Ethnocultural identity conflict describes the sense of belonging fully to neither culture.

In Arab Canadian families, perceived cultural gaps were linked to greater identity conflict.

Social identity theory suggests our identities nest inside one another like circles.

Every four years, the World Cup asks us all a question that has nothing to do with football. "Which team do you support?" is a straightforward question to someone with a single and clear ethnocultural identity. However, many people can plausibly claim three or four teams.

I am one of them. I am Egyptian and Canadian, born in Switzerland, having lived in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Australia (as well as other nonqualifying countries). Despite this, I have always been a clear and consistent supporter of Egypt.

I know I'm not alone. Many people living in the Gulf—or as immigrants in other sociocultural contexts—have this experience. The tournament simply makes visible something that is true all year round.

What we do not say out loud

I studied Arab families who migrated to Canada for more than a decade. I was particularly interested in what happens across generations when parents and children adapt to the settlement culture at different rates or in different ways. One of the things we looked at in our work is the concept of ethnocultural identity conflict (Ward, Stuart, & Kus, 2011).

The scale we used asks people how strongly they agree with a series of statements, including "I sometimes do not know where I belong" and "I am an outsider in both my own ethnic group and the wider society."

One of the things I find interesting........

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