Traversing cultural identities : the role of bicultural competence in the psychological and academic adjustment of South Asian American college students
Keywords: Education.

The purposes of this dissertation were to better understand how South Asian American college students conceptualize biculturalism, how bicultural competence relates to coping and mental health outcomes, and how the campus environment can support bicultural competence through the testing of the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) model. South Asians make up one-third of the Asian American population, though many studies within the fields of psychology and education on Asian Americans focus primarily on East Asians or fail to disaggregate the Asian category, lacking a nuanced understanding of the experience of Asian Americans. Additionally, South Asians face unique risk factors caused by the current, hostile political climate in the United States against Muslims and immigrants, and by the propagation of harmful stereotypes. Thus, this study aimed to bring the experiences of South Asian American students to the forefront and better understand how to support these students' identity development through the theoretical lens of biculturalism theory and the CECE model. Students from three different university settings were recruited to participate in a survey assessing mental health outcomes, coping styles, and thoughts about their college environment. Site 1 was a medium-sized, private university, Site 2 was a large, public university, and Site 3 was a medium-sized community college. The survey was completed by 196 students across the three sites, and 25 students (who filled out the survey from Site 1) participated in a 30 to 35-minute interview discussing their bicultural identity including how the college environment supported their bicultural identity development. Study analyses yielded significant results in three major different areas: (a) conceptualization of biculturalism, (b) biculturalism and mental health, and (c) environmental support for bicultural identity development. In regards to the first area, two theoretical contributions were noted through qualitative analyses of student interviews through a combination of inductive and deductive coding. First, the conceptualization of biculturalism by South Asian American students spanned six different components rather than one singular definition as commonly conceptualized in previous literature. These six components were (a) active participation in cultural traditions, (b) internalization of cultural values, (c) interpersonal factors, (d) flux and connection with cultural background, (e) relations between cultural identities, and (f) comfort and pride. Second, three potential external factors that contribute to bicultural competence were identified -- exposure to cultural settings, parents' bicultural competence and physical appearance. Additionally, analyses revealed that a potential outcome of demonstrating high bicultural competence was self-awareness or a more developed bicultural identity. In the second area, quantitative analyses revealed significant relations between bicultural competence, mental health, and coping. More specifically, bicultural competence was significantly related to positive mental health outcomes. Those who had high bicultural competence were more likely to report utilizing the reflective, acceptance/reframing/striving and family support coping styles, and were less likely to report utilizing reactive coping than those with low bicultural competence. Additionally, there was an interaction occurring between bicultural competence, family support coping, and psychological well-being, such that those who had low bicultural competence benefitted the most from using extensive family support coping. Finally, in the area of institutional support for bicultural identity development, quantitative analyses demonstrated how the campus environment can support bicultural competence through the testing of the CECE model. A structural equation model including bicultural competence as a mediator in the CECE model demonstrated good fit for the data. This significant fit suggests that the CECE indicators contributed to bicultural competence, and that bicultural competence partially mediated the relation between the CECE indicators and outcome variables -- sense of school belongingness and academic self-efficacy. Interviews also revealed which indicators of the CECE model were currently utilized by the university and best supported students' bicultural identity development. These indicators were culturally relevant knowledge, meaningful cross-cultural engagement, cultural familiarity, and cultural validation. Altogether, these findings contribute to current theory and research on biculturalism, demonstrate the positive benefits of bicultural competence on mental health, and highlight how aspects of the campus environment can support students' bicultural identity development. Results support and add to biculturalism theory through identification of factors that can contribute to and result from bicultural competence. Additionally, six different categories that compose biculturalism were found, contributing to the current literature on biculturalism. Explicit relations between bicultural competence, coping styles, and mental health were revealed. Through testing the CECE model, potential areas for intervention in campus environments were identified to support South Asian American students' bicultural identity development.