Who Am I? Migrant Workers’ Bicultural Identity Integration, Social Support, and Social Maladjustment

Abstract

I investigated 484 migrant workers’ bicultural identity integration, social support, and social maladjustment, to shed light on the cultural conflict they experience and determine whether this differs between men and women. Results revealed that men had significantly higher levels of social support than women did, and women had significantly higher levels of social maladjustment than men did; however, there were no significant gender differences in bicultural identity integration. Furthermore, cultural conflict and social maladjustment were negatively predicted by social support, whereas cultural conflict mediated the effect of social support on social maladjustment. My findings suggest that positive social support for migrant workers could enhance their bicultural identity integration, promote more effective social adaptation, and help eliminate gender differences in social maladjustment.