The Challenge of Being both Local and Global: Bicultural Identity Integration among Indigenous Ladakhi Youth in Delhi

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Challenge of Being both Local and Global

T2 - Bicultural Identity Integration among Indigenous Ladakhi Youth in Delhi

AU - Ozer, Simon

AU - Benet-Martínez, Veronica

AU - Schwartz, Seth

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2021.

PY - 2021/8

Y1 - 2021/8

N2 - Ladakhi emerging adults have been exposed to cultural globalization through interaction with tourists and media, as well as through prolonged stays at globalized university contexts in major Indian cities. This globalization process has been hypothesized as detrimental to psychological health, in part because it poses the challenge of integrating a local Ladakhi identity with a global Western cultural identity. In the present study, we examined how exposure to cultural globalization and bicultural identity integration (tendency to bring together one’s local and global identities) moderates the positive links of Ladakhi and Western cultural orientation with psychological well-being among Ladakhis studying in Delhi (N = 196). We found that exposure to cultural globalization did not affect the positive association between cultural orientation and psychological well-being. Moreover, bicultural harmony and blendedness were associated with a weaker relationship between Ladakhi cultural orientation and psychological well-being and, additionally, a stronger association between Western cultural orientation and well-being. Our results highlight contemporary challenges related to being both local and global in a culturally globalized context.

AB - Ladakhi emerging adults have been exposed to cultural globalization through interaction with tourists and media, as well as through prolonged stays at globalized university contexts in major Indian cities. This globalization process has been hypothesized as detrimental to psychological health, in part because it poses the challenge of integrating a local Ladakhi identity with a global Western cultural identity. In the present study, we examined how exposure to cultural globalization and bicultural identity integration (tendency to bring together one’s local and global identities) moderates the positive links of Ladakhi and Western cultural orientation with psychological well-being among Ladakhis studying in Delhi (N = 196). We found that exposure to cultural globalization did not affect the positive association between cultural orientation and psychological well-being. Moreover, bicultural harmony and blendedness were associated with a weaker relationship between Ladakhi cultural orientation and psychological well-being and, additionally, a stronger association between Western cultural orientation and well-being. Our results highlight contemporary challenges related to being both local and global in a culturally globalized context.

KW - Ladakh

KW - acculturation

KW - bicultural identity integration

KW - biculturalism

KW - cultural identity

KW - globalization

U2 - 10.1177/00220221211025760

DO - 10.1177/00220221211025760

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0022-0221

VL - 52

SP - 680

EP - 700

JO - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

JF - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

IS - 7

ER -