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.     

A two-way process? A qualitative and quantitative investigation of majority members’ acculturation

Acculturation refers to changes that result from intercultural contact. Although it is commonly defined as a two-way process with changes occurring among both minority members and majority members, surprisingly little research has focused on the acculturation of majority members. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, the present study attempted to fill this gap by exploring how and how much majority members change because of exposure to immigrant cultures. In the first part, using an open-response format, majority members reported positive as well as negative cultural change across a broad range of life domains. Most changes were reported in the private as compared to public sphere, and in terms of behaviours rather than values. Second, based on their responses to quantitative acculturation scales, the majority-group participants could meaningfully be clustered into three acculturation strategies commonly used to describe minority-group members’ acculturation, namely a separation, integration and undifferentiated acculturation cluster. No evidence for an assimilation cluster was found. Separated majority members (i.e., who maintain their majority culture but do not adopt immigrant cultures) reported significantly more identity threat and perceived ethnic discrimination, but also higher self-esteem. Interestingly, integrated majority members (i.e., who both maintain their majority culture and adopt immigrant cultures) were three times less likely to live in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods as compared to separated participants. The results of this study offer important insights into majority members’ acculturation experiences and their psychological importance. Implications for culturally plural societies and future research are discussed.     

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.     

Probing identity,integration and adaptation: Big questions,little answers

In 0035 and 0040 acculturation typology integration is defined by two core components – maintenance of traditional heritage culture and participation in the wider society. These components, underpinned by attitudes, behaviors and identities, are believed to contribute in an additive fashion to the psychological and sociocultural adaptation of immigrants and ethnic minorities, and international research has shown that integration generally leads to more positive outcomes than separation, assimilation or marginalization. This paper draws on an international program of research and describes four multi-method studies that raise and explore key questions about the process, assessment and context of integration and its relationship to adaptation. Three questions are posed for consideration: (1) How is the dynamic process of integration experienced and articulated by immigrants? (2) How do our conceptualization and measurement of identity as an aspect of heritage culture maintenance impact the additive model of integration and adaptation? and (3) Under what conditions does integration fail to be adaptive? Tentative answers are offered, and recommendations are made for future studies to guide the development of acculturation theory and research.     

Predicting Acculturative Orientations of American College Students toward International Students

Acculturation refers to the degree to which immigrants maintain their ethnic culture and accept or reject the new dominant culture. While considerable studies have focused on immigrants’ acculturative processes, little is known about acculturation from the perspective of the host culture. This study examined American students’ acculturation orientations toward international students based on the concept of interactive acculturation and investigated the influence of ethnocentrism, sex, and Facebook use on such acculturation attitudes. Results from a survey of 346 American college students indicated a high degree of individualism and integrationism over other orientations, namely transformation-integrationism, exclusionism, assimilationism, and segregationism. The model with ethnocentrism, sex, and Facebook usage predicted five of the six acculturation orientations, with ethnocentrism being the most important predictor.     

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.     

Psychological and socio-cultural adaptation of Syrian refugees in Turkey

We studied the psychological and socio-cultural adaptation processes of Syrian refugees in Turkey using semi-structured, face-to-face, in-depth interviews among 15 participants. The study explored the themes and issues emerging in the psychological and socio-cultural adaptation processes such as life-satisfaction, contact with the host community and future plans of Syrian adults. Berry’s acculturation model (1997) is used to form the theoretical basis of this research. Our findings revealed that psychological and socio-cultural adaptation of Syrian refugees are strongly influenced by economic concerns, pre-migration expectations, religion and perceptions of Turkish natives’ expectations/ attitudes towards Syrians. From the perspective of the informants, economic concerns and uncertainty regarding duration of stay have a negative impact on refugees’ acculturation, leading to delayed psychological and socio-cultural adaptation. Positive perceptions of Turkish natives’ expectations/ attitudes towards Syrians are perceived to increase motivation to seek social support, which promotes well-being and life satisfaction in Turkey. Yet, negative perceptions such as prejudice and discrimination, may pose a risk for psychological health and low socio-cultural adaptation. One major finding of the paper is the two-fold impact of religion on Syrian refugees: Religion can be considered a binding/ equalizing function subsuming refugee and native groups under a superordinate identity. Nonetheless, it also appears to generate social distance when perceived as a threat to the secular national identity. The findings of this research can be used to minimize factors that undermine favorable acculturation outcomes and promote factors that facilitate high levels of psychological and socio-cultural adaptation.     

Acculturation orientations and mental health when facing post-migration stress: Differences between unaccompanied and accompanied male Middle Eastern refugee adolescents,first- and second-generation immigrant and native peers in Germany

ObjectiveThis study examined the mental health of Middle Eastern male unaccompanied refugee adolescents in Germany in relation to the mental health of accompanied refugee peers, first- and second-generation immigrant and native peers. In particular, it was investigated whether differences in the mental health of unaccompanied and accompanied refugees and immigrant peers were related to differences in the perception of post-migration stress, and whether this association changed with different acculturation orientations.MethodIn a cross-sectional study, 193 adolescents (M_age = 18.1 years, SD = 1.74 years; n_refugees = 74, n_migrants = 59, n_natives = 60) completed self-report measures of mental health, trauma, acculturation styles, and post-migration stress.ResultsAnalyses of variance revealed that unaccompanied refugees suffered most from internalizing and trauma symptoms, while accompanied peers, first- and second-generation immigrant and native adolescents did not differ significantly in internalizing symptoms. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that more integrated adolescents were generally associated with lower internalizing symptoms and integration also buffered against detrimental effects of post-migration stressors. Marginalized adolescents showed more internalizing symptoms, especially in the lights of more post-migration stress. Both assimilation and separation had no direct effects on internalizing symptoms. However, assimilation buffered against detrimental effects of post-migration stress on internalizing symptoms, whereas separation amplified these effects.ConclusionAn involvement in host society and an orientation towards the host culture fosters mental health of acculturating Middle Eastern adolescents in Germany when post-migration stress is perceived, particularly for unaccompanied refugee adolescents. Moreover, additionally maintaining the culture of origin seems to be in general most beneficial.     

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.     

Acculturation and alcohol: Exploring experiences of alcohol for Asian international students in Australia

Acculturation can be a challenging experience for Asian international students moving to Western countries for study. The majority of international students are young adults, a population that has recently entered the legal alcohol purchase age, and who might not be familiar with new regulatory contexts and socio-cultural environments where drinking is common. Informed by theories of acculturative stress, ethno-identity conflict and adaptation, we explored 15 Asian international students’ lived experiences of alcohol in Australia, and the social, cultural and religious contexts within which these experiences were situated. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis exploring subjective experiences of alcohol and acculturation processes. Participants articulated numerous and varied experiences of their transitions, however, did not draw connections between stressful transition experiences and subsequent drinking. Most participants reported having increased their drinking since arrival in Australia, and although many participants had adapted to Australian patterns of drinking and socialising, they also reported it was challenging to navigate different cultural and social expectations and values around alcohol that were strongly rooted as a part of their ethnic heritage. Our participants’ experiences may be useful to inform future research on this much under-studied topic, as well as being used by universities to consider appropriate strategies for addressing alcohol-related acculturation processes as part of orientation curriculum with international students.