Majority group perceptions of minority acculturation preferences: The role of perceived threat

Recently, there has been growing focus on the intergroup influences of acculturation preferences, and in particular majority members’ perceptions of how minority members want to acculturate. This paper contributes to this emergent literature by examining the extent to which majority members in the UK perceive that minority members’ preferences for heritage culture maintenance and majority culture adoption are conflicting, and whether this is moderated by perceived threat. One hundred and sixty-three participants who self-reported being white British completed an online survey. Participants were asked about their perceptions of minority acculturation preferences for two target groups living in the UK: Pakistani and German minority groups. Overall, perceived culture maintenance and perceived culture adoption were weakly negatively associated for both groups. Moreover, results confirmed the pre-registered hypotheses, but only for the Pakistani target group. At higher levels of perceived threat, perceived culture maintenance was related to less perceived culture adoption. However, when threat was low, there was no association between perceived heritage culture maintenance and perceived culture adoption. For the German target group, threat did not moderate the relationship between perceived culture maintenance and perceived culture adoption. Findings suggest that depending on levels of perceived threat and the minority group in question, majority members perceiving that minority members maintain their heritage culture has different consequences. Results are discussed in relation to implications for integration, intergroup relations in culturally plural societies, and the need to focus on specific minority groups when studying acculturation processes.     

Understanding transnational political involvement among Senegalese migrants: The role of acculturation preferences and perceived discrimination

In political debates, migrants’ political involvement in their countries of origin and successful adaptation to receiving countries are often portrayed as incompatible. We address this concern by examining the links between acculturation preferences, perceived discrimination, and migrants’ transnational political involvement in their country of origin. In line with collective action research, a cross-sectional questionnaire study (N = 84) among Senegalese migrants in Paris (France) and Geneva (Switzerland) examined three pathways to transnational political involvement (motivations and actual behaviour). Perceived discrimination, the grievances pathway, was positively related to both transnational motivations (but only when desire to adopt the receiving culture was low) and political behaviour in Senegal. Desire to adopt the culture of the receiving society as an acculturation preference, the embeddedness pathway, was also positively linked to transnational motivations and political behaviour. Finally, desire to maintain the culture of origin as an acculturation preference—the collective identification pathway—was unrelated to transnational political involvement. These findings underscore the compatibility of transnational political involvement in countries of origin and adaptation to receiving societies. We discuss the pivotal role of political psychology in bringing together acculturation psychology and transnationalism studies.     

Host society's dislike of the Islamic veil: The role of subtle prejudice, values, and religion

The wearing of the Islamic veil by Muslim women has become a source of tensions in Western European countries. In order to investigate majority members’ attitudes towards the veil, the present two studies (Ns = 166 and 147), carried out in Belgium, integrated three lines of research that have focused on (a) the role of subtle prejudice/racism on the host society's attitudes towards immigrants, (b) the role of values on acculturation, and (c) the role of religious attitudes on prejudice. Results revealed the effects of subtle prejudice/racism, values (self-enhancement values and security versus universalism), and religious attitudes (literal anti-religious thinking versus spirituality), in predicting greater levels of anti-veil attitudes beyond the effects of other related variables such as age and political conservatism. The studies also suggest the importance of including religious attitudes as part of the intergroup-relation factors that predict attitudes towards immigrants, at least with regard to specific components of intercultural relations.     

Personal reactions to ‘strange’ situations: Attachment styles and acculturation attitudes of immigrants and majority members

A growing number of studies examine the influence of individual factors on acculturation attitudes of immigrants, but few studies focus on majority members’ attitudes. In this paper, two studies are reported on the relation between attachment styles and acculturation attitudes of both immigrants (N=177) and majority members (N=243) in the Netherlands. Until now very few studies have associated cultural adjustment with attachment styles. This is remarkable, because attachment theory refers to interaction with others in new situations. Four different styles of attachment (the secure, dismissing, preoccupied and fearful attachment styles) are related to Berry's classification of acculturation attitudes. People, both immigrants and majority members, with a secure attachment style were positive towards integration, whereas people with a dismissing attachment style were not. Dismissing immigrants were more positive towards separation. Whereas both immigrants and majority members with a secure attachment style showed a similar pattern of correlations between attachment and acculturation, they seem to react quite differently, and even in opposite ways, when they have a preoccupied attachment style. Yet, the different reactions may be caused by the same psychological process: The existential ambivalence of preoccupied people may lead to diverse reactions.     

The role of discordant acculturation attitudes in perceived threat: An analysis of host and immigrant attitudes in Germany

The present research examines discordant acculturation attitudes of host society members and immigrants as an antecedent to intergroup threat. Based on integrated threat theory and the concordance model of acculturation, we posited that discordance on culture maintenance and on desire for contact would predict intergroup threat beyond the influence of other antecedents of threat, such as in-group identification, knowledge, and negative contact. A study with 202 German host society members and 151 Turkish and Italian immigrants was conducted. In line with our assumptions, path analyses revealed that culture discordance and contact discordance contribute independently to the prediction of realistic threat, symbolic threat, and intergroup anxiety for host society members and immigrants. Moreover, differences in threat between cultures were mediated by the discordance in acculturation attitudes.     

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.     

Traumatic experiences,acculturation, and psychological distress among Syrian refugees in Turkey: The mediating role of coping strategies

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world. So far, many studies investigated the mental health problems among Syrian refugees in Turkey and other hosting countries. However, little attention has been paid to the acculturation process of Syrian refugees in Turkey. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 409 Syrian refugees in Mardin, Turkey. Results showed that traumatic experiences depleted problem-focused, emotion-focused, and maladaptive coping strategies. Emotion-focused coping strategies mediated the relationship between traumatic experiences and maintenance of the heritage culture and adoption of the destination culture. To conclude, our findings underscore the importance of traumatic experiences and emotion-focused coping strategies for integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey. Psychosocial interventions enhancing emotion-focused coping capacities might mitigate the adverse impact of traumatic experiences on integration. We discussed the strengths and limitations of the study considering the current literature.     

Expectations and acculturation: Further unpacking of adjustment mechanisms within the Russian-speaking community in Montreal

Recent years have witnessed a significant growth in the Russian-speaking community in Montreal, Canada. However, little is currently known about the predictors of psychological adjustment in immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). In this study we explored the expectations that this group of immigrants (N = 271) hoped to fulfill in their adopted society, the extent to which these expectations have been fulfilled, and the impact of fulfilled expectations on psychological adjustment. We found that the degree of fulfilled expectations was significantly associated with better psychological adjustment independent of personality traits, language proficiency, and acculturation. These findings contribute to the literature on cross-cultural adaptation of immigrants from the FSU and highlight the potential importance of expectations for the study of acculturation more generally.     

Acculturation,discrimination and wellbeing among second generation of immigrants in Canada

This study examines the acculturation, experiences of discrimination and wellbeing of a representative sample of over 3000 adult second generation of immigrants in Canada; 43% were born in Canada, while 57% immigrated before the age of 12 years. Four acculturation profiles were created using two sense of belonging questions: those who have strong sense of belonging to both Canada and own ethnic group (integrated); those who have a strong sense of belonging to Canada only (assimilated); those who have strong sense of belonging to own ethnic group only (separated); and those who have weak sense of belonging to both Canada or own ethnic group (marginalised). In the study sample, 75% are in the integration group, 15% in assimilation, 6% in separation, and 5% in marginalization. Wellbeing is assessed with two questions about life satisfaction and self-rated mental health. Those in the integration group have a significantly higher level on both measures of wellbeing. The experience of discrimination is significantly associated with being in the separation group. The effect of discrimination on wellbeing varied by acculturation profile: marginalization amplifies the effect of discrimination, while assimilation mitigates it. Social and demographic factors also affect wellbeing, particularly having low levels of education, income and employment. Implications for the settlement process are suggested.     

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.     

Social axioms and acculturation orientations of English Canadians toward British and Arab Muslim immigrants

The goal of this study was to examine the role of Social Axioms in the endorsement of acculturation orientations held by members of the receiving society toward immigrants. Acculturation orientations of English Canadian undergraduates toward immigrants from Britain and immigrants of Arab Muslim background were measured. Respondents also completed the Social Axioms Survey (SAS) measuring five basic dimensions of social beliefs. A total of 349 undergraduate students (278 female, 71 male) attending a Southern Ontario University in Canada participated in the study. Results showed that participants endorsed the welcoming acculturation orientations, Individualism, Integrationism, and Intergrationism-transformation, more toward culturally close (British) than culturally distant (Arab Muslim) immigrants. Participants also endorsed the unwelcoming acculturation orientations, Assimilationism, Segregationism, and Exclusionism, more toward Arab Muslim than British immigrants. Additionally, social beliefs were related to the acculturation orientations held by English Canadian undergraduates toward immigrants of both British and Arab Muslim origin. More specifically, Religiosity beliefs were associated with the endorsement of Assimilationist, Segregationist and Exclusionist acculturation orientations toward culturally distant and not toward culturally close immigrants.     

A latent class analysis of acculturation and depressive symptoms among Latino immigrants: Examining the role of social support

Drawing upon Berry’s (1980) bi-dimensional model of acculturation and using data from a community-based sample of adults in Miami-Dade, Florida, the current investigation compared various immigrant acculturation profiles in their levels of depressive symptoms and assessed the mediating role of social support in explaining mental health differences across these acculturation profiles. Latent class analysis specified separated, partial separated, bicultural and marginal profiles of acculturation among Latino immigrants. Notably, our findings identified a small, albeit significant, marginal class among Latino immigrants, and both bivariate and multivariate findings demonstrated that those in marginal class reported the poorest mental health. Our findings further revealed that the observed mental health disadvantage among the marginal class relative to other immigrants was due to their disadvantage in family support . Overall, this investigation further underscores the importance of family support as an element of immigrant acculturation experience and mental health. From a policy perspective, social support, specifically family support, is critical for immigrant mental health, and a lack of family support may increase the risk for developing a marginal experience and mental health problems among a growing population of Latino immigrants in the United States.     

Acculturation orientations of competing host communities toward valued and devalued immigrants

This study explored how members of competing host communities may endorse different acculturation orientations towards valued and devalued immigrants settled in the bilingual city of Montreal. Francophone (N=422) and Anglophone (N=401) host community students from low-, medium- and high-ethnic diversity colleges completed the host community acculturation scale (HCAS) along with a questionnaire monitoring a range of social psychological correlates of acculturation orientations. Results showed that Anglophones were more integrationist and individualist and less assimilationist than Francophones. Both Francophones and Anglophones were more integrationist and individualist and less assimilationist, segregationist and exclusionist toward valued than devalued immigrants. Attending a multiethnic college had no influence on respondents’ acculturation orientations. The more welcoming acculturation orientations of Anglophones compared to Francophones was corroborated by results obtained with immigrants attending the French and the English colleges. Social psychological profiles of the respective acculturation orientations were similar across both host communities thus supporting the construct validity of the HCAS. Attitude toward co-national outgroup was a significant determinant of each acculturation orientations, suggesting that intergroup relations between rival host communities has an impact on acculturation orientations toward immigrants.     

Examining the effect of perceived group norms on the indirect relationship between intergroup contact and anti-Muslim prejudice among white Americans

Prior studies have found that normative group pressure plays a significant role in shaping prejudice-related attitudes. The present paper examined the role of perceived group norms on the indirect relationship between intergroup contact and anti-Muslim prejudice in a cross-sectional sample of 428 non-Hispanic White American adults, the racial group with the strongest anti-Muslim sentiment. To begin, we tested the indirect relationship between intergroup contact and anti-Muslim prejudice via perceived realistic and symbolic threats as well as intergroup anxiety. Next, we tested whether these mediation effects were conditional on whether group norms were perceived as tolerant or intolerant. We employed Process Macro to test these hypotheses. Our data confirmed (partial) mediation of the contact-prejudice relationship via threat perceptions and intergroup anxiety. Moreover, the moderated mediation analysis showed that while the mediation effects of threat perceptions were not conditional on perceived group norms, the mediation effect of intergroup anxiety was. Specifically, for respondents with perceived intolerant norms, negative intergroup contact demonstrated a stronger relationship with anti-Muslim prejudice through intergroup anxiety compared to respondents with perceived tolerant norms. Furthermore, given the possible bidirectionality of the contact-prejudice relationship, we tested an alternative model examining whether perceived intolerant norms mediate the effect of prejudice on contact. Our data supported this hypothesis, fitting a model that prejudice creates the intolerant group norms that in turn leads to negative contact with Muslims. The alternative model in fact showed a better fit to the data than the proposed model. This study advances theories of contact, integrated threats, and group norm theory to the context of intergroup relations with Muslims. Our findings provide support for the notion of changing the normative climate, and equally promoting positive intergroup contact, with the goal of enhancing relations between Muslim and non-Muslim individuals.     

The role of perceived cultural distance,personal growth initiative,language proficiencies,and tridimensional acculturation orientations for psychological adjustment among international students

We investigated the acculturation process of international students (N = 319, 162 female) from 62 countries who were residing in the Netherlands, using the acculturation framework by Arends-Tóth and Van de Vijver (2007). We applied SEM to test the model that acculturation conditions (perceived cultural distance [PCD], personal growth initiative [PGI], proficiency in English and the host language, and length of residence) in conjunction with acculturation orientations as mediators (host, heritage, expatriate) predict psychological adjustment as acculturation outcome (acculturative stress, satisfaction with life, mental health problems). We found direct and indirect effects of acculturation conditions on adjustment; high PGI, high English and Dutch proficiencies, and low PCD were associated with better adjustment. Host orientation (predicted by high PGI, Dutch proficiency, and low PCD) was positively associated with adjustment. Heritage orientation (predicted by low English proficiency) was negatively associated with adjustment. As a novel aspect, we included expatriate orientation - an orientation towards other expatriates in the host community. Expatriate orientation was predicted by low Dutch proficiency and was positively associated with adjustment. We also observed direct links between acculturation conditions and outcomes: positive associations between PCD and acculturative stress and between length of residence and acculturative stress; and negative associations between PGI and mental health problems and between English proficiency and acculturative stress. We provide evidence that including expatriate orientation is relevant among international students: It is stronger than both host and heritage orientations, thereby underlining the importance of studying acculturation in a contextualized way.     

Acculturation attitudes and adaptation among South Korean residents in Japan: The mediating role of coping strategies

Acculturation processes and intergroup experiences of minority groups have been little studied in East Asian societies, including Japan. The number of migrants in Japanese society is steadily increasing, suggesting that the country is a new immigration destination in the 21st century. Therefore, further research on the acculturation processes of immigrants in Japan is warranted. This study examined the relationships among acculturation attitudes, coping strategies, and psychological adjustment in a sample of South Korean newcomers living in Japan. The results of this study support the integration hypothesis, which states that balanced acculturation attitudes that favor engagement in both the host and home cultures lead to higher levels of psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Assimilation attitudes did not contribute significantly to adaptation. Different coping strategies employed by individuals during interethnic discrimination mediated the links between individual acculturation attitudes and the two aspects of adaptation. By linking acculturation attitudes and relevant social behaviors, this study sheds light on the role of coping strategies as mediators of the relationships between acculturation attitudes and psychological and sociocultural adjustment in ethnic minority groups.     

The effect of vertical-horizontal individualism-collectivism on acculturation and the moderating role of gender

Based on a sample of 131 Chinese international students in Germany, the study examined (1) the influence of vertical-horizontal individualism-collectivism (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998) on mainstream and heritage acculturation and (2) the moderating role of gender on these relationships. It was hypothesized that both vertical-horizontal individualism would enhance mainstream acculturation and both vertical-horizontal collectivism would enhance heritage acculturation. From a gender role and a value-motivation perspective, a moderating effect of gender was also hypothesized. Since the vertical dimension is related to power and achievement values which is more important for men, men who scored high in this dimension would be more likely to acculturate than women. Since the horizontal dimension is related to universalism and benevolence which is more important for women, women who scored high in this dimension would be more likely to acculturate than men. The hierarchical regression analysis shows that (1) women's mainstream acculturation was higher than men's, but no gender difference was found in heritage acculturation; (2) the influence of horizontal individualism on mainstream acculturation was stronger for women than for men, but adopting vertical individualism has an equally positive effect on acculturation for both gender groups; (3) vertical collectivism had a positive influence on heritage acculturation for men but not for women, while horizontal collectivism had a stronger influence on heritage acculturation for women than men. These findings were discussed using a gender role perspective and the possible changes in cultural transitions.     

Bringing together acculturation theory and intergroup contact theory: Predictors of Flemings’ expectations of Turks’ acculturation behavior

The present paper explores Flemish majority members’ expectations concerning the acculturation of Turkish minorities. We studied two kinds of antecedents: majority members’ perceptions of Turkish minorities’ acculturation behavior and their experiences of intergroup contact. The possible mediating role of outgroup affect was also investigated. 247 Flemish high school students completed a survey. Data were analyzed using path analyses. Results show that positive contact experiences and perceiving that Turkish immigrants make efforts to engage in contact with the host group and/or to adopt the host culture are associated with less negative affective reactions towards Turkish migrants. Perceiving that Turkish immigrants maintain their heritage culture is associated with more negative affective reactions. Our results further revealed that increased negative affective reactions are associated with less support for culture maintenance and for contact with the host group but with a higher demand for host culture adoption. The present results also show that expectations of contact engagement and expectations of host culture adoption cannot be considered as equivalent. This implies that results from studies using Berry's conceptualization of acculturation expectations (Berry, 2001) and results from studies using Bourhis’ conceptualization of acculturation expectations (Bourhis, Moïse, Perreault, & Senécal, 1997) are not directly comparable. Our data also clearly disconfirm the orthogonal structure of the fourfold acculturation model for majority members’ acculturation expectations, suggesting that relying on the specific dimensions defining acculturation expectations may constitute a more valid approach to understand ongoing acculturation processes.     

Acculturation strategies of multi-cultural family adolescents in South Korea: Marginalization,separation, assimilation,and integration

Little is known about acculturation strategies among multicultural family adolescents in South Korea. This study examined whether the life satisfaction of multicultural family adolescents differed by acculturation strategy. In addition, this study examined the factors that predict acculturation strategies. For this purpose, we used a one-way analysis of variance and multinomial logistic regression. The data for this study were taken from the Multi-cultural Adolescents Panel Study. The frequencies of acculturation strategies were: marginalization, 297 (18.2 %); separation, 97 (6.0 %); assimilation, 839 (51.5 %); and integration, 395 (24.3 %). The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that life satisfaction was highest for integration and decreased for assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Gender, national identity, self-esteem, resilience, parental neglect, parental acculturative stress, family support, friends’ support, and teacher support were found to be significantly associated with the categorized acculturation strategies. Based on the results, implications with suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The double-edged sword of identification. The divergent effects of identification on acculturation stress among Ukrainian immigrants in Poland

Research on the ‘social cure’ points to the many positive outcomes of having strong social identifications for minority and immigrant groups. At the same time, identification is a multi-faceted psychological phenomenon, combining three dimensions: ingroup centrality, ingroup affect, and ingroup ties. The main aim of the present study was to assess the divergent effects of these three facets of social identification on acculturation stress experienced by the members of two ethnolinguistic communities of Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. The study found that ingroup centrality was related to higher levels of acculturation stress, whereas positive ingroup affect and strong ingroup ties were related to lower acculturation stress. Additionally, the immigrant community who speak Ukrainian as their mother tongue reported stronger Ukrainian identification than those declaring Russian as their mother tongue, leading to lower levels of acculturation stress among members of this community. The present study suggests that those aspects of identification that promote exclusivity (ingroup centrality) can be maladaptive in the process of acculturation, whereas the more binding ones (ingroup ties and affect) facilitate acculturation.