Multicultural identity styles, culture mixing and well-being: Adaptation of mainland sojourner students in Hong Kong

Tianfang Frank YE, Emma Ellen Kathrina BUCHTEL

Research output: Contribution to conferencePoster

Abstract

Informed by the unique identity and acculturation context of Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese peoples, in two sets of studies, we investigated how the perception of culture mixing is related to different social identities, intergroup attitudes and adaptations among Mainland China-origin university students in Hong Kong.

In Study 1, We surveyed 110 university students who came from Mainland China and asked them to finish a questionnaire consisting of a modified measurement of Disgust towards Hong Kong-Mainland China Culture Mixing (Cheon, Christopoulos, & Hong, 2016), the Multicultural Identity Styles Scale (MISS, Ward et al., 2018), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS, Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The modified measurement of disgust towards culture mixing was validated through multigroup CFA, and measurement invariance was examined. The core findings of a previous study, which people demonstrated stronger disgust towards mixed cultural symbols compared to separate ones, were replicated, and its negative association with HIS was identified (r = -.18). As additional complementary analyses, we also applied Rasch analysis for scale validation and tested the Bayesian approach for typical statistics. In summary, we found that Mainland Chinese sojourner students showed disgust towards Hong Kong-Mainland China culture mixing, and for them hybridizing two cultural identities negatively related to such disgust reaction.

In Study 2, We recruited two cohorts of Mainland Chinese university freshmen studying in Hong Kong and conducted two, two-time-point longitudinal studies (N3months = 42, N6months = 108) using the same measurement tools in Study 1. Participants were asked to fill out the identical questionnaires before and after the gap. Data was tested by cross-lagged modelling using lavaan in R. From the results the negative cross-lagged impact of disgust towards Hong Kong / Mainland China culture mixing on Satisfaction with Life was observed (β3months = -.34, β6months = -.38) in addition to a marginal significant negative cross-lagged impact of HIS (β6months = -.43) and a significant positive cross-lagged impact of AIS (β6months = .53) on disgust. In summary, we found that, among Mainland Chinese students, the disgust towards culture mixing led to decreased life satisfaction after 3 or 6 months stay in Hong Kong. We also found that the alternating identity style led to increased disgust after 3 or 6 months stay. Copyright © 2021 SRCD.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2021
EventSociety for Research in Child Development 2021 Biennial Meeting -
Duration: 07 Apr 202109 Apr 2021
https://srcd21biennial.vfairs.com/

Conference

ConferenceSociety for Research in Child Development 2021 Biennial Meeting
Abbreviated titleSRCD 2021
Period07/04/2109/04/21
Internet address

Citation

Ye, F. T.-F., & Buchtel, E. E. (2021, April). Multicultural identity styles, culture mixing and well-being: Adaptation of mainland sojourner students in Hong Kong. Poster presented at the Society of Research in Child Development (SRCD 2021) Biennial Meeting, USA.

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