Acculturation mode, identity variation, and psychosocial adjustment

The hypothesis that it is the variability of a person's identity-as opposed to the particular combinations of identities-that produces stress during the acculturation process was examined. Two hundred ninety-five native Anglophone students at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, provided demographic data and completed the following measures: the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Beck, 1972), Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (1965), the Situated Identity Measure (Clement & Noels, 1992), and the Psychological Stress Measure (Lemyre, Tessier, & Fillion, 1990). Results of ANOVAs contrasting level of identification and variability of identification indicated that an exclusively Anglophone identity was related to a higher level of depression, lower self-esteem, and a higher level of stress than the other modes of acculturation, but only when the variability in identity with the English group was high. Thus, the participants who identified strongly with the English group but were not committed to this identity experienced more psychological adjustment problems.