Experiences and management of conflict in family and peer relationships of bicultural emerging adults

Migration has been increasing globally, which leads to an increased number of people who navigate more than one culture: biculturals. They must deal with the expectations of different values, beliefs, and ways of being that come with having multiple cultural backgrounds. Scholars have suggested that a key issue to healthy adjustment may be how these bicultural individuals integrate cultural identities, adopting values and practices from both cultural sides. In doing so, they may have to deal with different expectations of two important social contexts: friends and family. This challenge may influence their wellbeing and mental health. This interview study among bicultural emerging adults (EAs) in the United States (U.S.) was conducted to identify sources of conflict, management strategies, and how conflict influenced their wellbeing among their families and friends. 22 female and 9 male bicultural EAs participated in the interviews. The average age was 23. Results for two social contexts revealed unique and also similar sources of conflict, management strategies and influence of conflict and wellbeing. Certain types of conflict, especially with family, were more difficult to manage, whereas many conflicts with friends were considered misfits and differences rather than conflict. When bicultural EAs found effective ways to deal with these differences, for both family and friends, their wellbeing was not influenced as negatively.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Dvlpmt & Family Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Sahin, Esra

Contributors dc:contributor

• Larson, Reed W
• Ogolsky, Brian G
• Raffaelli, Marcela
• Ferguson, Gail M

• Biculturalism
• Emerging Adulthood
• Conflict

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Esra Sahin

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121330

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121330