The dynamics of acculturation: an intergroup perspective

The growing global trend of migration gives social psychological enquiry into acculturation processes particular contemporary relevance. Inspired by one of the earliest definitions of acculturation [Redfield, R., Linton, R., & Herskovits, M. (1936). Memorandum on the study of acculturation. American Anthropologist,38, 149152.], we present a case for considering acculturation as a dynamic intergroup process. We first review research stimulated by the dominant perspective in the field, Berry's acculturation framework. Noting several limitations of that work, we identify five issues which have defined our own research agenda: (1) the mutual influence of acculturation preferences and intergroup attitudes; (2) the influence of the perceived acculturation preferences of the outgroup on own acculturation and intergroup attitudes; (3) discrepancies between ingroup and outgroup acculturation attitudes as a determinant of intergroup attitudes; (4) the importance of the intergroup climate in which acculturation takes place; and (5) acculturation as a processdevelopmental and longitudinal perspectives. We review research of others and our own that document each of these points: longitudinal and experimental studies, rarities in the acculturation literature, figure prominently. Research settings include TurkishGerman relations in Germany, indigenousnonindigenous relations in Chile, African migrants to Italy and ethnic majorityminority relations in the United Kingdom. We conclude with an agenda for future acculturation research and some policy implications of our analysis

The Role of Acculturation Differences and Acculturation Conflict in Latino Family Mental Health

In order to help address the mental health disparities that exist for Latino families in the U.S., the current study sought to examine the acculturation–mental health link within the context of Latino families and to identify potential mechanisms for intervention to alleviate mental health problems in this population. Specifically, our goal was to examine how parent–adolescent acculturation differences were related to mental health in Latino adolescents and their parents and to understand the role of acculturation conflict and family functioning within Latino families. Participants included 84 adolescent–parent dyads recruited through bilingual middle schools. We found partial support for our hypothesis that family functioning mediates the relationship between acculturation differences and mental health outcomes for Latino parents. Additionally, we found partial support for our moderated mediation hypothesis; specifically, a significant conditional indirect effect was found for Latino cognitive acculturation differences on adolescent externalizing problems via family functioning at high levels of acculturation conflict. Exploratory analyses also indicated that acculturation conflict moderates the relationship between family functioning and externalizing problems for Latino adolescents. Results highlight the importance of understanding acculturation within the context of Latino families, as findings differed for adolescents and their parents. Additionally, findings suggest that differences in acculturation may not always be problematic and their impact likely depends on how families interpret such differences

The role of acculturation and acculturation fit in finding full employment and career satisfaction : a study of highly skilled Asian migrants to New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The process of cultural change and adjustment within the context of skilled migrants finding employment has been an under researched area. A further shortfall in research is that acculturation and 'acculturation fit' theory, and the concept of career satisfaction have been neglected by psychologists in the context of skilled migrants' finding employment. The present research attempted to fill this gap in research by testing a model based on the theory of acculturation and 'acculturation fit' and the concept of career satisfaction during the process of skilled Asian migrants finding full employment (i.e. proximity to full employment) in New Zealand. Proximity to full employment was hypothesised to partially mediate the relationship between psychological acculturation and career satisfaction, and the relationship between 'acculturation fit' and career satisfaction. Significant differences in mean scores of proximity to full employment and career satisfaction amongst acculturation styles were expected. Postal or electronic questionnaires were completed by 153 skilled Asian migrants and 30 experienced recruitment agents and human resource personnel in New Zealand. Measures included the 'Acculturation' measure (adapted from Mace, 2004), 'Rank Order Acculturation Style' measure (adapted from Mace), 'Guttman scale' for measuring proximity to full employment (adapted from Mace; Tharmaseelan, 2005), 'Under-Over employment' measure of employment status at present (adapted from Tharmaseelan), and the 'Overall Career Satisfaction' measure (adapted from Tharmaseelan). Regression analyses showed that employment status at present partially mediated the relationship between adapting to New Zealand culture and career satisfaction without controlling for the influence of age and duration in New Zealand. New Zealand acculturation directly predicted proximity to full employment. Significant differences in mean proximity to full employment and career satisfaction amongst acculturation styles were found before controlling for 'other' variables. No significant relationships were found when 'acculturation fit' was the independent variable. Limitations included the snowballing and networking sampling techniques utilized, which could explain the reason for obtaining a large proportion of employed Asian migrants. Despite limitations, findings indicated the importance of adapting to New Zealand culture and the major role of employment status at present in predicting career satisfaction of skilled Asian migrants in New Zealand

The impact of nursing culture on stress, coping strategies and health outcomes of student nurses : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

To examine the effect of acculturation on the stress, coping strategies, and health outcomes of student nurses, a questionnaire was completed by 192 student nurses. A new instrument, the Student Nurse Acculturation Measure (SNAM), was developed to measure degree of acculturation, while established instruments were used to measure the remaining constructs. Results indicated that demands and degree of acculturation increased for student nurses as training progressed. Greater acculturation was associated with increased use of avoidance coping strategies. Increased demands and increased avoidance coping strategies were associated with higher levels of psychological and physical distress, however these variables did not interact to affect distress levels. Nicotine dependency also increased for students and, although this increase was associated with year of study, it was not associated with any of the remaining variables

Acculturation to Global Consumer Culture (AGCC): testing the validity of the AGCC scale and some preliminary results from the United Kingdom

This paper presents preliminary results from a study focused on acculturation to Global Consumer Culture (GCC) conducted in the UK. In particular, this paper’s aims are to test the validity of the original ‘Acculturation to Global Consumer Culture’ (AGCC) scale in a new cultural context, and to present preliminary results about the relation between acculturation to GCC and demographic factors, technological anxiety, and compulsive buying. This paper is based on online questionnaire completed by 340 respondents in the UK. The psychometric properties of this scale were verified via confirmatory factor analysis, and a new, shorter scale was proposed. Some results about the links between acculturation to GCC and demographics, technological anxiety, and compulsive buying were presented and discussed within the context of extant GCC research. Limitations and further research were discussed. Key words: consumer culture, global consumer culture, acculturation to global consumer cultur

Developmental Considerations and Acculturation of Children: Measures and Issues

This article presents the secondary validation of the Brief Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (Brief ARSMA-II) for use with children—carried out using two samples of Mexican-descent children (ages = 9-11) from two states ( N = 295). The Brief ARSMA-II was originally normed on adolescents and adults but has been validated and used with children. Ethnic identity development perspectives suggest that the interpretation of scores derived from acculturation measures normed on adolescents and adults may not extend accurately to children. Convergent validity and differential discrimination between groups were examined using scores on the Brief ARSMA-II; scores on an acculturation measure designed for the present study, the Things About Me (TAM); and traditional proxy measures of acculturation. Results from this study do not support the use of the Brief ARSMA-II with children. The importance of considering contextual effects in the interpretation of scores of children\u27s acculturation experience is discussed

Racial Minority Immigrant Acculturation: Examining Filipino Settlement Experiences in Canada Utilizing a Community-Focused Acculturation Framework

By incorporating perspectives from Community Psychology into Berry’s (1997) acculturation framework from Cross-cultural Psychology, a more community-focused acculturation framework was developed and proposed in this essay. Elements from Community Psychology that focus on group-specific settings, community-level analysis, sociocultural resources, sociopolitical forces, and roles of grassroots organizations and host societies in challenging institutional power were consolidated into Berry’s acculturation framework to establish a new framework with a stronger community focus. In a theoretical application utilizing the new community-focused framework, socio-historical accounts of and discourse on Filipino experiences prior to the beginnings of the Filipino diaspora to Canada in the mid-1990s and more recent Filipino immigrant settlement experiences in Canada were used to examine and gain greater understanding of racial minority immigrant acculturation. The theoretical application of the new framework was presented not only to demonstrate the synthesis of elements derived from Cross-cultural and Community Psychology, as well as the methodological difference between Berry’s acculturation framework and the community-focused version proposed by the author, but also to underscore the value of community-level analysis in the study of racial minority immigrant acculturation. Implications for Psychology theory, research, and practice were subsequently presented

Acculturation and Depression Among Hispanics: The Moderating Effect of Intercultural Competence

In the present study the authors examined the relative contributions of typical acculturation indicators, general coping, and intercultural competence in predicting depression among 96 Hispanic adults. The results indicated that intercultural competence served to moderate the relationship between acculturation and depression. The combination of high acculturation and high intercultural competence was associated with fewer symptoms. General coping accounted for significant amounts of variance in predicting depression, over and above traditional acculturation variables alone, suggesting that an active problemsolving style was associated with a healthier outcome. The findings are discussed within the context of integrating competence-based variables into psychological conceptualizations of cultural adaptation and the importance of group-specific abilities as potential buffers against negative mental health consequences

The motivation to migrate, acculturation, and finding employment : the case of African migrants in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The present study tested a model whereby Psychological Acculturation mediated the relationship between the Psychological Motives to Migrate and the Employment Outcome of African migrants in New Zealand. These concepts had not been previously studied together. Job search strategies, interview behaviours, qualifications and duration of time in the host country are principally known as predictors of employment outcome; therefore, their impacts were also taken into consideration. One hundred and five African migrants completed a questionnaire, which included a number of reliable measures used to assess the concepts of: (a) Psychological Motives to Migrate (Tharmaseelan, 2005), (b) Psychological Acculturation preferences (Ward & Rana-Deuba, 1999) and (c) Employment Outcome (Mace, 2004; Tharmaseelan, 2005). Job search strategies and interview behaviours were assessed with Mace's (2004) measures. Multivariate analyses showed that over and above demographic migration categories (economic, family, humanitarian, student and visitor), psychological motives to migrate (financial betterment, family building, exploration and escaping) predicted acculturation preferences. Specifically, voluntary migrants (those motivated by 'family building' and 'exploration') preferred to adapt to New Zealand culture, while less voluntary migrants (those motivated by 'escaping') had a higher preference to maintain their culture of origin. Acculturation preferences were not found to mediate the relationship between motives to migrate and employment outcome. The predicted links to employment outcome were not supported. Duration of time in New Zealand was correlated with acculturation preferences. Implications of the findings point to the fundamentally of assessing reasons to migrate from a psychological perspective, and also provide important linkages between motivational theory and acculturation theory. The implication must however be interpreted cautiously as per the limitations of the study. It was recommended that future researchers test the same model with improved measures and with a larger sample. In addition, future researchers could assess and compare the acculturation preferences and employment experiences of the 1.5 generation and their adult parents

Experimenting with Cigarettes and Physical Activity Among Mexican Origin Youth: A Cross Sectional Analysis of the Interdependent Associations Among Sensation Seeking, Acculturation, and Gender

Sensation seeking tendencies tend to manifest during adolescence and are associated with both health-compromising behaviors and health-enhancing behaviors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between sensation seeking and physical activity, a health-enhancing behavior, and between sensation seeking and experimenting with cigarettes, a health compromising-behavior, among a cohort of Mexican origin adolescents residing in the United States with different levels of acculturation. Methods: In 2009, 1,154 Mexican origin youth (50.5% girls, mean age 14.3 years (SD = 1.04)) provided data on smoking behavior, physical activity, linguistic acculturation, and sensation seeking. We conducted Pearson's chi(2) tests to examine the associations between categorical demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, country of birth and parental educational attainment) and both cigarette experimentation and physical activity and Student's t-tests to examine mean differences on the continuous variables (i.e. sensation seeking subscale) by the behaviors. We examined mean differences in the demographic characteristics, acculturation, and both behaviors for each of the sensation seeking subscales using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To examine relationships between the sensation seeking subscales, gender, and both behaviors, at different levels of acculturation we completed unconditional logistic regression analyses stratified by level of acculturation. Results: Overall, 23.3% had experimented with cigarettes and 29.0% reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes/day on at least 5 days/week. Experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active were more prevalent among boys than girls. Among girls, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation and experimentation with cigarettes, but not with physical activity. Among boys, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation, experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active. Conclusions: Our results suggest that interventions designed to prevent smoking among Mexican origin youth may need to address social aspects associated with acculturation, paying close attention to gendered manifestations of sensation seeking.National Cancer Institute CA105203, CA126988Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer PreventionDan Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk AssessmentCenter for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Population