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.     

Muslim Women’s Use of Internet Media in the Process of Acculturation in the United States

This study examines how Muslim women use Internet-based media in the process of acculturation in the United States. Grounded theory methodology (Glaser, 1992) and Sam and Berry’s (2006) model of acculturation were used as theoretical and analytical frameworks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Muslim women to learn about their media use and experiences in forming and maintaining relationships in the United States. Educational opportunities were an emerging theme in the determining factors of immigrating to the United States. The data indicated that Muslim women use a variety of Internet-based media such as Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Viber for communicating with family and friends locally and abroad. A majority of the participants reported that social media allowed them to express a part of their identities. The data suggests that the participants attained the level of acculturation defined as integration. The participants use these media to build and create relationships in their new communities. The combined relationships the participants maintain both locally and abroad seem to play a role in the creation of balance in their lives, which allows them to thrive in their new communities, at school, and at work.     

温故而知新－－古代汉语教学的一点体会

古今汉语既有联系，又有差异。学习古代汉语，重点是掌握二者之异。这些差异有些在方言、成语里还存留着痕迹，温故而知新，把已知的知识和未知的知识联系起来，融会贯通，是一种好的学习方法。     

In these uncertain times: Educators build cultural awareness through planned international experiences

This narrative inquiry explored the effectiveness of planned international experiences in promoting cultural awareness, understanding and appreciation among American educators. Participating educators (n=12) were immersed in foreign cultures for 2–3 weeks during three different summers. To document the effectiveness of cultural immersion, participants completed pre- and post-visit surveys. Pre-visit data showed lack of cultural awareness. After the visit, however, participants had gained broader awareness, understanding and appreciation of host cultures such that familiar cultural practices were rarely used as the only point of reference. Follow-up interviews showed possible sustained acculturation.     

Bridging the gap between theory and applied research in acculturation

This study aims to obtain the scoping map of scientific production in the acculturation field since the 1980 s and overview the applications of the acculturation framework in the last five years. Using Biblioshiny, Phase 1 employs bibliometrics techniques to depict how the scholarship in acculturation has been produced, disseminated, and communicated across different academic fields. A series of research questions are asked to investigate the topic trends, the contributions of the countries and journals, and the impact and productivity of authorship and articles. Phase 2, then, uses a systematic review method to investigate how empirical studies have applied and operationalized the acculturation framework. The results of Phases 1 and 2 indicate that there are discrepancies between theoretical directions and applications in terms of dimensions and acculturation indicators.     

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.     

Revisiting the integration hypothesis again: High heterogeneity complicates the interpretation of cross-sectional evidence

A recent meta-analytical paper (Bierwiaczonek & Kunst, 2021) sparked a controversy by demonstrating that cross-sectional associations between acculturation preferences and adaptation are weak and heterogenous, and approach zero when assessed over time. Some responses criticized the paper by arguing that small but robust effects can make a real-life difference if applied to millions of migrants. In this paper, we present additional analyses to illustrate how the heterogeneity of correlational integration effects complicates and potentially undermines this notion. We estimate that true effects of integration and heritage culture orientation are negative almost 30 % of the time, and only true effects of mainstream culture orientation seem to be relatively homogenous. We conclude that the combination of a weak effect with high heterogeneity makes integration effects largely unpredictable, meaning that for some migrant groups, adopting the integration strategy will be associated with positive outcomes, and for others with negative outcomes, with no evidence that any of those outcomes are caused by integration.     

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.     

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.     

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.