The Relationship Between Cultural Identity, Family Support, Mental Health and Self-efficacy in Asian Migrant Children Living in Australia

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2022

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Ratnasingam, Monica

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Abstract

The aim of migration is to improve the quality of one's life. However, migrants often experience cultural differences, language barriers, socio-economic disadvantages, inadequate services in the host country, and racial prejudice. These experiences contribute to detrimental impacts on migrants' health. Migrant children are no exception. They experience typical developmental obstacles of puberty and identity formation in addition to novel migration related challenges of shifts in family relationships and identity confusion. Thus, migrant children are susceptible to stress, anxiety, and poor mental health. With a focus on Asian migrant children in Australia, this study aims to explore the relationship between cultural identity, family support, self-efficacy and mental health. 48,591 children aged 7 to 18 (M = 12.25 and SD = 2.71) attending Australian schools completed an online survey assessing mental health, self-efficacy, and family support, and were subsequently divided into groups based on combinations of self-reported birthplace and nationality. Moderation analyses were conducted to examine the role of family support in the relationships between cultural identity, mental health and self-efficacy. Results of this study demonstrated the relevance of dual cultural identity, nationality as a strong predictor of self-efficacy, and birthplace as a strong factor in determining mental health and self-efficacy. Low levels of family support were a moderator between cultural identity and mental health while high levels of family support were not a moderator for groups whose participants were born in Asia. However, between cultural identity and self-efficacy, varied levels of family support were significant across all groups. Keywords: cultural identity, family support, mental health, self-efficacy, Asian migrant children, Australia

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School of Psychology

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Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2022

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This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the author of this thesis and do not wish it to be made publicly available, or you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals

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