Bicultural identity harmony and American identity are associated with positive mental health in U.S. racial and ethnic minority immigrants.

OBJECTIVES

In this study, we examined the association of ethnic and American identity with depression and anxiety and whether this relation is mediated by Bicultural Identity Integration.

METHOD

We recruited racial and ethnic minority immigrant college students ( = 766, = 19.89, 60.4% women, 19.8% Black, 34.2% Hispanic, 36.6% Asian, and 9.4% other) who completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Participants answered questions relating to their ethnic and American identities, the degree to which these identities are compatible (i.e., Bicultural Identity Integration; BII), and presence of depression and anxiety symptoms. We conducted hierarchical linear regressions to test the direct relations between ethnic and American identity, BII, and depression and anxiety symptoms. We used bootstrapping to test the mediating role of BII.

RESULTS

Our analyses showed significant negative associations between American identity and BII cultural harmony with depression symptoms. BII cultural harmony was also negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. BII cultural harmony mediated the relations between American identity and both depression and anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Perceived compatibility between ethnic and American identities is seemingly important for understanding the relation between national identity and mental health among racial and ethnic minority immigrants. However, longitudinal research designs would help assess causality in the relations found herein. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).