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Multicultural Identity Integration versus Compartmentalization as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being for Third Culture Kids: The Mediational Role of Self-Concept Consistency and Self-Efficacy

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  • Magdalena Mosanya

    (Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jaracza 1, 00-378 Warsaw, Poland
    Psychology Department, Dubai Campus, Middlesex University London, Knowledge Park, Bldg. 16, Dubai P.O. Box 500697, United Arab Emirates)

  • Anna Kwiatkowska

    (Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Jaracza 1, 00-378 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Globalization has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of Third Culture Kids (TCKs), defined as being raised in a culture other than that of their parents (or the passport country) and meaningfully interacting with different cultures. Inconsistencies regarding the effect of multicultural and transient experiences on well-being exist in the psychological literature. We aimed to reveal associations between multicultural identity configurations (integration, categorization, compartmentalization) and well-being with the mediating role of self-concept consistency and self-efficacy. Participants ( n = 399, M = 21.2 years) were students at an international university in the United Arab Emirates. We used the Multicultural Identity Integration Scale, the Berne Questionnaire of Subjective Well-Being, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Self-Consistency Subscale from the Self-Construal Scale. The findings suggest that not merely exposure to diversity but also internal integration versus identity compartmentalization moderate the well-being of TCKs. We explained such mechanisms via partial mediation of self-consistency and self-efficacy. Our study contributed to a better understanding of the TCKs’ identity paradigm and pointed to multicultural identity integration as vital to TCKs’ well-being via its effect on self-consistency and self-efficacy. Conversely, identity compartmentalization decreased well-being via a reduction in the sense of self-consistency.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Mosanya & Anna Kwiatkowska, 2023. "Multicultural Identity Integration versus Compartmentalization as Predictors of Subjective Well-Being for Third Culture Kids: The Mediational Role of Self-Concept Consistency and Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-15, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3880-:d:1076431
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kuba Krys & Joonha Park & Agata Kocimska-Zych & Aleksandra Kosiarczyk & Heyla A. Selim & Agnieszka Wojtczuk-Turek & Brian W. Haas & Yukiko Uchida & Claudio Torres & Colin A. Capaldi & Michael Harris B, 2021. "Personal Life Satisfaction as a Measure of Societal Happiness is an Individualistic Presumption: Evidence from Fifty Countries," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2197-2214, June.
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