Flexibly navigating cultural diversity: How polycultural identity facilitates a meaningful and rich life

Abstract

Super-diverse societies, like Australia, offer individuals frequent opportunities to engage with cultural elements from a variety of sources in everyday life. While previous research suggests that a polycultural identity—the integration and blending of multiple diverse cultural elements into the self—is associated with positive personal and intercultural outcomes, the mechanisms underlying these benefits remain unclear. We theorised that polycultural identity functions as an adaptive response to super-diversity, emerging among individuals who demonstrate flexibility in perspective-taking, tolerance for contradiction, and a desire to broaden the self through social interactions. Data from a diverse Australian sample recruited via Prolific (N = 483) supported a path model in which polycultural identity mediated the relationship between two malleability-related variables and two well-being outcomes: flourishing and a psychologically rich life. This pattern suggests that polycultural identity may indeed represent a form of positive adaptation to diversity. We also examined links between polycultural identity and aspects of the self, specifically, true self, self-consistency, self-concept clarity, and personal identity strength. The findings indicate that polycultural identity may prioritise enhanced self-understanding and personal agency over a stable, clearly defined, and immutable sense of self. These results offer novel insights into the nature of polycultural identity as a potentially adaptive resource in environments that demand psychological flexibility.