Facing the unpredictable: how Bicultural Identity Integration affects biculturals’ response to the Covid-19 pandemic

Research on biculturalism has recently focused on the concept of bicultural identity integration (BII), namely the degree to which bicultural individuals perceive their cultural identities as compatible and overlapping. BII has been found to be positively associated with psychological adjustment. Based on this evidence, the present study aimed at investigating whether BII could also be related to how bicultural individuals cope with emergency situations (specifically, Covid-19 emergency). Four hundred and fourteen bicultural individuals residing in Italy participated in an online study. Participants completed a questionnaire including measures of BII, psychological adjustment and Covid-19-related distress. Results found that while blendedness was only weakly negatively related to Covid-19-related distress, perceived harmony was strongly and negatively associated to stress linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the relation between perceived harmony and Covid- 19-related distress was fully mediated by psychological adjustment. Implications of results will be discussed.