Measuring Acculturative Stress and General Self-Rated Health of Internal Migrant Students in Indonesia: Considering Social Identity Theory

Abstract

Ethnic identity and national identity are aspects of social identity t hat bring with them pros and cons in relation to acculturative stress and individual health more generally. As a multicultural country made up of various ethnic groups, Indonesia places a high importance on the concepts of ethnic identity and national identity, and how these twin ned concepts affect individuals' physical and mental health. This stud y aims to identify the effect of national identity and ethnic identity on acculturative stress and general self-related health. Research was conducted on 251 university students who were Indonesian internal mig rants, originating from various parts of Indonesia and studying at var ious universities in Central Java and Yogyakarta. The results of this study show that national identity is a construct that is better able t o reduce the risk of acculturative stress and moreover has a positive effect on general self-rated health. Meanwhile, ethnic identity has th e opposite effect, where ethnic identity is actually closely related t o acculturative stress among students who are Indonesian internal migr ants. We discuss the Implications, limitations and future research dir ections arising from this study.