Differentiation of self as a predictor of Asian‐American immigrants’ perceptions of cultural harmony

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine whether Bowen's () construct, differentiation of self, would predict cultural harmony (Benet‐Martínez and Haritatos, ) among Asian‐American immigrants. The study was a correlational design, with a sample of 154 adults who identified as first‐generation Asian Americans and had lived in the US for at least five years. Results of regression analyses showed that greater overall differentiation of self, measured by the Differentiation of Self Inventory‐Revised (DSI‐R; Skowron and Schmitt, ), had a positive significant association with participants’ perceptions of cultural harmony. That is, highly differentiated individuals perceived their host and ethnic cultural orientations as compatible rather than in constant conflict. Furthermore, analyses of the subscales of the DSI‐R showed there were differences across the four underlying dimensions of differentiation of self in terms of associations with cultural harmony. Implications for theory, clinical practice, and future research are included.Practitioner points A lack of self‐differentiation may be indicative of struggles to achieve identity integration among first‐generation Asian Americans Exploring the pattern of emotional cutoff, fusion with others, emotional reactivity and ability to take an I‐position potentially decreases conflict between cultural orientations The use of family diagram may help increase one's ability to balance two cultural orientations