The Relationship of Acculturation Strategies to Resilience: The Moderating Impact of Social Support among Qiang Ethnicity following the 2008 Chinese Earthquake.

Abstract

International research has mostly confirmed the positive association between acculturation strategies and resilience in ethnic groups, but the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the relationships are still under-investigated. The present study aimed to investigate the associations between acculturation strategies (based on two cultural identities) and resilience of 898 Qiang ethnicity volunteers (mean age = 29.5), especially exploring the mediating and moderating effects of personality, spiritual belief and social support on the relationship between acculturation strategy (using two cultural identities as latent variables in model analysis) and resilience following the occurrence of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, taking such mechanisms into account. Results were as follows: (1) All variable presented significant positive correlations; (2) Consistent with the mediating hypotheses, personality and spiritual beliefs played a partial mediating role in the relationship between two cultural identities and resilience; (3) High or low level of perceived social support had a moderating effect on cultural identities and resilience; (4) The integration strategy was the most optimal style to promote the development of resilience, but marginalization was the least effective style.