A resilience-based and meaning-oriented model of acculturation: A sample of mainland Chinese postgraduate students in Hong Kong

Traditional acculturation research has focused mainly on acculturative stress and its negative consequences on the mental health of migrants. However, there has recently been a substantial paradigm shift in acculturation research from a psychopathological perspective to a resilience framework, which focuses on positive adaptation outcomes and their contributing protective factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how to improve the emotional well-being of migrants by developing and testing a resilience model of acculturation using mainland Chinese postgraduate students in Hong Kong as the sample. A total of 400 mainland Chinese students were recruited from six universities in Hong Kong through a cross-sectional survey. A resilience-based and meaning-oriented model of acculturation was developed for Chinese students by path analysis and structural equation modeling. Threat appraisal and sense-making coping partially mediated the relationship between acculturative hassles and negative affect. The effect of acculturative hassles on positive affect was mediated by two pathways: the first was mediated by threat appraisal, sense-making coping, and negative affect; the second was mediated by meaning-in-life. The findings suggest that acculturative hassles and threat appraisal are significant risk factors and that sense-making coping and meaning-in-life are important protective factors for psychological adjustment in cross-cultural adaptation.     

Adept through adaptation: Third culture individuals’ interpersonal sensitivity

This study evaluated the interpersonal sensitivity of third culture individuals, defined as people who lived in a country other than that of their nationality during their developmental years, by comparing them to mono-cultured individuals. While the notion that third culture individuals develop enhanced perceptual skills as a result of intercultural adaptation is widely accepted in popular and professional literature, this assertion has not been empirically tested. Previous research on intercultural communication competence and adaptation has almost exclusively focused on intercultural exposure among adults. This study collected data from 142 individuals using web-based surveys. The instruments measured two aspects of participants’ interpersonal sensitivity: social and emotional sensitivity. Results showed that third culture individuals have significantly higher social sensitivity than mono-cultured individuals, while mono-cultured individuals reported higher emotional sensitivity. Additionally, no significant correlation was found between greater intercultural experience and increased interpersonal sensitivity.     

Changes in multicultural, Muslim and acculturation attitudes in the Netherlands armed forces

The present study examined changes in multicultural, Muslim and acculturation attitudes in the Dutch military. In 2008 and 2006 two large quantitative surveys were conducted within the Dutch military. The results of the survey in 2006 showed a slightly negative attitude of Dutch Defense employees towards multiculturalism and a strong preference for assimilation in the public context. Interestingly, in 2008 attitudes towards Multiculturalism had become more positive as compared to 2006. Although in 2008 a higher rate of employees preferred the integration strategy, the majority still favored migrants to adopt an assimilation strategy.     

A review of the acculturation experiences of international students

Universities in Western countries host a substantial number of international students. These students bring a range of benefits to the host country and in return the students gain higher education. However, the choice to study overseas in Western countries may present many challenges for the international student including the experience of acculturative stress and difficulties with adjustment to the environment of the host country. The present paper provides a review of current acculturation models as applied to international students. Given that these models have typically been empirically tested on migrant and refugee populations only, the review aims to determine the extent to which these models characterise the acculturation experience of international students. Literature pertaining to salient variables from acculturation models was explored including acculturative stressors encountered frequently by international students (e.g., language barriers, educational difficulties, loneliness, discrimination, and practical problems associated with changing environments). Further discussed was the subsequent impact of social support and coping strategies on acculturative stress experienced by international students, and the psychological and sociocultural adaptation of this student group. This review found that the international student literature provides support for some aspects of the acculturation models discussed; however, further investigation of these models is needed to determine their accuracy in describing the acculturation of international students. Additionally, prominent acculturation models portray the host society as an important factor influencing international students’ acculturation, which suggests the need for future intervention.     

Individualism-collectivism among Americans, Turks and Turkish immigrants to the U.S.

Whether immigrants to the U.S. from collectivist cultures will adopt American individualist values is an important question at the intersection of theories on acculturation and individualism/collectivism. According to the assimilation hypothesis, Turkish immigrants to the U.S. should become more individualistic with increasing length of stay. Alternatively, the immigrant interdependence hypothesis proposes that the exigencies of immigration require retaining or increasing collectivist values and behaviors, especially the willingness to rely on others. Measures of individualism and collectivism were obtained from Turkish immigrants to the U.S., Turks residing in Istanbul, and residents of Boston. Bostonians and Istanbul residents differed primarily on vertical collectivism, which is the tendency to subordinate ones own goals to those of in-group authority figures. Immigrants’ values did not change with increasing length of stay in the U.S., refuting the assimilation hypothesis. When immigrants were compared to non-immigrants, immigrants endorsed stronger horizontal and vertical collectivism and more desire to both give and receive, consistent with the immigrant interdependence hypothesis. However, this hypothesis was not uniformly supported. Compared to non-immigrants, immigrants reported more self-reliance with competition, and more internal locus of control, indicating a sense of agency and responsibility. Findings are consistent with the view that immigrants adjust in complex ways to their new society, and may have different temperaments than non-immigrants.     

高职院校非英语专业学生英语学习归因偏好调查研究——以武汉职业技术学院为例

以学者伯纳德·韦纳(Bernard Weiner)在其归因理论中提出的"三个维度与六因素归因模型"为理论依据设计问卷,对武汉职业技术学院非英语专业1500名学生进行问卷调查和访谈,旨在从学生的角度了解英语学习的归因偏好,以及性别差异对归因偏好的影响。调查结果显示女生和男生的归因偏好基本是正确和合理的,倾向于一致,且他们在归因上的性别差异不显著,并发现努力、学习环境、兴趣和自信等因素是影响学生英语学习的最重要的几大因素。     

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.     

基于消费者偏好的供应链社会责任内在动力研究

对消费者偏好进行了细分并引入社会责任动力因子,建立了基于消费者偏好的供应链社会责任模型。运用博弈论的基本思想,分析了供应链履行社会责任的内在动力和政府激励方式。结果表明:履行社会责任较好和较差的供应链为了最大化自己的利润,前者对产品的最佳定价高于后者;当社会责任履行较好供应链的动力因子增加到一定程度后,获得高于社会责任履行较差供应链的利润的难度增加,且获得同样利润差额所需要付出的努力程度高于之前;当供应链的社会责任动力因子、成本增长系数以及可信度价值系数满足一定限制条件时,供应链不仅有足够的动力履行社会责任,而且愿意不断提高社会责任履行程度。     

西安市国内游客旅游偏好实证分析

旅游偏好的研究对旅游市场拓展和旅游资源开发具有重要的指导意义.采用2009年7月西安市旅游市场调查的数据,从旅游信息渠道、旅游资源和旅游方式等方面分析了西安国内游客群体旅游偏好规律和差异,期望为西安旅游市场的拓展、旅游产品多样化发展等提供重要参考依据.     

意愿调查法中的偏好不确定性研究综述

对非市场物品和服务,如环境改善和资源保护,进行经济价值评估是学术界面临的一大难题。意愿调查法（Contingent Valuation Method, CVM）作为非市场物品经济价值评估的一种重要方法,其方法论在不断地接受检验并得到改进,近年来一个重要进展是其分析框架由确定偏好假设向不确定偏好假设转变。为系统认识国际上对CVM中受访者偏好不确定性的研究进展、推动国内相关研究,本文在简单介绍产生不确定结果的原因和不确定偏好假设下标准CVM不足的基础上,系统梳理了不确定偏好的测度方法和不确定偏好下价值计算方法,分析了各种方法的优劣以及考虑不确定性对价值估计值大小和估计效率的影响。总体来看,不确定偏好假设已基本形成共识,个人支付意愿应为随机变量也得到广泛支持。多数学者认为借助一定的测度技术获取的不确定性信息是有价值的,而如何更准确地测度和利用偏好不确定程度以提高资源环境等非市场物品价值估计效率应是今后研究的重点。最后,针对既有研究存在的问题,从加强个人偏好及不确定性的异质性研究、改进问卷设计等方面提出对未来研究工作的建议。