Multicultural Identity Integration – the importance of the context of the family

Acculturation has been described as multidimensional process consisting of the confluence of different cultural practices, values and identifications. A growing body of research focuses on the understanding identifications of persons growing up with multiple cultural experiences and how these influences are negotiated within themselves. The current study draws on a qualitative design and involved a semi-structured interview and two exercises designed to stimulate reflection on cultural influences. We recruited eight female participants, aged between 21 and 25 years, who all grew up in Germany. Their parents originate from a wide range of countries of various cultural distance to Germany. Fairly homogenous in terms of socioeconomic status and educational background, the sample was very diverse in terms of cultural influences. Half of our participants grew up in mixed national families. Building on the multicultural identity integration research we were particularly interested whether participants identify with one cultural group over others (categorization), keep their influences separate (compartmentalization) or link their cultural influences (integration) and drivers for each outcome. The results point towards the important role of parents regarding cultural resources and practices. Our results point to categorization, if there is little or no contact to one parent, compartmentalization, if the relationship between parents is conflicted and integration if both parents engage equally in cultural maintenance. Families are the primary socialization unit and our findings suggest that parental commitment to transfer of cultural values and practices impacts the cultural identity configurations. Findings will be discussed in a systemic perspective of identity construal processes.