Exploring Individual Differences in the Relationship Between Cultural Identity Processes and Well-Being

Abstract

Although studies have explored how cultural identity impacts young people’s daily lives, these studies have exclusively focused on daily variability in cultural identity salience, overlooking daily variability in the underlying developmental processes. In the present study, we used a 12-day daily assessment conducted with 873 Hispanic college students to address these gaps by examining daily variability in ethnic and U.S. belonging, exploring between-person variability in the daily associations of ethnic and U.S. belonging with well-being, and identifying whether centrality predicts between-person variability in daily levels of these processes and their relation to well-being. Results indicated significant changes in ethnic and U.S belonging on a daily basis. Despite the positive average within-person associations between ethnic belonging and well-being, results indicated significant variability. Finally, centrality also significantly predicted between-person variability in the daily levels of these cultural processes and the within-person associations. Implications for future research are discussed.