Examined cultural orientation in the domains of language proficiency,
cultural activity, and social relationship and its relationship with p
sychological well-being in a group of 143 Chinese Americans in San Fra
ncisco. Four indicators of psychological well-being were utilized, two
assessing the experience of distress (depression level and negative a
ffect) and two assessing positive well-being (positive affect and life
satisfaction). Domain-specific cultural orientations were found to ho
ld differential relationships with psychological well-being. For insta
nce, bicultural activity orientation predicted the best psychological
well-being (regardless as to how it was assessed), but socially separa
tist individuals experienced less negative affect than assimilated and
bicultural respondents. Findings were discussed in the context of the
multicultural setting of San Francisco; It is suggested that future r
esearch retain separate assessments of domain-specific cultural orient
ation examine the contribution of the community's ethnic/cultural comp
osition to ifs members' cultural orientations (i.e., address the role
of person-environment fit) and study their impact on psychological wel
l-being.