The social adjustment of Filipino nonmigrants,emigrants, and immigrants to Hawaii

This study compared the social adjustment of a group of Filipinos who had initiated definite arrangements to emigrate to Hawaii (emigrants) with another group of Filipinos from the same communities as the emigrants who expressed no intention to emigrate (nonmigrants). These two samples were then compared with a group of recent Filipino immigrants to Hawaii. Social adjustment was measured by the Katz Adjustment Scales, relative's rating form, in terms of clusters of symptomatic and social behavior. The results showed that the immigrants in their social adjustment were less emotionally expressive than the emigrants, who were in turn, less expressive than the nonmigrants. However, significant cluster score differences obtained primarily between the Philippine samples and the immigrants, while there was a general lack of significance between the nonmigrants and the emigrants. The overall decline in the level of emotional expression of the immigrants was attributed to their adherence to the paramount Philippine value of social acceptance as their modal means of adjustment to the immigration experience. Thus, the direction and nature of changes in the emotional expression of Filipino immigrants follow from their culture and its integral norms and values rather than being derivative of processes of acculturation.     

Ethnic identity among Japanese-Americans in Hawaii : A critique of Hansen's third-generation return hypothesis

Ethnic identity is a complex phenomenon involving the interaction of cultural elements and contemporary social relationships. Hansen's third-generation hypothesis offers a monocausal explanation that has been tested in several U.S. sites with various ethnic groups. The mixed results from U.S. mainland studies and from the studies conducted in Hawaii with Japanese-Americans show the inadequacy of generational position as an explanation of ethnic identity. In the Hawaii study reported here, 30 Nisei (second generation) and 30 Sansei (third generation) male Japanese-Americans between the ages of 31 and 55 were given Meredith's Ethnic Identity Questionnaire. Results showing the Sansei significantly more assimilated than the Nisei require a rejection of Hansen's hypothesis. These findings are discussed in relation to other studies of Hansen's hypothesis and to theories of ethnicity that view ethnic identity as less a function of time and generationalposition than of social position in complex societies.     

Interethnic perception and the communication behavior among five ethnic groups in Hawaii

The purpose of this paper was to explore interethnic perception in an ethnically mixed society, and to examine the relationship between the degree of stereotyping toward certain ethnic groups and interethnic interpersonal communication and social capacity variables, such as education, age, occupational status, length of stay in the U.S., and English fluency. The study focused on three major aspects of stereotyping: homogeneity, polarity, and favorableness of interethnic attitudes. Homogeneity was defined as the degree to which an individual differentiates dimensions of perception, while polarity was the degree of extremity—either positive or negative—of perception. Favorableness was the degree of positive attitude toward other ethnic groups.The study was based upon a random survey conducted from 1978 to 1979 of five ethnic groups in Hawaii, including 401 Koreans, 203 Japanese, 200 Caucasians, 199 Samoans, and 208 Filipinos. Six bipolar dimensions of perception were explored: responsible-irresponsible, friendly-unfriendly, independent-dependent, good-bad, hard working-lazy, and wise-foolish. The results indicated that interethnic interpersonal communication had the strongest relationship with the level of favorableness. The hypothesized relationships between the social capacity variables and stereotyping were statistically significant, although the magnitude of the relationships were small.