Bicultural Identity Integration of Transracial Adoptees: Antecedents and Outcomes

A number of studies have focused on Bicultural Identity Integration (BII, Haritatos & Benet-Martinez, 2005) to explore whether and how migrants and ethnic minorities who experience multiple cultural belongings perceive their two cultural backgrounds as compatible (vs. conflictual) and to study the impact of these differences on their psychosocial well-being. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research on BII among transracial adoptees, who also experience unique conditions of dual cultural belonging. Relying on a sample of 170 Italian transracially adopted adolescents (aged between 15 and 25) and both of their parents the aim of the present study was twofold: to explore whether and the extent to which BII is related to adoptees’ psychosocial well-being; and to analyze the influence of specific family and social identity variables on BII. Multivariate analyses using Structural Equation Modeling indicated that that adoptive filiation (i.e., belonging to the adoptive family) and parents’ cultural socialization strategies are significant protective factors for adoptees’ psychosocial well-being, and that this relation is mediated by differences in BII.