Race Matters for Black Canadians: The Intersection of Acculturation and Racial Identity in Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

Drawing mainly from psychological theories, the present study examines the potential indirect effect of cultural orientation on life satisfaction in a sample of first- and second-generation Black Caribbean and African emerging adults (M _age = 21.18, SD = 3.53) in Canada. Participants (N = 187) reported their mainstream White culture orientation, heritage culture orientation, and mainstream Black culture orientation, in addition to racial public regard and life satisfaction. Consistent with the hypotheses, the results indicated that racial public regard drives the relation between White culture orientation and life satisfaction, but not the relation between heritage culture orientation and life satisfaction. These findings suggest that, for Black Canadian immigrants, both heritage culture and racial group memberships are significant; the latter connects their orientation toward White culture with life satisfaction.