Family Socialization, Cultural Identity Formation, and Spirituality as Protective Factors for Arab American Adolescents’ Perceived Discrimination and Acculturative Stress

Abstract

Cultural identity formation has important implications for the psychological development of individuals, especially for developing adolescents. In particular, the cultural identity of Arab American adolescents has not been well studied despite the sociopolitical tensions this population may experience in post-9/11 America. This study explored the factors related to the cultural identity formation of Arab American adolescents, specifically the relationships between family socialization (i.e., how much the family has taught and exposed children to their heritage, cultural practices, and cultural values) and cultural identity formation (i.e., the degree to which adolescents identify themselves as having a bicultural identity or an Arab cultural identity). Moreover, to investigate adolescents’ experience of sociopolitical tensions, the study examined the relationships between participants’ cultural identity and their ratings of perceived discrimination and acculturative stress as moderated by spirituality. Levels of spirituality and bicultural identity showed protective effects against participants’ experiencing acculturative stress, but not perceived discrimination experiences. The combination of experiencing family cultural socialization, having high levels of biculturalism, reporting high spiritual existential wellbeing predicted experiencing less acculturative stress experiences. Family cultural socialization had the most robust relationships across variables suggesting the influence of family processes on the lives of participants. Interesting findings were found when spirituality was explored dimensionally signifying that the sample views spiritual existential wellbeing as a protective factor rather than general spirituality. The participants’ cultural context was taken into consideration and discussed. Gender differences were also explored. The findings of this study have important social as well as clinical implications for understanding the cultural identity of Arab American adolescents and its related factors. These implications as well as future directions are discussed.