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For the full conditions see the Conditions for Authors and the Conditions for Website Use. ISSN 1664-8714 ISBN 978-2-88945-429-7 DOI 10.3389/978-2-88945-429-7 About Frontiers Frontiers is more than just an open-access publisher of scholarly articles: it is a pioneering approach to the world of academia, radically improving the way scholarly research is managed. The grand vision of Frontiers is a world where all people have an equal opportunity to seek, share and generate knowledge. Frontiers provides immediate and permanent online open access to all its publications, but this alone is not enough to realize our grand goals. Frontiers Journal Series The Frontiers Journal Series is a multi-tier and interdisciplinary set of open-access, online journals, promising a paradigm shift from the current review, selection and dissemination processes in academic publishing. 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Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: researchtopics@frontiersin.org 2 March 2018 | M ultiple Identities M anagement Frontiers in Psychology MULTIPLE IDENTITIES MANAGEMENT Image: Vasilius/Shutterstock.com Topic Editors: Clara Kulich, University of Geneva, Switzerland Soledad de Lemus, University of Granada, Spain Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, University of Gdan ’ sk, Poland Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi, University of Geneva, Switzerland In this ebook, a collection of 18 papers presents empirical research, as well as novel theoretical considerations, on how multiple identities are being managed by the individuals holding them. The papers draw on theories from social psychology in the context of the social identity approach. The first chapter presents eight papers on different types of multiple identity configurations in a variety of contexts, and the costs and benefits of these configurations for the individual (e.g., well-being). The second chapter gives insights on how conflict between multiple identities is managed by individuals. And the final chapter analyses how multiple identities impact intra- group and intergroup relations. Citation: Kulich, C., de Lemus, S., Kosakowska-Berezecka, N., Lorenzi-Cioldi, F., eds. (2018). Multiple Identities Management. Lausanne: Frontiers Media. doi: 10.3389/978-2-88945-429-7 3 March 2018 | M ultiple Identities M anagement Frontiers in Psychology Table of Contents 05 Editorial: Multiple Identities Management: Effects on (of) Identification, Attitudes, Behavior and Well-Being Clara Kulich, Soledad de Lemus, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka and Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi 1. Multiple Identity Configurations – Benefit or Cost? 09 Conceptualizing the Dynamics between Bicultural Identification and Personal Social Networks Lydia Repke and Verónica Benet-Martínez 28 Self-consistency in Bicultural Persons: Dialectical Self-beliefs Mediate the Relation between Identity Integration and Self-consistency Rui Zhang, Kimberly A. Noels, Richard N. Lalonde and S. J. Salas 42 Counter-Stereotypes and Feminism Promote Leadership Aspirations in Highly Identified Women Carola Leicht, Małgorzata A. Gocłowska, Jolien A. Van Breen, Soledad de Lemus and Georgina Randsley de Moura 54 Multiple Social Identities Enhance Health Post-Retirement Because They Are a Basis for Giving Social Support Niklas K. Steffens, Jolanda Jetten, Catherine Haslam, Tegan Cruwys and S. Alexander Haslam 65 The More (Social Group Memberships), the Merrier: Is This the Case for Asians? Melissa X.-L. Chang, Jolanda Jetten, Tegan Cruwys, Catherine Haslam and Nurul Praharso 82 Multiple Group Membership and Well-Being: Is There Always Strength in Numbers? Anders L. Sønderlund, Thomas A. Morton and Michelle K. Ryan 102 Women (Do Not) Belong Here: Gender-Work Identity Conflict among Female Police Officers Jenny Veldman, Loes Meeussen, Colette Van Laar and Karen Phalet 114 Stereotype Threat and Perceptions of Family-Friendly Policies among Female Employees Courtney von Hippel, Elise K. Kalokerinos and Hannes Zacher 2. How to Solve Multiple Identity Conflict 124 Similarly Torn, Differentially Shorn? The Experience and Management of Conflict between Multiple Roles, Relationships, and Social Categories Janelle M. Jones and Michaela Hynie 4 March 2018 | M ultiple Identities M anagement Frontiers in Psychology 140 Does Identity Incompatibility Lead to Disidentification? Internal Motivation to Be a Group Member Acts As Buffer for Sojourners from Independent Cultures, Whereas External Motivation Acts As Buffer for Sojourners from Interdependent Cultures Christina Matschke and Jennifer Fehr 150 Combining Gender, Work, and Family Identities: The Cross-Over and Spill-Over of Gender Norms into Young Adults’ Work and Family Aspirations Loes Meeussen, Jenny Veldman and Colette Van Laar 3. Multiple Identities, Intragroup and Intergroup Relations 161 The Role of Indian Caste Identity and Caste Inconsistent Norms on Status Representation Sindhuja Sankaran, Maciek Sekerdej and Ulrich von Hecker 175 “I Want, Therefore I Am” – Anticipated Upward Mobility Reduces Ingroup Concern Marion Chipeaux, Clara Kulich, Vincenzo Iacoviello and Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi 189 Flexible Loyalties: How Malleable Are Bicultural Loyalties? Andy Y. Chiou and Brittany K. Mercado 197 A Multiple Identity Approach to Gender: Identification with Women, Identification with Feminists, and Their Interaction Jolien A. van Breen, Russell Spears, Toon Kuppens and Soledad de Lemus 218 National Identification Counteracts the Sedative Effect of Positive Intergroup Contact on Ethnic Activism Adrienne Pereira, Eva G. T. Green and Emilio Paolo Visintin 228 ‘The More We Stand For – The More We Fight For’: Compatibility and Legitimacy in the Effects of Multiple Social Identities Maria Chayinska, Anca Minescu and Craig McGarty 238 Bridges or Barriers? Conceptualization of the Role of Multiple Identity Gateway Groups in Intergroup Relations Aharon Levy, Tamar Saguy, Eran Halperin and Martijn van Zomeren EDITORIAL published: 22 December 2017 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02258 Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org December 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 2258 | Edited and reviewed by: Anat Bardi, Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom *Correspondence: Clara Kulich Clara.Kulich@unige.ch Specialty section: This article was submitted to Personality and Social Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 16 November 2017 Accepted: 12 December 2017 Published: 22 December 2017 Citation: Kulich C, de Lemus S, Kosakowska-Berezecka N and Lorenzi-Cioldi F (2017) Editorial: Multiple Identities Management: Effects on (of) Identification, Attitudes, Behavior and Well-Being. Front. Psychol. 8:2258. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02258 Editorial: Multiple Identities Management: Effects on (of) Identification, Attitudes, Behavior and Well-Being Clara Kulich 1 *, Soledad de Lemus 2 , Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka 3 and Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi 1 1 Social Psychology, Section of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 2 Department of Psychology, Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento, University of Granada, Granada, Spain, 3 Division of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Psychology of Gender, Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland Keywords: multiple identities, social identification, dissonance, coping, conflict, well-being Editorial on the Research Topic Multiple Identities Management: Effects on (of) Identification, Attitudes, Behavior and Well-Being Individuals belong to gender, ethnic, or national groups; they can be categorized depending on their religious beliefs, or the activities they are involved in such as professions, political groups, etc. These multiple social identities differ considerably in the way they are acquired (e.g., inherited or achieved through accomplishments), in their relative stability or malleability, and in the value which they assign to the individual (e.g., low vs. high social status). Inherited identities (based on gender, skin color, class background, etc.), and in some cases achieved ones (e.g., through migration or professional mobility), cannot be voluntarily dismissed. Although inherited and achieved social identities tend to correspond in their value and content over time (Bourdieu, 1979; Ridgeway and Erickson, 2000), identities can differ in status and value, and create distressing experiences which call for a coping strategy in order to increase identity fit (e.g., Deaux and Greenwood, 2013; Turner-Zwinkels et al., 2015). However, there is also evidence that multiple identities may provide a pathway to gain social support and positively influence individuals’ well-being (Walter et al., 2015). When individuals face conflicting identities in terms of status or value, they use different coping strategies. Individuals may attempt to discard one of the identities, use in turn one or the other, or integrate or fuse both identities (e.g., Roccas and Brewer, 2002; Deaux, 2008; Shields, 2008; Berry and Sabatier, 2011). Identities may also change or be newly developed in particular contexts (e.g., politicized, opinion-based, or solidarity-based groups; McGarty et al., 2009). The type of strategy is also likely to have an impact on well-being, as it has the potential to reduce dissonance and distress (e.g., Sampson, 1969; Jetten et al., 2012). Research shows that upward (Derks et al., 2011; Kulich et al., 2015) and downward (Jetten et al., 2015) individual mobility impinge on attitudes and support for other ingroup members. Moreover, conditions such as situational threats to a social identity (e.g., Kosakowska-Berezecka et al., 2016), as well as the type of integration culture (e.g., colorblindness vs. multiculturalism) moderate whether multiple identities produce positive or negative outcomes (Wilton et al., 2015). In this Research Topic, we focus on contexts in which two or more social categories are simultaneously salient. Eighteen papers present empirical research, as well as novel theoretical considerations, to understand how such multiple identities are being managed by the individuals 5 Kulich et al. Editorial: Multiple Identities Management holding them. We were particularly interested in the positive and negative outcomes they bring for individuals’ well-being, and in the importance of multiple group memberships for intergroup relations. In the following, we provide a brief discussion of, and structure for, the main themes included in this Research Topic. MULTIPLE IDENTITY CONFIGURATIONS—BENEFIT OR COST? Identity configurations take many different forms depending on contextual factors. Looking at the antecedents of different identity configurations, Repke and Benet-Martínez highlight that the structure of an immigrant’s social network and interconnection of same ethnicity (rather than the number of co- ethnic and host individuals in the networks) play a significant role in predicting whether individuals develop coexisting cultural identifications, conflicting cultural identifications, or a mixture of the two. Belonging to a number of groups may be beneficial, as group membership enhances individuals’ well-being and other positive outcomes. Zhang et al. show across diverse groups of bicultural Canadians that having an integrated bicultural identity is related to being more consistent across roles and more congruent and less ambiguous about self-evaluations. Thus, both content of heritage culture and the dynamic process of integrating cultural identities affect self-consistency among biculturals. Levels of identification with multiple groups affect the group members’ performances or preferences. Leicht et al. show that women are more likely to manifest leadership aspirations in a work scenario when they indicate simultaneous high identifications with women and with feminism, but only in a context where gender counter-stereotypes are made salient (as compared to a stereotypical context). Moreover, cross-sectional work by Steffens et al. suggests that multiple social identities are positively related with better health and increased well-being in retirement because they allow individuals to both give and receive social support. However, these positive outcomes are often contingent on specific conditions. In this way, Chang et al.’s studies and meta-analysis propose that, although for Europeans multiple group memberships have a number of positive outcomes, for Asians they do not convey better well-being because receiving social support is perceived as burdening others. It is thus uncomfortable for Asians to draw from such psychological resources. In accordance, Sønderlund et al. argue, based on correlational studies, that specific features of the groups, such as their social value and visibility to others, need to be considered beyond the number of identities. Indeed, low value of highly visible identities makes them more of a burden than a benefit for individuals’ well-being. Multiple group memberships may further engender dissonance and threat and thus be troubling for the individual. Identities that differ in value and content are particularly common among members of inherited low status groups in work situations. For instance, Veldman et al. find that female police officers’ experience of being gender-dissimilar from the work-team members is associated with gender-work identity conflict. As a consequence, female police officers identify less with their team, leading to negative work and health outcomes such as lower work satisfaction and motivation, higher burnout, and turnover intentions. von Hippel et al. further show that the incompatibility of female gender and work identities impacts on attitudes toward family-friendly policies. They demonstrate that women suffering from stereotype threat perceive such policies as having negative career consequences—although paradoxically they are still more inclined to use them. HOW TO SOLVE MULTIPLE IDENTITY CONFLICT When identity conflict occurs, different identity strategies serve to reduce this inconsistency. Jones and Hynie focus on the experience and management of conflict between different types of multiple identities: roles (e.g., being a student), relational (being a friend), or social identities (nationality). They suggest four strategies of identity management: reconciliation, retreat, realignment, and reflection. Matschke and Fehr analyze the impact of incompatibilities between an established social identity and a potential new social identity in an acculturation context. They suggest that lack of compatibility between cultural identities leads to higher disidentification with the receiving society. Depending on cultural self-construal (individualistic or collectivistic), individuals make use of different resources (related to either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation) to fight the negative effect of incompatibility on the social identity. And finally, Meeussen et al. focus on managing potentially conflicting work-family identities. They point to the importance of perceived gender norms in achieving compatibility between gender, family, and work. Their findings show that gender identity influences women’s and men’s work-family conflict resolution aspirations through social norms. Thus, changing these norms could allow both men and women to combine their multiple identities in a more effective and self-enhancing way. MULTIPLE IDENTITIES, INTRAGROUP, AND INTERGROUP RELATIONS Multiple identities can compromise interpersonal relations by creating conflict within the group. In this line, Sankaran et al. present an experimental study in the context of the Indian caste system, where social mobility is strongly restricted. They find evidence for the black sheep effect : When an ingroup member (as compared to an outgroup member) threatens the high-castes’ social identity by violating an ingroup norm (morality), high caste identity increases in concert with the derogation of the ingroup perpetrator. In parallel, Chipeaux et al. investigate, with correlational data, moves from a disadvantaged ingroup to a higher status outgroup. They observe a decrease in ingroup concern among mobile individuals and among those who anticipate moving up the hierarchy, compared to non- mobile individuals. These results suggest that multiple identities with differing statuses lead to identity conflict, resulting in Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org December 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 2258 | 6 Kulich et al. Editorial: Multiple Identities Management the discount of the low-status ingroup. Finally, Chiou and Mercado analyze whether biculturals have fixed or shifting loyalties toward their home/host culture. Their findings reveal that the degree to which biculturals manifest loyalty to each of the respective cultures is easily influenced by a priming procedure, demonstrating that bicultural loyalties are rather malleable. Further, multiple identities can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of intergroup relationships. For instance, van Breen et al. show that a multiple identity approach to gender allows predicting women’s attitudes toward gender stereotypes as well as collective action. They propose that women’s attitudes are regulated by two dimensions of gender identity: identification with women and with feminists (politicized identity). Indeed, interacting social identities play an important role in mobilizing resources for activism. Pereira et al. analyze the “sedating” effect of positive intergroup contact for Roma minority activism. They demonstrate that positive contact reduces Roma’s ethnic identification and activism but only among low national identifiers. Thus, national identification can buffer against negative effects of contact on collective action. Similarly, in the context of Ukraine ban protests of 2014, Chayinska et al. show that national and politicized identities (online and street protest groups) predict support for collective action if protest is perceived as legitimate and politicized identities as compatible. Finally, Levy et al. focus, in a theoretical contribution, on how the salience of multiple group memberships impacts on within-group and between-groups relations. They define gateway groups as individuals who simultaneously belong to two groups who are in conflict and propose that such gateway groups operate as both bridges and barriers in intergroup relations, thus improving or worsening intergroup relations. They conclude that the way in which gateway groups build their multiple identities and shift across categories play an important role in reducing group stereotypes and fostering tolerance toward outgroups. CONCLUSIONS The aim of this Research Topic was to extend a growing body of research on multiple identities by focusing on how people negotiate conflicting social identities and the consequences of such negotiations. The present collection of research findings investigated the moderating role of group status, group visibility, dissimilarity from others, diversity cultures, and types of identity configurations on the ways individuals handle their multiple identities. They further investigated the particularities of psychological constructs such as social identification, ingroup and inter-group attitudes and behaviors (e.g., collective action and social mobility), and well-being in the context of multiple identity configurations of different kinds (e.g., gender, professional, and politicized identities). Future research should focus on a systematic analysis which extends the correlational level in order to better understand the specific contexts and the underlying processes that determine whether multiple identities are beneficial or detrimental for the individual’s well-being. Moreover, research should examine how social perceptions of multiple identities impact the process of coping and identity management in individuals who are holding these identities. This implies bringing together the literature on the perspective of individuals holding multiple identities, presented here, and the literature on attitudes toward individuals with multiple identities. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS CK, SdL, NK-B, and FL-C all drafted the Research Topic proposal, took on editorial tasks, and participated in writing and commenting the editorial. FUNDING CK and FL-C were supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation Project funding grant N ◦ 100014_149197/1. SdL was supported by Grant n ◦ PSI2016-79971-P from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (AEI/FEDER, UE). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank all authors and reviewers for their contributions to this project. REFERENCES Berry, J. W., and Sabatier, C. (2011). Variations in the assessment of acculturation attitudes: their relationships with psychological wellbeing. Int. J. Intercult. Relat. 35, 658–669. doi: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.02.002 Bourdieu, P. (1979). La Distinction . Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit. Deaux, K. (2008). To be an American: immigration, hyphenation, and incorporation. J. Social Issues 64, 925–943. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00 596.x Deaux, K., and Greenwood, R. M. (2013). “Crossing borders: intersectional excursions into gender and immigration,” in The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Psychology , eds M. K. Ryan and N. R. Branscombe (London: SAGE Publications), 234–250. Derks, B., Ellemers, N., van Laar, C., and de Groot, K. (2011). 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M., Postmes, T., and van Zomeren, M. (2015). Achieving harmony among different social identities within the self-concept: The consequences of internalising a group-based philosophy of life. PLoS ONE 10:e0137879. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137879 Walter, Z. C., Jetten, J., Dingle, G., Parsell, C., and Johnstone, M. (2015). Two pathways through adversity: predicting well-being and housing outcomes among homeless service users. Brit. J. Soc. Psychol. 55, 357–374. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12127 Wilton, L. S., Good, J. J., Moss-Racusin, C. A., and Sanchez, D. T. (2015). Communicating more than diversity: the role of institutional diversity statements on expectations and performance as a function of race and gender. Cultur. Divers. Ethnic Minor. Psychol. 21, 315–325. doi: 10.1037/a00 37883 Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Copyright © 2017 Kulich, de Lemus, Kosakowska-Berezecka and Lorenzi-Cioldi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org December 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 2258 | 8 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 31 March 2017 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00469 Edited by: Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, University of Gda ́ nsk, Poland Reviewed by: Peter Bevington Smith, University of Sussex, UK Gabriel Horenczyk, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel *Correspondence: Lydia Repke lydia.repke@upf.edu Specialty section: This article was submitted to Personality and Social Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology Received: 28 October 2016 Accepted: 14 March 2017 Published: 31 March 2017 Citation: Repke L and Benet-Martínez V (2017) Conceptualizing the Dynamics between Bicultural Identification and Personal Social Networks. Front. Psychol. 8:469. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00469 Conceptualizing the Dynamics between Bicultural Identification and Personal Social Networks Lydia Repke 1 * and Verónica Benet-Martínez 1,2 1 Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, 2 ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies), Barcelona, Spain An adequate understanding of the acculturation processes affecting immigrants and their descendants involves ascertaining the dynamic interplay between the way these individuals manage their multiple (and sometimes conflictual) cultural value systems and identifications and possible changes in their social networks. To fill this gap, the present research examines how key acculturation variables (e.g., strength of ethnic/host cultural identifications, bicultural identity integration or BII) relate to the composition and structure of bicultural individuals’ personal social networks. In Study 1, we relied on a generationally and culturally diverse community sample of 123 Latinos residing in the US. Participants nominated eight individuals (i.e., alters) from their habitual social networks and across two relational domains: friendships and colleagues. Results indicated that the interconnection of same ethnicity alters across different relationship domains is linked to cultural identifications, while the amount of coethnic and host individuals in the network is not. In particular, higher interconnection between Latino friends and colleagues was linked to lower levels of U.S. identification. Conversely, the interconnection of non-Latino friends and colleagues was associated with lower levels of Latino identification. This pattern of results suggests that the relational context for each type of cultural identification works in a subtractive and inverse manner. Further, time spent in the US was linked to both Latino and U.S. cultural identifications, but this relationship was moderated by the level of BII. Specifically, the association between time in the US and strength of both cultural identities was stronger for individuals reporting low levels of BII. Taking the findings from Study 1 as departure point, Study 2 used an agent-based model data simulation approach to explore the dynamic ways in which the content and the structure of an immigrant’s social network might matter over time in predicting three possible identity patterns: coexisting cultural identifications, conflicting cultural identifications, and a mixture of the two. These simulations allowed us to detect network constellations, which lead to identification or disidentification with both cultures. We showed that distinct patterns of social relations do not lead to identity outcomes in a deterministic fashion, but that often many different outcomes are probable. Keywords: social networks, acculturation, immigration, cultural identification, complex contagions Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org March 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 469 | Repke and Benet-Martínez Bicultural Identification and Social Networks INTRODUCTION Allport’s (1954) theory on intergroup contact states that, under certain conditions, contact between members of minority and majority groups will not only reduce prejudice and conflict, but will also improve interethnic attitudes (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2000; Binder et al., 2009). Nowadays, various scholars agree that one prerequisite for immigrants’ successful and peaceful integration into their host society is that they develop social networks which include host culture contacts in central positions, as these contacts provide access to critically important social and informational resources (Smith, 2013; Damstra and Tillie, 2016). These host nationals may improve the immigrant’s acculturation potential by helping with the acquisition of culturally appropriate skills and by providing exposure to new norms and value systems (Ward and Kennedy, 1993; Kim, 2001; Smith, 2005, 2013; Jasinskaja-Lahti et al., 2006). However, contact with coethnic individuals (living in the country of origin and in the country of destination) is beneficial as well. Coethnic friends and relatives living back home may give social support, safeguard the immigrant’s ethnic identity and skills, and even encourage adjustment to the new society (Lebon, 1983; Smith, 1999; Schultz, 2001). Similarly, coethnics in the country of destination may give important information and access to resources related to adapting to the host society (e.g., where and how to find a job), reducing the immigrant’s costs and risks in the country of settlement (Liu, 2013). Having said this, a social network comprised of too many coethnic individuals might be a burden to the immigrant’s acculturation potential, as the immigrant may feel pressured to hold on to habits or customs from the country of origin and may also lose an opportunity to learn and practice the host culture behaviors and norms (Luo and Wiseman, 2000). Ultimately, these processes may depend on the available social network opportunities, how much ethnic and host cultures objectively differ from each other (i.e., how much new cultural learning is called for), and whether the individual internalizes the differences as reflecting cultural conflict and incompatibility (Searle and Ward, 1990; Benet-Martínez and Haritatos, 2005). Even though patterns such as low levels of identification with the host society and scarce friendships with host individuals are widely recognized in the literature, their interrelation is still open to question. Leszczensky (2013), for example, finds only a spurious relationship between degree of national identification and share of host national friends. Given the importance of social networks for integration and acculturation, it is surprising that hardly any study has examined how key acculturation variables (e.g., ethnic and host cultural identifications, bicultural identity integration, BII) relate to the composition (who is in the network) and structure (how are the network members connected) of immigrants’ personal social networks. Up to now, only a few sociological studies have attempted to do so, but did not include psychological measures (e.g., Lubbers et al., 2007; Vacca et al., 2016; but see also Mok et al., 2007). In particular, the relational perspective offered by the social network approach is suited perfectly for the acculturation and immigration context, as it captures intercultural contact in a way that goes beyond the commonly used self-reports. Most psychological research, including acculturation studies, focuses almost exclusively on individual-level characteristics (e.g., self-reported values and behaviors) in an effort to mirror what happens inside of people’s minds. But human behavior is also shaped by what happens between people’s minds. In this paper, we study how individuals’ cultural identities are influenced by their relational contacts, and the interactions that these contacts have between each other (Brown and Zagefka, 2011; Postmes et al., 2015). We hypothesize that, in order for immigrants and their descendants to develop and strengthen their cultural identifications, repeated contact with culture-specific, attitude- relevant information (such as communication styles, cultural activities, gender roles, etc.) from individuals representing different roles is needed. The rationale behind this is the idea of complex contagions, which attests that certain social behaviors may only be changed after having had multiple contact with a variety of sources (e.g., as this adds credibility to the information received) (Centola and Macy, 2007; Centola, 2010). Behavioral changes then would be reflected in a change in cultural identification. More particularly, we argue that it is the interconnection of same ethnicity contacts belonging to different relationship domains (i.e., friendship versus work) that predicts the strength of individuals’ multiple cultural identifications. In two separate studies, we explored possible relationships between key acculturation variables and personal social networks of immigrants and their descendants. In Study 1, we derived predictions for ethnic and host culture identifications from the idea of complex social contagion, and tested them using survey and network data collected from a community sample of 123 Latino-American biculturals residing in the US. In Study 2, using an agent-based model (ABM), we simulated data on the basis of the findings from Study 1 and explored whether and how the content and the structure of a bicultural individual’s social network matters over time in negotiating coexisting cultural identifications, conflicting cultural identifications, and a mixture of the two (e.g., being conflicting with regards to one life domain, but coexisting in another one). We believe that our contribution to the study of multiple identities management in the acculturation context is twofold. From a scientific point of view, we will shed light on the unexplored possible interdependence between the micro-level represented by individuals’ self-reported acculturation processes (e.g., strength of cultural identifications and degree of conflict the individual feels between different cultural orientations) and the meso-level represented by these individuals’ habitual personal social networks. The fact that, in Study 2, we adopt a process-oriented rather than an outcome-oriented approach allows us to understand better how changes in the network may influence the identity negotiation process of immigrants and their descendants. From a societal point of view, our studies are informative in that they could be used to assist policy-makers involved with the integration of immigrants and other cultural minorities. In particular, the models examined in Study 2 could be used to identify social environments (i.e., specific network constellations) that are beneficial for fostering harmonious multicultural identities, and those that could lead to the development of risky patterns of cultural disidentification Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org March 2017 | Volume 8 | Article 469 | Repke and Benet-Martínez Bicultural Identification and Social Networks or radicalization. The paper is structured in the following way: First, we present our theoretical framework and our predictions. Then, we describe our two studies and their results. Finally, we summarize our main findings and offer some suggestions for future research in the discussion. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND PREDICTIONS Acculturation, Cultural Identification, and BII When moving to a new country, immigrants and their descendants often experience radical changes in their social and cultural contexts. The resulting acculturation processes may be described as psychological and behavior