David L. Sam

The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology.

If unable to reach Dr. Allen, you can call the Psychology Department direct. Contact Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology. ( pp. 198-217). The Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology. Sam, David L. Berry, John W. Published: Not yet published available from May 2016 van de Vijver, Fons J. R., Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Tilburg Sam J. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp.

Acculturation When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet

In cross-cultural psychology, one of the major sources of the development and display of human behavior is the contact between cultural populations. Such intercultural contact results in both cultural and psychological changes. At the cultural level, collective activities and social institutions become altered, and at the psychological level, there are changes in an individuals daily behavioral repertoire and sometimes in experienced stress. The two most common research findings at the individual level are that there are large variations in how people acculturate and in how well they adapt to this process. Variations in ways of acculturating have become known by the terms integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Two variations in adaptation have been identified, involving psychological well-being and sociocultural competence. One important finding is that there are relationships between how individuals acculturate and how well they adapt: Often those who integrate (defined as being engaged in both their heritage culture and in the larger society) are better adapted than those who acculturate by orienting themselves to one or the other culture (by way of assimilation or separation) or to neither culture (marginalization). Implications of these findings for policy and program development and for future research are presented.In cross-cultural psychology, one of the major sources of the development and display of human behavior is the contact between cultural populations. Such intercultural contact results in both cultural and psychological changes. At the cultural level, collective activities and social institutions become altered, and at the psychological level, there are changes in an individual’s daily behavioral repertoire and sometimes in experienced stress. The two most common research findings at the individual level are that there are large variations in how people acculturate and in how well they adapt to this process. Variations in ways of acculturating have become known by the terms integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Two variations in adaptation have been identified, involving psychological well-being and sociocultural competence. One important finding is that there are relationships between how individuals acculturate and how well they adapt: Often those who integrate (defined as being engaged in both their heritage culture and in the larger society) are better adapted than those who acculturate by orienting themselves to one or the other culture (by way of assimilation or separation) or to neither culture (marginalization). Implications of these findings for policy and program development and for future research are presented.

Culture-Level Dimensions of Social Axioms and Their Correlates across 41 Cultures

Leung and colleagues have revealed a five-dimensional structure of social axioms across individuals from five cultural groups. The present research was designed to reveal the culture level factor structure of social axioms and its correlates across 41 nations. An ecological factor analysis on the 60 items of the Social Axioms Survey extracted two factors: Dynamic Externality correlates with value measures tapping collectivism, hierarchy, and conservatism and with national indices indicative of lower social development. Societal Cynicism is less strongly and broadly correlated with previous values measures or other national indices and seems to define a novel cultural syndrome. Its national correlates suggest that it taps the cognitive component of a cultural constellation labeled maleficence, a cultural syndrome associated with a general mistrust of social systems and other people. Discussion focused on the meaning of these national level factors of beliefs and on their relationships with individual level factors of belief derived from the same data set.

Satisfaction with life among international students: An exploratory study

The study examines self-reported satisfaction with life and thefactors predicting it among 304 international students (159 malesand 145 females) at the University of Bergen, Norway. Thestudents had on the average lived 2.34 years (SD = 2.31) inNorway. The students reported on the whole good satisfactionwith life. However, students from Europe and North America wereon the whole more satisfied than their peers from Africa andAsia. It was also found that factors such as the number offriends, satisfaction with finances, perceived discrimination andinformation received prior to the foreign sojourn significantlyaffected the students life satisfaction. The importance ofthese factors differed for students from developing and developedcountries where some paradoxical findings came out. Theseparadoxical findings may be the result of the Norwegian contextof the study. Language proficiency (with respect to host andEnglish languages), and having a host national friend did notshow significant effect on life satisfaction.

The effect of acculturation and social support on change in mental health among young immigrants

The aim of the study was to examine the mediating and moderating roles of social support in the acculturation–mental health link, and to investigate how these processes combine with self-esteem to affect mental health change. Questionnaire data were collected twice from 137 immigrant students, first at the upstart in junior high school, and then again a year later (8th and 9th grade). Acculturation was described in positive terms as a developmental process towards gaining competence within more than one sociocultural setting. Perceived discrimination and ethnic identity crisis were included as risk factors in this process. A model of structural relations was tested, which after some modifications demonstrated a close fit to the data. The results supported our suggestions of two indirect paths of effects of acculturation on mental health change: one through culture domain-specific social support and another through self-esteem. Self-esteem was also identified as a mediator of identity crisis. Significant interaction effects between social support and culture competencies were demonstrated in addition to buffer effects of class and family support in relation to identity crisis and discrimination respectively. The study adds to our understanding of positive and negative developmental pathways in multicultural societies.

Immigration, acculturation and the paradox of adaptation in Europe

Drawing from the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY) dataset, this paper examines the immigrant paradox phenomenon among a group of immigrant youth in five European countries. The sample consisted of over 2700 immigrant and 1400 national youth (age range 13 – 18 years) living in Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. At the core of the immigrant paradox is the counterintuitive finding that immigrants often show better adaptation outcomes than their national peers in spite of poorer socioeconomic status. However, the paper argues for a more conservative position based on three criteria for concluding the existence of the paradox. On the bases of these criteria, the paper found mixed support for the immigrant paradox. Whereas the pattern of socio-cultural adaptation for first- and second-generation immigrants resembled the immigrant paradox, results for psychological adaptation were opposite to the paradox. Reasons for the mixed findings are discussed.

Intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and host-national families and their impact on psychological adaptation

This study investigated the relationship between intergenerational value discrepancies and psychological adaptation among adolescents with immigrant background (mean age=15.5 years) in Norway and Sweden. Results from two cohorts (parents and their children) of immigrant and host-national families in the two countries (n=574) indicated that immigrant adolescents on the whole neither differed from their host peers with respect to psychological adaptation nor on value discrepancies. Value discrepancies were weakly related to psychological adaptation. Results are discussed as to whether the findings may reflect a general phenomenon for all adolescents or specific to those with immigrant background.

Predicting Life Satisfaction Among Adolescents from Immigrant Families in Norway

OBJECTIVE To find out the degree of life satisfaction among adolescents with immigrant background, and the factors that may predict the level of life satisfaction among them. METHOD Five hundred and six adolescents (mean age = 15.34, SD = 1.67) with immigrant background from Vietnam, Pakistan, Chile and Turkey were recruited from five major Norwegian cities, and were asked to fill in a questionnaire with several measures, including demographic information, life satisfaction, acculturation strategies, ethnic identity and mastery. A control group involving 209 Norwegian youth were also included in the study. RESULTS On the whole the adolescents with immigrant background were found to be fairly satisfied with their life (M = 3.55, SD = 0.81). Using Socio-Economic Status as covariance, adolescents with immigrant background did not differ from their Norwegian counterparts on life satisfaction level (F = 0.58, p > 0.05). Chileans were found to be the most satisfied group, and Vietnamese the least satisfied. The higher life satisfaction among Chileans compared with the other ethnic groups is viewed as a possible selection bias. While demographic factors accounted for just 4% of the explained variance, personal factors accounted for over 20% of the explained variance. Mastery (beta = 0.39) and ethnic identity (beta = 0.17) were the two most important predictors of life satisfaction. Living in an ethnically homogenous neighbourhood was also found to be related to life satisfaction. Perceived discrimination and integration as an acculturation strategy were not related to life satisfaction. CONCLUSION The study concludes that helping adolescents with immigrant background to develop a good sense of mastery and a positive ethnic identity will go a long way to boost their life satisfaction.

The Intergenerational Transmission of Values in National and Immigrant Families: The Role of Zeitgeist

Correspondence in value orientation between parents and their offspring may be due to actual transmission processes between generations, but it may also be due to influences from the general value context in society that are common to parents and their offspring. This common value context is referred to as Zeitgeist. The present study deals with one family relationship value (i.e., parents’ and adolescents’ obligations toward the family). Participants were 1,252 immigrant and 726 national adolescent–parent dyads from 10 Western countries. There were significant relationships between the value placed on family obligations among parents and offspring, and these were independent of gender. Zeitgeist effects, both intergenerational and intragenerational, were found. The strength of these Zeitgeist effects depended on the basis for defining Zeitgeist, either a person’s own ethnic group or the wider community including both nationals and immigrants. For explaining national adolescents’ acceptance of their family obligations, both the ethnic and the national Zeitgeist played a role, whereas in the immigrant groups only the ethnic Zeitgeist played a significant role. In short, in an immigration context it makes sense to distinguish the influence of a person’s own ethnic group from the influence of the wider community, including other ethnic groups. Explanations are suggested and implications are discussed.

Developing and Evaluating the Social Axioms Survey in Eleven Countries: Its Relationship With the Five-Factor Model of Personality

Based on a deductive, culturally decentered approach, new items were generated to improve the reliability of the original Social Axioms Survey, which measures individuals’ general beliefs about the world. In Study 1, results from 11 countries support the original five-factor structure and achieve higher reliability for the axiom dimensions as measured by the new scale. Moreover, moderate but meaningful associations between axiom and Big-Five personality dimensions were found. Temporal change of social axioms at the culture level was examined and found to be moderate. In Study 2, additional new items were generated for social complexity and fate control, then assessed in Hong Kong and the United States. Reliability was further improved for both dimensions. Additionally, two subfactors of fate control were identified: fate determinism and fate alterability. Fate determinism, but not fate alterability, related positively to neuroticism. Other relationships between axiom and personality dimensions were similar to those reported in Study 1. The short forms of the axiom dimensions were generally reliable and correlated highly with the long forms. This research thus provides a stronger foundation for applying the construct of social axioms around the world.