Variations in the assessment of acculturation attitudes: Their relationships with psychological wellbeing

The concept of acculturation attitudes refers to the various ways that acculturating individuals prefer to live with the two cultures that they are in contact with. In the original acculturation attitudes framework, Berry proposed a two-dimensional structure. The two dimensions were: to what extent do acculturating individuals prefer to maintain their heritage culture and identity; and to what extent do people wish to have contact with others outside their own group, and participate in the larger society. When these two dimensions are crossed, four ways of acculturating can be distinguished: assimilation, integration, separation, marginalisation. The first goal of this paper is to use other ways of operationalising these two dimensions to discover the resultant variations in the classification of individuals into the four ways of acculturating. The second goal is to see whether these variations in classifying ways of acculturation lead to different relationships with immigrants’ psychological wellbeing. We examine both questions using data from immigrant youth in Montreal and Paris, and conclude that different operationalisations of these two dimensions do yield some important variations in classification. There are also variations across these ways of assessing acculturation attitudes in their relationships with the psychological wellbeing of immigrant youth. Moreover, these variations are amplified when taking into account the society into which immigrant youth have settled. The general conclusions are that it does matter how and where acculturation attitudes are assessed, and that these variations impact the degree of psychological adaptation of immigrant youth.     

Breaking the chains of two dimensions: The tridimensional process-oriented acculturation model TDPOM

This paper considers the acculturation process and the ways in which it can unfold. The main focus is directed towards the possibility of creating novel ways of acting and living as a form of acculturation. Although this possibility has been acknowledged by researchers, it has been mostly integrated into typologies of biculturalism based on John Berry’s bidimensional acculturation model, and considered to belong to integration strategy. It is argued that such an approach poses logical and methodological problems, and that the form of acculturation, where something novel is created, goes beyond the bidimensional conceptualization of acculturation. A new model extending Berry’s model is proposed. It includes a third dimension which refers to the possibility of creating new ways of acting and living to the process which will be subsequently referred to as cultural creation. Distinctions and relationships with other tridimensional models and/or models including cultural creation process are discussed. Subsequently, another layer to the model is introduced which relates to the understanding of culture providing foundation for the model. Familiarity, unfamiliarity and novelty are proposed as reference points for the model’s dimensions, enabling the model to move away from the systemic conception of culture and integrate the constructivist understanding of culture. The potential mechanisms responsible for the creation of novelty within the acculturation process are discussed in context of two theoretical approaches: the creative cognition approach and the practice approach.     

Measuring the preconditions for a successful multicultural society: A barometer test of New Zealand

The study examined the preconditions for multiculturalism in the New Zealand context as enumerated by Berry, Kalin, and Taylor (1977) and Berry and Kalin (1995). Using data from a New Zealand national probability sample (n = 5862), we assessed ethnic group differences in: ethnic equality positioning as an indicator of support for diversity; race-based rejection as a measure of prejudice and intolerance; affective ratings of warmth as an indicator of positive ethnic attitudes; patriotism as an indicator of attachment to New Zealand society; and perceptions of realistic threat and expectations of economic security as indicators of a confident identity. Consistent with the preconditions for achieving a multicultural society, expectations of race-based rejection were uncommon, intergroup feelings were generally warm, perceived threat was moderately low, expectations for future security were moderate and fairly comparable across groups, and all groups expressed high levels of patriotism. However, New Zealanders resisted a resource-specific multicultural ideology that involves race-based interventions to reduce social inequality. There was also evidence that the level of warmth towards Asian New Zealanders, the most recent and rapidly growing immigrant group, was lower than that towards other ethnic groups. The findings are discussed in relation to socio-political issues, including tensions between biculturalism and multiculturalism, and the obstacles to reducing social inequality across ethnic groups.     

“Lies,damn lies and statistics”: a history of museum visits in Australasia

ABSTRACT

While a great deal of attention has been paid to museum visit data in the last few decades, very little is known about long-term trends. This article examines the distinctive history of museum visits in Australasia through a comparative study of eight key institutions from across the region. Archival research was undertaken at each institution to compile as complete as possible a data set of annual visitation from opening until present day. Any stated changes in funding, admission charges, buildings etc. were also recorded, along with comments indicating contemporary explanations for fluctuations in visitation. Sources included official documents such as annual reports and trustee minutes, as well as visitor books and attendance records. We provide an initial overview of the quantitative and contextual data we collected from the case study museums focusing on a number of key questions: How have museums in Australasia been counting and reporting visit data over the past 150 years? What does this reveal about changes over time in the perceived value of visit data and museum attitudes towards their visitors? What are the key trends in museum attendance at the local, national and regional level in Australia and New Zealand? What contemporary explanations were given for fluctuations in museum attendance and are they supported by a long-term, cross-institutional comparison of the data? The study provides insights into historical shifts in thinking about the importance of visitors, appropriate methods for recording visitation, and the value of this data. The findings are also relevant to how museums today interpret attendance figures. The ways in which visit data were included or excluded from historical narratives about the value of museums highlights the constructed nature of visitor data and raises questions about the role of visitor research in contemporary museums.     

Social network sites and acculturation of international sojourners in the Netherlands: The mediating role of psychological alienation and online social support

Acculturation of short-term international sojourners, such as expats and international students, has received considerable attention from scholars in the past decades. Acculturation is commonly defined as the interplay between cultural maintenance, the sojourner’s desire to maintain their home culture identity, and host country participation, their desire to initiate contact with members of the host society. The present paper focuses on the role that Social Network Sites (SNS) play in the acculturation process of this group. Through a survey, we examined how 126 short-term sojourners in the Netherlands use SNS to interact with relations in both home and host country, and how this affects their cultural maintenance and host country participation. Furthermore, we examined psychological alienation and online social support as possible mediators. Our results show that on the one hand SNS contact with home country relations is positively related to online social support. On the other hand, it is also related to psychological alienation, which in turn is related to cultural maintenance. This shows that sojourners who keep in touch with friends and family at home also experience more loneliness and homesickness, and place more emphasis on their own cultural heritage. Finally, we found that SNS contact with host country relations predicts host country participation. Through online activities, sojourners are able to foster social interaction and strengthen friendships with locals.     

Crossing cultures: Analysing the experiences of NZ returnees from the EU (UK vs. non-UK)

While there is growing scholarly interest in returned and cyclical migration, and on young adult cultural or adventure seeking migration, there is still a lack of systematic empirical insights into how the experiences of being abroad, and after return, are mediated by exposure to different cultural environments. Addressing this conceptual and empirical gap, the paper analyses the experiences of New Zealand return migrants, or sojourners, who lived and worked in European countries (other than the UK) for more than one year and compares them with the experiences of NZ returnees from the UK. Drawing on 20 ‘non-UK’ and 22 ‘UK’ in-depth interviews, the paper revisits [Rhinesmith, 1975] and [Rhinesmith, 1986] typology of cross-cultural, or intercultural, adjustment (largely ignored in studies of return migration) to assess sojourners’ experiences throughout the migration cycle and serve as a useful tool for identifying and reporting psychological and socio-cultural elements in the returnees stories. The findings of sojourners’ possible identity shifts during intercultural transition are discussed with reference to the four-member paradigm of Cultural Identity Model (CIM) (Sussman, 2010) while addressing Sussman's (2002) argument that overseas adaptation and repatriation experiences are not directly associated. This paper demonstrates the need to understand first that the costs and benefits of circular migration or sojourning are country-specific, and that they do not ‘just happen’ at a particular moment or in one phase but are forged through a veritable rollercoaster of experiences of intercultural adjustment.     

Too similar or too different: Effect of acculturation strategies on judgments of a violent act committed by a Vietnamese offender

In the literature, several studies have shown that the perpetrator’s ethnic origin and acculturation strategy are particularly influential extrajudicial factors, but authors have focused on highly stigmatized groups. The aim of this study was to examine how the participants’ judgments were influenced by the acculturation strategy of a Vietnamese aggressor (member of a valued minority group in France), the consequences of the act for the victim, and their level of SDO. It was expected that assimilation, which reflects a strong similarity with the majority group, or separation, reflecting strong dissimilarity, would lead to negative judgments of the assault and its perpetrator and a harsher punishment. After reading a scenario describing a physical assault committed by a Vietnamese man, in which the perpetrator’s acculturation strategy and the consequences of the act were manipulated, 196 French students completed a questionnaire.The results confirm our hypothesis. Moreover, they show that when there were serious consequences for the victim, the act was considered to be more serious if the offender had not adopted French culture. However, when the consequences were minor, the act was considered to be more serious and a harsher punishment was recommended if the offender had adopted French culture. We explain how acculturation strategy is an important factor when judging transgressions, and how being too similar or too different to the majority group can increase the perceived threat. The status of SDO is discussed.     

Acculturation, well-being and classroom behaviour among white British and British Asian primary-school children in the south–east of England: Validating a child-friendly measure of acculturation attitudes

Using a sample of white British and British Asian primary-school children (N = 386, aged 5–11 years), we measured acculturation attitudes (own and perceived outgroup), correlated constructs (ingroup and outgroup affect and identification) and relevant outcomes (self-esteem, classroom demeanour) in a structured interview to validate a customised, child-friendly measure of acculturation attitudes based on Berry's framework. Scale items measuring desire for culture maintenance and intergroup contact loaded onto the predicted factors, were internally reliable and showed concurrent validity with affect and identification. The predictive utility of measures was demonstrated in associations between children's acculturation attitudes (or perceived discrepancies with those of the outgroup) and outcomes such as self-esteem and teacher ratings of emotional symptoms.     

Social support as a moderator between resilience and psychological distress among korean americans perceiving racial discrimination during COVID-19: An exploratory application of a moderated mediation model

This study examined how resilience is connected to psychological distress among Korean Americans (both U.S. born and foreign-born). Specifically, we explored the mediating role of perceived racial discrimination and the association between resilience and perceived racial discrimination moderated by different levels of social support. A structural equation model (a moderated mediation model) was employed with a sample of 781 participants. The data were obtained through online surveys for variables of interest. We employed this structural equation model to examine the association between variables using the bootstrapping method. We found that the indirect association of resilience with psychological distress through perceived racial discrimination was statistically significant. We also found that the mediating association of perceived racial discrimination was moderated by the extent of social support, especially when the level of social support was low and moderate. We discovered the roles of social support and perceived racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic and the link between resilience and psychological distress for Korean Americans. The findings suggested that social services and culturally sensitive/responsive resilience-focused treatments (including a mindfulness program) alleviate heightened psychological distress among Asian Americans who experienced racial discrimination during the pandemic. Policy implications are also discussed.     

Exploring resilience as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between cultural intelligence and sociocultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Switzerland

Recent studies suggest that cultural intelligence (CQ) and resilience play a key role in sociocultural adjustment in expatriate populations. The current study aimed to clarify the relationships between CQ, resilience and sociocultural adjustment in a population of expatriates in Switzerland. Participants (N = 126) completed validated, self-report measures of resilience, cultural intelligence, and sociocultural adjustment and hierarchical linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses tested relationships between the study variables. Preliminary results verified findings from previous research indicating that increased resilience and CQ predict fewer sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Additional analyses showed that the CQ Skills subscale explained a significant amount of variance in sociocultural adjustment while the other subscales, metacognition and knowledge, did not. Finally, we found that resilience partially mediates the relationship between CQ and sociocultural adjustment but does not act as a moderator in this relationship. The results have theoretical implications for understanding the process of sociocultural adjustment, as well as practical implications for implementing targeted training programmes to support expatriate adjustment.     

The effect of study abroad and personality on cultural intelligence: A deeper understanding using the expanded model of cultural intelligence

Using an expanded assessment of cultural intelligence (CQ), this study provides a detailed analysis of how studying abroad impacts the development of CQ. We examined (1) the effect of a study abroad semester on the development of each of the eleven subdimensions of cultural intelligence – Expanded-CQ or E-CQ over time; and (2) whether personality traits (i.e., extraversion and openness to experience) had a moderating role in the relationship between a study abroad semester and E-CQ in a longitudinal study. Data were collected from 361 students both before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the study abroad semester. Mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance showed that the study abroad semester did have a statistically significant effect on the development of ten subdimensions of E-CQ over time. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that individuals who were low on extraversion improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness) more than did individuals who were high on extraversion. Similarly, individuals who were low on openness to experience improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness), their cognitive CQ (culture-general knowledge), and their motivational CQ (intrinsic interest) more than did individuals who were high on openness to experience. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Building a new society on the base of locality: transformation of social forces in Taiwan during the 1990s

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explain the transformation of social forces in Taiwan during the 1990s, as well as the “ideals of society” embedded in Community Construction that aims to reconstruct the local community. Based upon the analysis of discourses of movement agents, I differentiate four ideal-types of “good society” configured in the Community Construction. First, by the ideal-type of “indigenous (bentu) society,” people hope to reconstruct local history and local culture. Secondly, by “civilized society,” people want to build a society in which its residents live in solidarity and civility. Thirdly, by “civil society” people emphasize the importance of grassroots democracy and the subject position based on locality in order to respond to forces of the state and the market. Lastly, by “civic society” people aims to construct communities encompassing different geographical ranges, in which people from different backgrounds can live together and integrate into a civic nation. Among these ideal-types, “civic society” is the articulating link between “indigenous society” and “civil society,” while locality has become the fundamental element in defining “culture” and “community” in Taiwan. As a result, the cultural resistance based on locality has transformed into the cultural governance focusing on locality.     

The measure of all things: on the use of time as a value indicator in arts impact assessment

Like money, time is a scarce resource. People used to economizing with one are likely to economize with the other. This proposition has serious implications for cultural economics (as for economics generally); three in particular are explored here. (1) Because cultural values are learned, and learning takes time, from the sorts of learning experience to which people have committed time in the past much can be inferred about their probable cultural consumption behaviour in future and about their attitudes to art. (2) The arts deliver socio-economic impact by encouraging new forms of belief – altering people's values essentially. Beliefs then influence action. Impact assessors must confront the question of value generation head on. (3) Use of time indicators will enable assessors to capture and quantify impacts which barely register on the usual money-economic scale, generating new categories of evidence directly if unconventionally relevant to cultural policy debate. The discussion is situated in historical context, drawing attention to a rich tradition of time-reflexive thinking within professional economics. The assumption underlying much of modern, purposely “neoclassical” cultural economics – that cultural value can best be measured in terms of willingness to pay or willingness to be paid money – is not strictly necessary either in economic theory or in economic practice, and for impact assessment purposes it is not always helpful. Sections following the historical introduction take careful account of recent developments in cultural economics, and to facilitate further reading frequently refer to the summative handbooks edited by Ruth Towse (2003) and Victor Ginsburgh and David Throsby (2006).     

Increase in the preference for civic over ethnic nationalism among Poles: The impact of representations of a multiethnic past on the perceived inclusiveness of the nation

While the importance of a nation’s history for its current national issues is well established, whether and how that history may be leveraged to promote inclusive and amicable intergroup relationships is less clear. We offer answers to these questions by showing that the referencing of a multiethnic past of a nation is a form of indirect intergroup contact that increases the perceived inclusiveness of the current nation. Firstly, in a nationally representative sample of Poles, we demonstrate that after referring to Poland’s multiethnic history before and during World War II, respondents expressed a greater preference for civic rather than ethnic nationalism. In other words, they expressed more inclusive understanding of their national identity. Secondly, in the follow-up experiment, we further explore this effect by replicating it in one of the targeted samples. Overall, our findings demonstrate how nations may benefit from utilising some parts of their history to promote inclusiveness.