Who adopts the culture of ethnic minority groups? A personality perspective on majority-group members’ acculturation

Acculturation is commonly conceptualized as a two-way process in which all groups involved in intercultural contact change. Yet, very little is known about the acculturation orientations of majority-group members and the factors that differentiate those who adopt aspects of minority groups’ culture from those who reject them. In the present research, we for the first time aimed to answer this question from a personality perspective. A total of 301 White majority-group members living in the U.S. first completed a personality assessment and then indicated the extent to which they maintained their own culture and adopted the culture of ethnic minority groups. Our analytic approach combined top-down variable-centered and bottom-up person-centered analyses. In terms of variable-centered analyses, participants who adopted the culture of minority groups scored lower on conscientiousness and higher on openness. Moreover, adoption of minority-group cultures was positively associated with the personality facets sociability and inquisitiveness, and negatively with modesty and prudence. In terms of person-centered analyses, four acculturation clusters emerged, resembling strategies commonly observed among minority groups: marginalization, separation, integration and a diffuse strategy in which participants scored around the midpoint on own culture maintenance as well as minority culture adoption. Interestingly, especially this diffuse cluster differed from the other clusters on personality traits and facets, with participants tending to be more open than integrated and separated individuals, and less conscientious than separated individuals. The present report suggests that personality traits may help explain how majority-group members acculturate and highlights avenues for future research.     

Immigrant women’s acculturation stress and coping strategies in Korea: A qualitative analysis

The aim of this study was to explore the coping strategies used by migrant women experiencing acculturation stress in Korea. A qualitative content analysis of 20 transcribed individual interviews was used to describe and explore women’s experiences of acculturation into a Korean family and Korean culture. The findings could be summarized by the theme “A life with a family rooted in the 2nd homeland,” consisting of the following coping strategies: agreeing on cultural differences, accepting one’s limitations, respecting one’s own decision, sharing problems, learning about the Korean culture, enjoying one’s homeland culture, caring about identity diffusion, and helping survival. The results showed that the women experienced considerable acculturation stress, and they made tremendous efforts to align themselves with the Korean culture and with women’s lives in a Korean family. The processes and strategies that these women used to manage acculturation stress can be used by professionals to develop empirical guidelines to help other women experiencing acculturation stress. More research on various acculturation conditions and populations is required to generalize the results of this study.     

The role of adult attachment in international students’ acculturation process

International students face a variety of challenges in their acculturation process. Acculturation, the process of adapting to a new cultural environment, is highly variable and influenced by environmental and individual factors that exist before or arise during acculturation. Among the moderating personal factors existing prior to acculturation, adult attachment has received attention as an important variable impacting the acculturation process and adaptation outcomes. Based on the bi-dimensional model of acculturation (Berry, 1997) and the concept of adult attachment (Bowlby, 1977), the current study hypothesized that an insecure attachment (i.e., high attachment anxiety and avoidance) would predict more acculturative stress, less psychological adaptation, and less sociocultural adaptation. We also hypothesized that students who highly identified with their heritage culture and were highly acculturated to the U.S. culture would experience higher levels of psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Also, we examined if adult attachment moderated the effects of acculturation on international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. International students enrolled in higher education institutions in different geographic locations in the United States (N = 221) completed measures of adult attachment, acculturation, acculturative stress, and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The results suggested that attachment anxiety was a significant predictor of international students’ psychological adaptation. High acculturation to the U.S. significantly predicted more sociocultural adaptation. Attachment avoidance significantly moderated the effect of acculturation to the U.S. culture on international students’ psychological distress, while attachment anxiety was a significant moderator for the effect of acculturation to the U.S. culture on sociocultural adaptation.     

Entangled identities and acculturation: Comparing majority and minority adolescents’ multiple identity profiles in Belgium

This study considers recent criticism levelled at Berry’s acculturation model by (1) taking into account more complex expressions of belonging and by (2) testing the importance of regionalism (or the distinction between national and regional (/subnational) contexts) in understanding acculturation patterns. Data of the School, Identity and Society-survey, which contains information on 3510 adolescents from 64 schools selected from the three regions is employed to test specific hypotheses for the Belgian case. Three multiple identity profiles are selected for adolescents from migrant families, and four multiple identity profiles for adolescents from non-migrant families. The findings show that multiple identification for adolescents from migrant families is more often a conflicting than integrated experience. This incompatibility is not present for adolescents from non-migrant families. Small but meaningful variations of these multiple identity profiles occur among the three regions. In Brussels adolescents have a higher chance to be in the integrated identity profile.     

How ‘should’ the majority group acculturate? Acculturation expectations and their correlates among minority- and majority-group members

Do minority-group members welcome or reject that majority-group members adopt other cultures? Acculturation is commonly defined as a process of mutual accommodation. Yet, the acculturation of majority-group members has only recently received research attention. To date, we do not know the extent to which minority-group members expect majority-group members to adopt the culture of minority groups and/or to maintain their mainstream culture. Knowledge is also lacking about how these expectations relate to minority-group members’ own acculturation orientations and symbolic and realistic threat perceptions. We further do not know whether such associations are similar among minority- and majority-group members. To address these gaps, we surveyed 246 Muslim minority-group members and 247 White Christian majority-group members in the United Kingdom. Muslim minority-group members’ acculturation expectations towards majority-group members were normally distributed around the midpoint of the scale, suggesting that they did not reject majority-group acculturation on average. Acculturation expectations were correlated with symbolic and realistic threat perceptions among majority-group members but not among minority-group members. Cluster analyses showed that integrated Muslim minority-group members found it relatively important for majority-group members to adopt minority-group culture and to maintain their own culture. In sum, the results support the idea that minority-group members, at least in some contexts and settings, view acculturation as a mutual cultural change rather than as cultural appropriation.     

We are (migrant) families: The interdependence between family members’ actual and perceived acculturation

Acculturation has been studied extensively in the context of migrant families. Acculturation gaps between parents and youth have been associated with negative outcomes for migrant families and youth. Importantly, past studies have used different methods to operationalize this gap. Some studies compare self-reported acculturation from both family members in a parent-child dyad, the actual measure. In contrast, other studies rely on a single participant to report acculturation levels of both their relative and themselves, the perceived measure. The current study directly examined the interplay between actual and perceived measures of the acculturation gap by surveying migrant parents and their children in the community (parents: N = 153, M_age = 49.03, 60 % female, 71.2 % 1st generation migrants; youth: N = 153, M_age = 19.64, 58 % female, 58.8 % 2nd generation migrants). All families were residing in the United Kingdom, but varied in their heritage cultures. Parents and youth were asked to report acculturation towards their heritage and settlement cultures, of themselves and of their relative (youth and parents respectively). Using the Accuracy and Bias in the Perception of the Partner model (in SEM), participant’s perceived acculturation was found to be associated with the acculturation of themselves, but also with their partners’ acculturation level. The co-existence of accuracy and bias in parents’ and youth’s perception of their partners’ acculturation indicates that perceived acculturation might not be an accurate proxy measure of the actual acculturation. Future research may wish to take differences between the perceived and actual measures of acculturation into consideration.     

Welcome or not? – Natives’ security feelings,attachment and attitudes toward acculturation of immigrants

Cultural diversity due to immigration has become a key topic in many societies today. The question of how the native population experiences these developments is of prime importance for intercultural relations and sets the base for acculturation of immigrants. Drawing on attachment and multiculturalism research, we supposed here that general and specific feelings of security might be related to more positive attitudes toward cultural diversity, whereas feelings of threat might be related to less openness. More precisely, the present study investigated how natives’ general attachment (secure or fearful) as well as their specific feelings of (cultural or economic) security might be related to their expectations about acculturation of immigrants in the multicultural context of Luxembourg. The sample included N = 134 Luxembourg nationals with an average age of M = 45.02 (SD = 17.41) who filled out an online questionnaire. Results revealed that self-reported fearful general attachment was positively related to more unwelcoming acculturation orientations. Relations between general attachment and acculturation orientations were mediated by feelings of cultural security, which had strong effects on host nationals’ (un)welcoming acculturation orientations over and above general attachment. Findings suggest that (un)welcoming orientations toward immigrants, entailing openness for cultural contact and exchange, are related to feelings of cultural and economic security which are partly biased by a general secure or fearful attachment. Feelings of security seem thus to provide a secure base for tolerance and openness to cultural diversity which are needed in order to deal successfully with the challenges of today’s multicultural societies.     

A qualitative study of temporary reentry from significant others’ perspective

Using data collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews with 13 mothers of study abroad students in China, this study explores, from the mothers’ perspectives, patterns of social interaction between them and their children during their short-term reentry. It shows that the mothers’ confusion about their children's cultural identities led to their confusion about their motherhood identity and the renegotiated rules of interaction that virtually transformed mother–child relationships into host–guest relationships. The courteous and apparently friction-free interactions between mothers and their children were laden with latent relational distress and tension. The study suggests that reentry is not an individualized process of psychological and behavioral adjustment on the part of returnees only, as suggested by the existing literature; rather, it is co-produced by returnees and their significant others through communication. It also suggests that effective interaction between returnees and their significant others may be the key to reducing reentry stress.     

Israeli Arabs’ acculturation patterns and attitudes toward honor killings

Many studies on honor killings have been conducted in Arab and Muslim countries, but few have addressed the issue in relation to Arab and Muslim populations living in Western countries, who are influenced by the values of two cultures: their traditional-patriarchal culture of origin and modern-liberal Western culture. The purpose of the present study was to examine the connection between acculturation patterns and attitudes of Israeli Arabs toward honor killings. A structured quantitative questionnaire was administered to a sample of 409 Arab Israeli, 179 men and 230 women, with a mean age of 34.1 (SD = 12.04). The findings show that 44% of study participants adopted a pattern of separation from Israeli society, 37.7% a pattern of integration, 9.5% a pattern of assimilation, and 8.8% a pattern of marginalization. A two-way ANOVA test found an interaction between acculturation patterns and gender in relation to attitudes toward honor killings. The attitudes of women who adopted the assimilation pattern toward honor killings were more negative, whereas men who adopted this pattern showed more positive attitudes toward honor killings. The importance of the study for research and its educational-preventive aspects are described.     

Critical psychology of acculturation: What do we study and how do we study it,when we investigate acculturation?

Author presents critical analyses of the philosophy and methodology of the current research in the psychology of acculturation. He defends three theses. First, that the dominant mode of research in the psychology of acculturation does not correspond to the essential qualities of the phenomenon under scrutiny—the acculturation process. Acculturation researchers have been trying to apply a positivistic and quantitative approach to a phenomenon that is far beyond the capacity this approach has to comprehend it. Second, that there is no culture in acculturation research and the researchers do not even have working models of culture that could guide research in this area. Third, that the complex nature of the acculturation process requires very diverse thinking about the subject, an application of various epistemological and methodological approaches, inter- and multi-disciplinarity, intellectual flexibility, and the willingness to critically analyse achieved results and obtained knowledge. Unfortunately, all these capacities and attributes are yet scarce in the discourse of the psychology of acculturation. The presentation of the arguments is structured in three sections. First, the author presents a philosophical framework suitable for analysing both the current and future models of acculturation research. Then, he reports the results of the analysis of 42 articles on acculturation which is followed by conclusions and implications derived from this analysis. In the third section, the author provides an example and formulates suggestions for future acculturation research.     

Does religion matter? Italians’ responses towards Muslim and Christian Arab immigrants as a function of their acculturation preferences

A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment examined the role of immigrants’ religion and perceived acculturation strategy on majority members’ attitudes. Acculturation strategies were manipulated along the two dimensions of contact and culture maintenance. Italian majority members (N = 247) read fictitious but seemingly real interviews with Arab immigrants, in which the immigrants’ religion (Muslim vs. Christian) and acculturation preferences (desire for contact and for culture maintenance) were manipulated. MANOVA showed a main effect of contact: majority members associated immigrants who were perceived to favour contact with more positive attitudes, empathy, trust, positive stereotypes and metastereotypes, and lower levels of threat. MANOVA also showed a main effect of culture maintenance: when immigrants were perceived to abandon their culture, majority members reported lower levels of symbolic threat and greater empathy towards them. A significant Religion x Culture maintenance interaction effect emerged on majority members’ stereotypes and contact intentions: Muslim immigrants who were perceived to abandon their heritage culture elicited more favourable responses than Muslim immigrants who were perceived to maintain their heritage culture. Taken together, these findings suggest that desire for intergroup contact amongst immigrants, independently of their religion, can promote harmonious intergroup relations with the majority group.     

Villagers’ acculturation in China’s land expropriation-induced resettlement neighborhood: A Shanghai case

Land expropriation-induced resettlement (LEIR) is an emerging land phenomenon manifested in Chinese cities to accommodate urban transformation and outward expansion. The resettlement has forced affected rural dwellers to leave their villages and be resettled to high-density urban neighborhoods. By employing surveys with relocated villagers from two different types of LEIR neighborhoods in suburban Shanghai, this paper extends the acculturation discourse to examine villagers’ life transformation in resettlement neighborhoods. Our study addresses three research questions. First, what are the general acculturation patterns manifested among resettled villagers during their life transformation in LEIR neighborhoods? Second, how do individual acculturation outcomes vary by socio-demographic attributes of resettled villagers? Third, how do villagers’ acculturation outcomes influence their current residence preferences? The results indicate villagers’ stronger inclination toward rural village culture than urban neighborhood culture. For the socio-demographic attributes, we find that older villagers are more likely to maintain their original culture; villagers with higher education levels better adapt to urban neighborhood culture; multi-generation living benefits intercultural learning and exchange; and pre-resettlement conditions influence villagers’ acculturation. We further contend that an increase in the probability of a villager’s residence preference for LEIR neighborhoods aligns with an increase in that person’s adherence to urban neighborhood culture and/or a decrease in that individual’s continuity of rural village culture. Comparing the results collected from the two types of resettlement neighborhoods, we posit that socio-spatial mixture and diversity facilitates villagers’ urban integration. Finally, we suggest long-term institutional supports to be continuously provided to resettled villagers for building adaptive resilience.     

Thrilling travel or lonesome long haul? Loneliness and acculturation behavior of adolescents studying abroad

Studying abroad far away from family and friends may put young people at particular risk of experiencing loneliness. From this perspective, behavioral strategies to deal with the challenges of a new living environment have important implications for the development of loneliness over the course of an educational stay abroad. This study investigates adolescents’ experience of loneliness over the course of a school year abroad, as well as the longitudinal interplay between loneliness and the sojourners’ host- and home-cultural behavioral engagement. To that end, we analyzed data from 1,225 student sojourners using latent growth curve models and cross-lagged panel models. Participants were surveyed four times before and during the student exchange period using online questionnaires. Our results showed that loneliness increased during the transition from home to the host country but decreased again afterwards. Host-cultural behavioral engagement predicted lower levels of loneliness by a direct effect, whereas home-cultural behavioral engagement predicted higher levels of loneliness by a time-lagged indirect effect via host-cultural behavioral engagement. Implications for acculturation and loneliness research, and practical implications for the support of student sojourners are discussed.     

A new route towards more harmonious intergroup relationships in England? Majority members’ proximal-acculturation

Although the ways that immigrants relate to UK culture has been a hot topic since the EU-referendum, little attention has been given to how majority group members such as Host Country Nationals (HCNs) relate to immigrants’ culture. Thus, we explored English HCNs’ globalisation-based proximal-acculturation – the extent to which they prefer to adopt aspects of immigrants’ cultures and/or maintain their national culture. Using two-step cluster analysis, a pilot study (N = 63) revealed a separated, integrated, and undifferentiated cluster, with separated HCNs perceiving cultural diversity more as a threat and less as an enrichment. Using latent profile analysis in a second study (N = 220) also revealed a three strategy-solution, identifying assimilated, integrated and separated profiles. Again we examined how these strategies differed across perceptions of cultural threat and enrichment as well as other psychosocial characteristics: identifying with fellow English citizens, recognizing cultural differences whilst not being culturally embedded (constructive marginalization), and various forms of intergroup contact. Separated HCNs identified more with fellow English citizens, endorsed less constructive marginalization, perceived less cultural enrichment yet more cultural threat than HCNs following some of the other strategies. These results stress that the onus of cultural adoption lies with both groups – minorities and majority members – with English HCNs showing distinct proximal-acculturation strategies. Lastly, when exploring a variable-centred approach, proximal-acculturation orientations (cultural maintenance/adoption) mediated the relationship between cultural threat, cultural enrichment, and intergroup contact on positive feelings towards immigrants. Thus, the ways that HCNs acculturate may provide a new route towards harmonious intergroup relations.     

Development and preliminary validation of an acculturation scale for China’s rural to urban migrant children

The large-scale internal migration in China has provided an unparalleled scientific opportunity to study the conceptualization and measurement of adaptation processes among Chinese migrant youth. The present study aims to develop an acculturation instrument for Chinese children participating in the rural to urban migration. The newly developed acculturation scale was tested in a two-wave cross-sectional survey (N = 301 for phase 1 and N = 1773 for phase 2). The results suggested that the acculturation scale possessed adequate content and face validity as evaluated by expert panel and participants. Through exploratory factor analysis, the 20-item scale identified four theoretically supported factors: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. The internal consistency of the four subscales was found to be adequate. The criterion-related validity estimates using the life satisfaction scale and depressive symptoms supported the use and continued development of the acculturation scale.     

When in Rome… A longitudinal investigation of the predictors and the development of student sojourners’ host cultural behavioral engagement

International educational mobility is an important instrument for immersing multicultural diversity into the thinking, feeling, and acting of young global citizens. Yet, little is known about the development of students’ host-cultural behavioral engagement during a stay abroad and the individual characteristics that predict it. We adapted the theory of planned behavior to investigate the dynamic longitudinal interplay between individual predictors and students’ host-cultural behavioral engagement over the course of the stay abroad. Data come from the first four waves of the project Mobility and acculturation experiences of students (MAPS; N = 1,225). Results confirmed the influence of acculturation attitudes, subjective norms, and multicultural self-efficacy on host-cultural behavioral engagement over time. Simultaneously, host-cultural behavioral engagement was identified as a relevant predictor of adolescents’ individual development abroad.     

‘Enculturation’, not ‘acculturation’: Conceptualising and assessing identity processes in migrant communities

Following a critique of Berry's model of ‘acculturation strategies’, the paper considers the relationship between heritage culture and ethnic identity. Analysis of processes of development, maintenance and redefinition of identity in contexts of alternative cultural norms contends with the assumption of conscious choice or strategy towards mainstream and heritage cultures. From the perspective of identity issues, enculturation of cultural elements rather than acculturation is often the more significant process. Going beyond critique to consider issues of the persistence of ethnic identity and processes of cultural reformulation, brings attention to the origins of primordialist sentiment within ethnic identity and the possibilities for generating situationalist perspectives. Reference to empirical investigations using Identity Structure Analysis (introduced as a conceptual framework for explicating complex identity processes) provides evidence for different identity processes and structures according to socio-historical context and the greater malleability of situationalists compared with primordialists in their empathetic identifications with alternative cultural groups.