Cultural Identity Formation and Inner Conflicts

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Individual’s Description
Cultural Characteristics: American Indian
Pacific Islander
Western Culture and Pacific Christianity
Identity Formation
Inner Identity Conflicts
Cultural Competence and Psychology
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Psychological problems may be interconnected with inner cultural conflicts and unsuccessful integration of several cultures in one personality. Even if there are no visible reasons, they may emerge due to those personality conflicts. In that way, to help one to cope with their mental issues, it would be helpful to become familiar with their cultural background and see how to help them cope with possible inner conflicts.

The Individual’s Description

Steve is a 35-year-old unmarried man with a mixed American Indian and Pacific Islander cultural background. His mother has a Native American origin, and his father is a Hawaiian: they lived in Hawaii for several decades after the marriage. He lives in Hawaii with his family, has a college-level education, and works as an engineer. He suffers from depression, which has become severe in the last year and started to influence his life heavily. There are no visible reasons for that, as Steve’s relationships with family and relatives are excellent, he is delighted with his job, and no similar episodes were present in his life earlier.

Cultural Characteristics: American Indian

Two cultures were present in Steve’s life from birth, and he unconsciously connected those cultural peculiarities in his personality. It begins in adolescence when a teen starts to think about people and events around them and seek their position in those events: it is a biological, cognitive, and social process (Crocetti, 2017). One of the main aspects of the Native American culture is a deep connection with nature and the environment in general (Bisbal & Jones, 2019). Thus, it is highly damaged when industrialization destroys nature, resulting in mental health problems in those who bear it. In Steve’s personality, the American Indian cultural background is present only in the form of family lore, told by his mother; no Native American language is spoken in the family. Despite his admiration in this culture, he had never tried to know more about his Native American heritage, and it seems that he suppressed this interest.

Pacific Islander

The culture of Pacific Islanders is very diverse, but similar aspects may be elucidated; in the case of Steve, it is mostly a Hawaii culture. Similar to the Native American culture, there is a focus on the connection with nature. The most important aspect is the development of the whole and positive mental state, called Aloha in the Hawaiian language; this principle was actively followed in Steve’s family (Reyhner, 2017). Another compound of this culture is the Hawaiian language, which was widely spoken at his home, and he still honors it despite generally preferring English as a universal language.

Western Culture and Pacific Christianity

While two cultures formed Steve’s identity, one cannot ignore the Western mass culture and Christianity present as a background both in his environment and at home. His family is formally Christian: they often mention God and pray to Him sometimes, although they usually do not visit a church. Pacific Christianity is an interesting phenomenon: it united various local beliefs, which were merged with Christian dogmas into a unique mixture (McDougall, 2020). It was the case of Steve’s family: he was never raised inside Christian dogma, and God was mostly thought of similarly as the Aloha principle. The Western mass culture is the constant environment of Steve’s family and Steve, in particular, who feels themselves Americanized (Lilgendahl et al., 2018). It is mostly present in the form of new movies, the English language, U.S. laws, and the American lifestyle in general.

Identity Formation

Steve’s identity was formed in his multicultural family in Hawaii as a combination of American Indian and Hawaiian family lore, Hawaiian language, Christianity, and contemporary American culture. There are various types of culture mixing: for example, a co-presence when several cultures are present in the environment during identity development or fusion when a single culture is formed from several ones (Cheon, 2018). In the case of Steve, it was a co-presence at home: their family speaks a mixture of Hawaiian and English without preferences, and his Native American mother talked about her culture, despite her remembering only a bit about it. Meanwhile, Hawaiian culture was present much more: they spoke the Hawaiian language, followed the local beliefs and practices, and honored Hawaiian traditions. Bicultural identity integration is the construction of a stable personality based on different cultural backgrounds (Crocetti, 2017; Lilgendahl et al., 2018; Oppenheim-Weller & Kurman, 2017). This process is crucial for everybody influenced by several cultures, especially if they contradict each other to some extent or may suppress each other.

Inner Identity Conflicts

Cultural conflicts may be present not only between two people but inside the mind of a single personality as a result of unsuccessful bicultural identity integration. As mentioned, when two or more cultures merge in a single individual, it may lead to internal conflicts, especially when cultural values are not fulfilled (Cheon, 2018; Oppenheim-Weller & Kurman, 2017). In the case of Steve, in addition to American Indian and Hawaiian cultures, a third culture is, in fact, present: a modern Western mass culture along with Christianity.

In that way, several points of inner conflicts may be figured out in Steve’s case. At first, there is a conflict between Pacific and Native American cultures: while they are similar in many ways, the Pacific culture is present in his life much more than Native American. This discrepancy may be harmful, as he feels that one culture suppresses another. The three-stage identity formation and maintenance model may be helpful in this case (Crocetti, 2017). Reconsidering his commitment to both cultures, Steve may decide how he wants to express them and, thus, integrate them in a single personality.

Second is the conflict between both native cultures and the Western mass culture. It is the medium in which Steve lives, and it has become his main cultural marker, as he uses English daily, watches modern movies, and lives a typical Western lifestyle (Cheon, 2018). It may lead to the unconscious repression of his native cultures, creating feelings of loneliness and desperation. Language is a very important element of self-identification; thus, practicing the Hawaii language will be helpful for Steve to balance his identity (Reyhner, 2017). This conflict may be solved by analyzing the lifestyle and deciding what may be changed to fit his personality better.

The third point is the conflict between Christianity and the native beliefs that were present in his family, such as the principle of Aloha. On the one hand, Christianity is a monotheistic religion that suppresses other beliefs as paganism. However, on the other hand, it became a medium to unite various beliefs and views into a unique Pacific Christianity (McDougall, 2020). A possible conflict of beliefs may be solved by understanding that there is no pressure to obey Christian dogmas now. He may freely learn more about Christianity and his native beliefs and decide how he wants to combine them into his own beliefs.

Cultural Competence and Psychology

As one may see, the reason for his depression may be his inner identity conflict and the inability to integrate his bicultural identity. A culturally competent psychologist may help Steve integrate the two native cultures in him successfully. For example, whether he has his cultural values fulfilled may be checked and, if not, how he may reach them (Oppenheim-Weller & Kurman, 2017). There are several ways to fulfill values, such as finding information about the native culture and communicating with representatives of the culture, including relatives, about the cultural beliefs and their implementation in everyday life. Cultural background and environment are an important medium that often contains reasons for mental issues, and by analyzing them, a psychologist may find clues for solving those issues (Gopalkrishnan, 2018; Tam & Milfont, 2020). Lastly, the concept of the self in non-Western cultures, such as the Hawaiian Aloha principle, not only increases the overall psychological proficiency but facilitates the treatment of those cultures’ representatives. (Kirmayer et al., 2018). Thus, cultural competence is important, as it allows one to help other cultures’ representatives and see those aspects of the situation that are invisible otherwise.

Conclusion

Steve has a mixed cultural identity, and his depression is internal conflicts between his cultural backgrounds. There are three main points of conflict: between Pacific and Native American cultures, while the former is present to a greater extent, between native cultures and modern Western ones, and between Christianity and local beliefs. By analyzing his identity and lifestyle, Steve may understand what he should learn and do to decrease those conflicts and integrate his cultural identity. A culturally competent psychologist can help Steve do this by showing aspects of those conflicts and guiding him to their resolutions.

References

Bisbal, G. A., & Jones, C. E. (2019). Responses of Native American cultural heritage to changes in environmental setting. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 117718011984772. Web.

Cheon, B. K. (2018). The diversity of cultural diversity: Psychological consequences of different patterns of intercultural contact and mixing. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 22(1), 93–105. Web.

Crocetti, E. (2017). Identity formation in adolescence: The dynamic of forming and consolidating identity commitments. Child Development Perspectives, 11(2), 145–150. Web.

Gopalkrishnan, N. (2018). Cultural diversity and mental health: Considerations for policy and practice. Frontiers in Public Health, 6(179). Web.

Kirmayer, L. J., Adeponle, A., & Dzokoto, V. A. A. (2018). Varieties of global psychology: Cultural diversity and constructions of the self. Global Psychologies, 21–37. Web.

Lilgendahl, J. P., Benet-Martinez, V., Bishop, M., Gilson, K., Festa, L., Levenson, C., & Rosenblum, R. (2018). “So now, I wonder, what am I?”: A narrative approach to bicultural identity integration. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(10), 1596–1624. Web.

McDougall, D. (2020). Beyond rupture: Christian culture in the Pacific. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 31(2), 203–209. Web.

Oppenheim-Weller, S., & Kurman, J. (2017). Value fulfillment and bicultural identity integration. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(3), 267–286. Web.

Reyhner, J. (2017). Affirming identity: The role of language and culture in American Indian education. Cogent Education, 4(1). Web.

Tam, K.-P., & Milfont, T. L. (2020). Towards cross-cultural environmental psychology: A state-of-the-art review and recommendations. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 71, 101474. Web.

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