensions of acculturation would differ across personal identity statuses in a sample of 2,411 first- and second-generation, immigrant, college-attending emerging adults. Participants from 30 colleges and universities around the United States completed measures of personal identity processes, as well as of heritage and American cultural practices, values, and identifications. Cluster-analytic procedures were used to classify participants into personal identity statuses based on the personal identity processes. Results indicated that, across ethnic groups, individuals in the achieved and searching moratorium statuses reported the greatest endorsement of heritage and American cultural practices, values, and identifications; and individuals in the carefree diffusion status reported the lowest endorsement of all the cultural variables under study. These results are discussed in terms of the convergence between personal identity and cultural identity processes. 
Keywords
  • identity status,
  • acculturation,
  • immigrant,
  • personal identity,
  • cultural identity
Disciplines
Publication Date
2013
DOI
10.1037/a0030753
Citation Information
Seth J. Schwartz, Su Yeong Kim, Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Byron L. Zamboanga, et al.. "Converging Identities: Dimensions of Acculturation and Personal Identity Status Among Immigrant College Students" Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology Vol. 19 Iss. 2 (2013) p. 155 - 165
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rob-weisskirch/15/