Benet-Martınez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII): Components and psychological antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73, 1015 – 1050. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00337.x

The authors examine the topic of bicultural identity. They pursue the following aims:

(1) unpack the construct of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII)—the degree to which a bicultural individual perceives her/his two cultural identities as “compatible” versus “oppositional,”

(2) Identify the personality (Big Five) and acculturation predictors of BII (acculturation stress, acculturation attitudes, bicultural competence).

The study measured acculturation stress and bicultural competence with new instruments developed for the purposes of the study. In a sample of Chinese American biculturals, the authors found that variations in BII do not define a uniform phenomenon, as commonly implied in the literature. Instead, it encompassed two separate independent constructs: perceptions of distance (vs. overlap) and perceptions of conflict (vs. harmony) between one’s two cultural identities or orientations.

The results of the study show that cultural distance and cultural conflict have different personality, acculturation, and socioeconomic factors that lead to them.