Cultural homelessness, multiminority status, ethnic identity development, and self esteem

This study presents a measure of “cultural homelessness” (Vivero & Jenkins, 1999), a construct developed to explain the experiences of some individuals having early-life immersion in more than one culture. Culturally homeless individuals report pervasive experiences of “being different”: mixed racial, ethnic, and/or cultural heritages within their families of origin and/or between their families and the surrounding sociocultural context, resulting in structural marginality; repeated subjection to contradictory cultural demands; and the acquisition of conflicting frames of reference for their behavior. Ambiguous physical presentation and the complexity of codeswitching across multiple cultural frames of reference at a young age may lead to confused or inappropriate social behavior, resulting in rejection and discrimination by both minority and majority groups, chronic feelings of “not belonging,” self-blame and shame, social and emotional isolation, cultural identity confusion, and the desire to find a “cultural home.” Empirical findings operationalizing this construct show associations of cultural homelessness criteria with gender; risk factors related to multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural status; ethnic identity; and self esteem.

► Cultural homelessness (CH) measure was developed and tested. ► CH risk factors: mixed race–ethnic–cultural heritage, cross-cultural immersion. ► Ambiguous appearance and codeswitching demands produce confused social behavior (CSB)? ► CSB yields rejection, social isolation, low ethnic identity attachment and self esteem? ► More CH: women, mixed race/culture, cross-national moves, multilingual, low EIDA and SE.