Objectives: In this study, we examined the association of ethnic and American identity with depression and anxiety and whether this relation is mediated by Bicultural Identity Integration. Method: We recruited racial and ethnic minority immigrant college students (N ϭ 766, M age ϭ 19.89, 60.4% women, 19.8% Black, 34.2% Hispanic, 36.6% Asian, and 9.4% other) who completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Participants answered questions relating to their ethnic and American identities, the degree to which these identities are compatible (i.e., Bicultural Identity Integration; BII), and presence of depression and anxiety symptoms. We conducted hierarchical linear regressions to test the direct relations between ethnic and American identity, BII, and depression and anxiety symptoms. We used bootstrapping to test the mediating role of BII. Results: Our analyses showed significant negative associations between American identity and BII cultural harmony with depression symptoms. BII cultural harmony was also negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. BII cultural harmony mediated the relations between American identity and both depression and anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: Perceived compatibility between ethnic and American identities is seemingly important for understanding the relation between national identity and mental health among racial and ethnic minority immigrants. However, longitudinal research designs would help assess causality in the relations found herein.

Strong ethnic group affiliation and connection may serve a protective function for psychosis risk in racially discriminating environments and contexts among REM young adults. The possible social benefits of strong ethnic identification among REM youth who face racial discrimination should be explored further in clinical high-risk studies.

Recent empirical research suggests that having a strong ethnic identity may be associated with reduced perceived stress. However, the relationship between perceived stress and ethnic identity has not been tested in a large and ethnically diverse sample of immigrants. This study utilized a multi-group latent class analysis of ethnic identity on a sample of first and second generation immigrants (N = 1603), to determine ethnic identity classifications, and their relation to perceived stress. A 4-class ethnic identity structure best fit the data for this immigrant sample, and the proportion within each class varied by ethnicity, but not immigrant generation. High ethnic identity was found to be protective against perceived stress, and this finding was invariant across ethnicity. This study extends the findings of previous research on the protective effect of ethnic identity against perceived stress to immigrant populations of diverse ethnic origins.

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