Dissertation Defence: What does happiness mean? Exploring perspective of bicultural immigrants
December 16 at 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Anne Tseu, supervised by Dr. Derrick Wirtz, will defend their dissertation titled “What does happiness mean? Exploring perspective of bicultural immigrants” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology – Clinical Psychology.
An abstract for Anne Tseu’s dissertation is included below.
Examinations are open to all members of the campus community as well as the general public. Please email derrick.wirtz@ubc.ca to receive the Zoom link for this exam.
Abstract
The global population of newcomer immigrants is steadily increasing, including within Canada. Despite this demographic shift, limited research has addressed how ongoing stressors and culturally rooted perspectives on happiness influence immigrants’ conceptualizations of their experiences of well-being. This study sought to use a mixed-methods approach to examine these relationships. Participants who identified as non-immigrants, newcomer immigrants, or first-generation immigrants completed an online questionnaire assessing demographics, subjective well-being, mental health, and perceived stigma related to seeking psychological support. Participants who identified as first-generation or newcomer immigrants also responded to additional measures on bicultural integration, acculturative stress, and subjective cultural fit. Analyses revealed that among immigrants, various aspects of subjective well-being were negatively associated with acculturative stress, bicultural integration, and perceptions of stigmatization for seeking psychological help, and positively associated with subjective cultural fit. In the qualitative phase, newcomer immigrants were interviewed about their country-of-origin, immigrant experience, and current understandings of happiness and well-being. Guided by interpretive description, thematic analysis identified four key themes: cultural values and norms, social support, uncertainty and overwhelm, and adaptation and identity. Overall, research findings highlight the influence of bicultural factors on immigrants’ conceptualizations of happiness and well-being. Implications for supporting newcomer immigrants throughout the settlement process in Canada are discussed.
