Collaborative issues in cross-national research

Although the topic of research collaboration receives infrequent comment, a well functioning collaborative process is crucial to the substantive success of intercultural research enterprises. The present report addresses this topic and focuses on two major sets of collaborative issues, the personal/ personnel and the structural/organizational. The issues are organized around the phases of the project at which they optimally should be considered and resolved.     

The importance of ethnicity in ethnic studies programs

A study was undertaken to determine the importance of ethnicity in an ethnic studies program. Three different dimensions were examined (1) the importance of the ethnicity of the teacher in the opinions of administrators and students; (2) ethnic differences among students in attitudes and expectations regarding such a program; (3) the relationship between the structure or content of the ethnic studies program and the long-range ethnic goals of society. Results of a nationwide sample of academic deans and a sample of students from two colleges in San Antonio, Texas, indicate that the ethnicity of teachers is an important concern for both administrators and students. It was also found that attitudes and expectations, as well as what the primary function of the program and the long-range ethnic goals should be, differed with the ethnicity of students.     

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.     

The psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors on Syrian refugees in Turkey: The role of resource loss,discrimination, and social support

COVID-19 does not leave behind refugees. They are disproportionately affected during the current pandemic. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 related stressors -resource loss and perceived discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic- on Syrian refugees in Turkey. Further, the buffering role of perceived social support against the detrimental impacts of such stressors was examined.An online cross-sectional study was conducted between September-October 2020. A sample of 345 Syrian refugees in Turkey completed the questions about demographic characteristics, resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic, perceived social support, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. A high level of depressive and anxiety symptoms was reported in our sample. Resource loss and perceived discrimination during the pandemic significantly and positively predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms. Perceived social support acted as a buffer against the detrimental effect of resource loss on mental health. For those with higher perceived social support, resource loss during the pandemic did not significantly predict depressive and anxiety symptoms. The results indicate the detrimental role of COVID-19 related stressors on refugee mental health. Social support is an important protective factor for mental health amidst the pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the precarious conditions of refugees in all COVID-19 responses and communications.     

Modes of victim blaming in a case of stabbing: Victim and offender ethnicity and observer ethnicity and religious affiliation

This study examined the effects of ethnicity on victim-blaming in a case of stabbing by addressing victim and offender ethnicity as well as observer ethnicity and religion. Jewish (n = 285), Muslim Arab (n = 249), and Christian Arab (n = 51) students from Israeli universities and colleges read a single stabbing scenario, in which we manipulated victim (Arab/Jewish) and offender ethnicity (African/Arab/Jewish). The results showed that participants blamed a Jewish victim more than an Arab victim. Also, our findings indicated that Christian Arabs expressed significantly higher victim-blaming than Jews. However, victim-blaming among Christian Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs, and victim-blaming among Muslim Arabs did not significantly differ from victim-blaming among Jews. Furthermore, the interactions between observer and victim ethnicity and between observer and offender ethnicity were significant. The discussion addresses the findings in the context of prejudice against members of African and Arab communities, the black sheep effect, and defensive attribution. In addition, the discussion suggests that observer ethnic and religious background may be related to blame-attribution mode: fixed (not affected by victim and offender ethnicity) or modular (affected by victim and offender ethnicity). From the practical standpoint, our findings suggest a need for further education on prejudice against minorities and promoting ethnic diversity among practitioners assisting and treating victims.     

Development of social categories and stereotypes in early childhood: The case of “The Arab” concept formation, stereotype and attitudes by Jewish children in Israel

Stereotypes, which are based on the categorization process, are learned. Children first acquire a category of a social group and subsequently attribute characteristics to the group (i.e., form a stereotype). This paper illuminates the development of stereotypes among young children on the basis of cognitive theories of conceptual development. Specifically, several studies investigating the concept formation of “the Arab” among Jewish children in Israel are reported. These studies concern the five following research questions: When do children acquire the concept “an Arab”? On what basis do children form the concept “an Arab”? How do children understand the concept “an Arab”? What is the affective meaning of the concept “an Arab”? What is the visual image of “an Arab” in the minds of children? The results of the reported studies show that children acquire the word and the concept “an Arab” very early. From the beginning, even though little knowledge is associated with the concept, it has negative connotations. Young children described Arabs mostly by referring to violent and aggressive behaviors, and the characterization was unidimensional. These results demonstrate the strength of the Israeli cultural stereotype of Arabs and its influence on young children on the one hand, and show the general principles of category and stereotype development, on the other.     

Perceptions of social strategies in intercultural relations: The case of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel

Social strategies are a central component of intercultural competence, and are vital in understanding, theoretically and practically, the immigration and acculturation process. This study focused on an immigrant group experiencing identity threat, namely young Ethiopians in Israel, and examined their perceptions of social strategies in intergroup relations. Thematic analysis was performed on two types of qualitative data: (1) newspaper articles in which members of the Ethiopian community addressed aspects of their social strategies (31 reports collected from seven newspapers and magazines) and (2) data from two focus groups conducted afterwards with young adult members of the Ethiopian community (five to seven participants in each group). A major pattern emerging from the immigrants’ reports is the adoption of the hosts’ perspective and attitudes regarding the effective norms of social behavior. In their daily coping, on the other hand, the immigrant youth tended to exhibit a complex and at times ambivalent variety of behavioral patterns in their social interactions with members of the host culture. This spectrum of social strategies suggests dynamic processes of trial and error and reflects the unique complexity of intercultural competence. Findings were analyzed in terms of the immigrants’ perception of the threat to their identity and of their ways of coping with those threats.     

Acculturation and cross-cultural adaptation: The moderating role of social support

Previous studies have consistently demonstrated the beneficial impacts of the acculturation strategy of integration and the detrimental impacts of the acculturation strategy of marginalization on adaptation outcomes. This study attempts to extend the existing literature by examining the potential moderating role of social support in the relationships between acculturation strategies and cross-cultural adaptation. Specifically, it was hypothesized that social support from family, local friends, and non-local friends would enhance the positive effects of the integration strategy and buffer the negative effects of the marginalization strategy on sociocultural and psychological adaptation. Participants were 188 Mainland Chinese sojourning university students in Hong Kong. Consistent with our predictions, social support from local friends was found to significantly moderate the effects of the integration and marginalization strategies on sociocultural and psychological adaptation. Unexpectedly, it was shown that social support from non-local friends significantly weakened the positive effect of the integration strategy on psychological adaptation. In addition, further analyses on the potentially domain-specific effects of acculturation strategies and social support on psychological adaptation showed that social support from local friends and non-local friends and acculturation strategies of integration and marginalization interacted to influence only one specific domain of psychological adaptation (mutual trust and acceptance). Implications of this study and possible explanations for the discordant findings are discussed.     

International assignments: The role of social support and personal initiative

This study adapts components of Fay and Frese's nomological network of personal initiative (2001) and Caligiuri and Lazarova's model (2002) for the influence of social support on adjustment. Based thereon, a model for the relationship between personal initiative, social support and work adjustment was developed and tested. One-hundred twenty-seven expatriates answered an online questionnaire during and after their foreign sojourn. Results suggest that personal initiative of the expatriates and social support received from supervisors - but not from their co-workers - predicted job satisfaction, job stress and job performance of the expatriates. Social support and personal initiative have a strong relationship with successful work adjustment. Personal initiative moderates the relationship between social support from co-workers and job performance. There are practical implications for companies that send their staff on international assignments. Implications for the concept of personal initiative in expatriate adjustment research are discussed.     

Acculturative stress in Latino Immigrants: The impact of social, socio-psychological and migration-related factors

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Latino migrants. The participants in this study were 2059 Latinos. Among them were 868 Mexicans, 577 Cubans and 614 other Latinos. The subcategory other Latinos consisted of immigrants and refugees from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Nicaragua. The participants took part in face-to-face interviews, which were conducted with computer-assisted interviewing software in Spanish and English. Findings revealed that acculturative stress decreases with an increase in the English proficiency index, the context of migration exit index, and the social network index. Furthermore, acculturative stress was lower for US citizens versus non-citizens; immigrants who wanted to migrate to the US versus refugees who had to leave their country of origin; and later generation immigrants. Acculturative stress increases with a higher native language proficiency index and a higher discrimination index.     

The times of subjectivity and social reproduction

Abstract

A reflection on the reasons why we take films such as Hou’s as cherished cinephilic objects and on the ways that we, as critics, often try to disguise our desiring relation to films.     

Carrying out research across the arts and humanities and social sciences: developing the methodology for Dementia and Imagination

This paper analyses how the methodological approach for a major Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council-funded project entitled Dementia and Imagination ¹1. http://dementiaandimagination.org.uk/View all notes was formulated. This multidisciplinary project brings together the arts and humanities with the social sciences with their different epistemological philosophies and subsequent understandings of research methods. The main objective was to determine how visual arts activities may change, sustain and catalyse community cultures, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to create dementia-friendly communities. This project involves 6 different UK universities, 14 researchers, 10 formal partners, 7 project artists, 3 research artists and a large number of civil society organisations. The analysis presents a series of themes that have been identified as influencing the approach taken to develop methods which aimed to speak to different audiences in the social sciences, arts and humanities, policy/practice and public domains. It is concluded that a research project of this type needs to embrace a wide variety of epistemological positions if it is to successfully achieve its objectives. This paper contributes to knowledge about how the methodology of large-scale multidisciplinary projects may be constructed which will be of value to those building research consortia across different universities and between universities and community partners.     

Expatriate adjustment in the digital age: The co-creation of online social support resources through blogging

Support provided through social contacts in the host environment has long been recognized as critical for expatriate adjustment. Internet technologies are changing the way individuals form and interact with social contacts and access social support. These technologies have the potential to offer expatriates new sources and means for accessing social support. We investigated the role of blogging technology in expatriates’ adjustment to foreign environments through a qualitative analysis of a set of blogs written by foreign individuals living in Canada between 2005 and 2012. We found that the blogging system, which is comprised of the blogging technology, bloggers, discussants, and co-created digital discourse, generated online adjustment support resources which were accessed by expatriates. Online adjustment support resources are social support resources, created and residing online, which may help expatriates deal with their experiences of uncertainty, ambiguity and anxiety and include information, interpretation schemas, and comfort.     

The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions

This study attempts empirically to distinguish psychological and sociocultural forms of adjustment during the process of cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and five sojourners (Malaysian and Singaporean students in New Zealand) completed a questionnaire which examined psychological well-being (depression) and sociocultural competence (social difficulty) in relationship to the following variables: expected difficulty, cultural distance, quantity and quality of social interactions with both host and fellow nationals, attitudes towards hosts, extraversion, life changes and personal variables such as age, sex, length of residence in New Zealand, cross-cultural training, and previous cross-cultural experiences. Multiple regression analysis was employed to construct predictive models of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Satisfaction with relationships with host nationals, extraversion, life changes, and social difficulty combined to account for 34% of the variance in psychological adjustment. Cultural distance, expected difficulty, and depression combined to account for 36% of the variance in sociocultural adjustment. It was concluded that although psychological and sociocultural adjustment are interrelated, there is a need to regard these factors as conceptually distinct.