Intercultural Relations among Filipino Immigrants Living in Macau

Abstract

As society becomes increasingly diverse over time, the interaction among different cultural groups is an essential topic in intercultural research. Berry (2017) proposed three hypotheses of intercultural relations: multiculturalism, contact, and integration, in trying to answer the question, “How shall we all live together?”. Since most studies on intercultural relations are conducted in the context of Western culture, less empirical evidence about the three hypotheses examination is drawn from the plural societies other than Western ones. Therefore, this study evaluates three hypotheses on intercultural relations with regards to Filipino immigrants in Macau, and expects to provide new empirical research support for testing relevant hypotheses on intercultural relations and enrich the existing literature. A total of 233 community samples (58.5% females; Mage= 28.24) were recruited and employed scales from the MIRIPS questionnaire to collect data on co-ethnic contact, host contact, perceived discrimination, acculturation strategies, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Path analysis revealed that: (1) With respect to the multicultural hypothesis, perceived discrimination was positively related with integration and separation; (2) With respect to the contact hypothesis, co-ethnic contact was positively related with perceived discrimination; co-ethnic contact was positively related with integration and separation, and host contact was positively related with assimilation; (3) With respect to the integration hypothesis, integration was the most preferred strategy for the participants and was associated with better psychological adaptation (termed self-esteem and life satisfaction). These findings partially support the validity of the hypotheses. Finally, future research directions and empirical implications are discussed.