Advancing Multiculturalism in Positive Psychology: Cultivating Identity and Wellbeing from Seeds of Adversity

Abstract

I examine how experiences of adversity contribute to growth among marginalized groups. This aligns with post adversarial growth theory, which highlights how people perceive psychological growth (i.e., improved social relationships, changed sense of self, and a new sense of what matters in life) after struggling with adverse life events. I specifically examine a changed sense of self through development of a hybrid multicultural identity (HMI) and a new sense of what matters in life among resettled refugees in North America. Studies 1 and 2 focus on how people can grow from adverse experiences to form new understandings of themselves- specifically as a hybrid multicultural. HMI distinguishes itself from additive conceptualizations of multicultural identity in that it is a superordinate identity, unifying people from different cultural backgrounds into a single, shared identity. Study 1 reveals the three primary categories of precursors for the development of a multicultural identity: personal multicultural experiences, perceptions of macro-level marginalization, and culturally related interpersonal experiences. Additionally, on the basis of explicitly and implicitly observed relationships between each of the variables in Study 1, a detailed model of HMI development is presented in Study 1. Study 2 tested this model using structural equation modeling. The measurement model had good model fit (CFI= .961; TLI = .958, RMSEA = .054, and SRMR = .057) and the factor loadings were acceptable. The structural model also had good model fit (CFI = .968; TLI = .966, RMSEA = .045, and SRMR = .072) and the pathway estimates largely confirmed the model presented in Study 1. Further, Study 2’s analysis highlights the importance of culture mixing as the strongest individual predictor of HMI. This work advances current knowledge of HMI development by focusing on the development of HMI through the participants’ experience of their social contexts. I specifically emphasize the developmental importance of (1) social invalidation and other negative appraisals of their social contexts and (2) the degree to which participants experienced culture mixing. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrate how people can grow from adversity to create new life philosophies for themselves. I studied this topic using the combined data of a photovoice project with adolescent refugees and an interview project with adult refugees resettled in North America. Across these samples which varied in several dimensions including religion, age, ethnicity, and time of resettlement, a common model of wellbeing was stressed: ontological security (the confidence in the presence, continuity, and order of the things one finds important in life). We found that ontological security in the refugee context included peace of body, peace of mind, rootedness in one’s self, and rootedness in meaningful connections. The participants’ experience with instability and insecurity influenced their value of this wellbeing dimension, however it was apparent that ontological security remained a central aspect of wellbeing even when refugees perceived their lives to be currently stable. On the basis of this work and previous work that has stressed the importance of ontological security, I propose that ontological security is a model of wellbeing, alongside current models of subjective and psychological wellbeing rather than merely a precondition for these ‘higher forms’ of wellbeing.