The double-edged sword of identification. The divergent effects of identification on acculturation stress among Ukrainian immigrants in Poland

Abstract

Research on the ‘social cure’ points to the many positive outcomes of having strong social identifications for minority and immigrant groups. At the same time, identification is a multi-faceted psychological phenomenon, combining three dimensions: ingroup centrality, ingroup affect, and ingroup ties. The main aim of the present study was to assess the divergent effects of these three facets of social identification on acculturation stress experienced by the members of two ethnolinguistic communities of Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. The study found that ingroup centrality was related to higher levels of acculturation stress, whereas positive ingroup affect and strong ingroup ties were related to lower acculturation stress. Additionally, the immigrant community who speak Ukrainian as their mother tongue reported stronger Ukrainian identification than those declaring Russian as their mother tongue, leading to lower levels of acculturation stress among members of this community. The present study suggests that those aspects of identification that promote exclusivity (ingroup centrality) can be maladaptive in the process of acculturation, whereas the more binding ones (ingroup ties and affect) facilitate acculturation.