Floyd W. Rudmin

Psychometric critique of acculturation psychology: the case of Iranian migrants in Norway.

The presumptions, terminology, psychometrics, statistical analyses, and ethics of the fourfold acculturation paradigm are criticized in detail. Illustrative data came from Iranian refugees in Norway (N = 80) answering: 1) the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), 2) Zungs Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSRDS), 3) ipsative fourfold scales of Integration, Assimilation, Separation, and Marginalization, 4) orthogonal scales of attitudes towards Norwegian and Iranian cultures, measured independently and using balanced reverse-keying, and 5) ipsative forced-choice preferences for cultural practices of Norway, Iran, both, or from other societies as well. Iranians in Norway favored global multiculturalism and, as a group. did not show distress. The SWLS and ZSRDS were correlated, but the measures of acculturation failed to replicate one another. As unconstrained ipsative measures, the fourfold scales showed acquiescence response bias contamination and doubtful operationalization of scale constructs. Recommendations are discussed for improving acculturation research.

Materialism and economic psychology

Abstract This article argues that materialism is a variable relevant to many aspects of economic psychology. The definition and measurement of materialism are briefly reviewed, followed by a discussion of the potential relationships between materialism and several economic variables, including use of money, work motivation, giving, and material satisfaction. The paper concludes with a discussion of the use of economic goods in social communication and the potential role of materialism in such communication.

Semantics of Ownership: A Free-Recall Study of Property

Adult Canadians (N = 120) evaluated criteria of ownership by two tasks. The first was listing exemplars of things owned and things not owned and then rating applicability of criteria to exemplars. The second was judging the strength of criteria as general arguments for ownership. Cluster analysis suggested that free-recall exemplars of property were selected by four principal types of criteria: (a) control criteria (POSSESSION, ASSERTION, TERRITORIALITY) referring to the regulation of social access to the property, (b) attachment criteria (FAMILIARITY, KNOWLEDGE, AESTHETICS, UTILITY) expressing the psychological proximity of the owner to the property, (c) consumer criteria (PURCHASE, HISTORY, DESIRE) reflecting important purchases, and (d) special-acquisitions criteria (GIFT, CRAFTING). By the judgement task, only means-of-acquisition criteria (PURCHASE, CRAFTING, GIFT) were valued as strong arguments for ownership.

Questions of culture, age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide

Cultural values were examined as predictors of suicide incidence rates compiled for men and women in six age groups for 33 nations for the years 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985. Hofstedes cultural values of Power-Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity (i.e., social indifference) were negative correlates of reported suicide, and Individualism was a strong positive correlate. The proportion of variance in suicide reports generally related to these four cultural values was R2 = 0.25. Suicide by women and by middle-aged people was most related to cultural values, even though international variance in suicide is greater for men and for the elderly. Suicide incidence for girls and young women showed unique negative correlations with Individualism. For all age groups, Individualism predicted a greater preponderance of male suicides, and Power-Distance predicted more similar male and female suicide rates. Social alienation and Gilligans feminist theory of moral judgment were hypothesized to explain some gender differences.

Norwegian short‐form of the Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale

A tutorial example demonstrates the effects of social desirability bias on fictional multiculturalism and mental health data and how bias can be moderated by parital correlations using social desirabiliry measures of different degrees of validity. The 33-item Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale was translated from English to Norwegian and presented to 117 university students and 124 non-students. Using psychometric criteria, and a “seed-crystal” method accretion, a 10-item Norwegian short-form of the Marlowe-Crowne scale was produced.

Parenting correlates of child behavior problems in a multiethnic community sample of preschool children in northern Norway.

A multiethnic community sample of 191 families with four-year-old children in northern Norway was used to explore whether parenting factors were associated with child behavior problems, and whether these associations differed for boys and girls or for the two main ethnic groups in this region: the indigenous Sami and the majority Norwegians. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a semi-structured interview on child-rearing were used as instruments. As would be expected from a developmental perspective, elevated scores of child behavior problems were associated with lower levels of parental cuddling and with higher levels of physical punishment. Family demographics such as low maternal age and single parenthood were also associated with more behavioral problems. Girls seemed to be more strongly influenced by child-rearing factors than boys. Subgroup analyses suggested that for harsh treatment, patterns of correlations differed between Sami and Norwegian groups, especially for boys. A positive correlation between physical punishment and externalizing problems emerged for Norwegian boys, but not for Sami boys. Teasing/ridiculing was positively correlated with internalizing problems for Norwegian boys, but inversely correlated for Sami boys. These findings emphasize the importance of taking the child’s cultural context and gender into account when assessing parenting influences on behavioral problems in children.

Cross-informant correlations on social competence and behavioral problems in Sami and Norwegian preadolescents

In a community-based birth cohort from Arctic Norway, correlations between parents and teachers on child competence and behavioral problems were determined for Sami and Norwegian 11–12 year-olds, using as instruments the child behavior checklist (CBCL), teacher report form (TRF), and the impact supplement of the extended strength and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). Parent–teacher correlations on child behavioral problems were generally high in the Norwegian group, but low in the Sami group. Cross-cultural differences in cross-informant correlations were highest regarding externalizing and attention problems. Parent–teacher correlations on total impact of child difficulties also differed between the ethnic groups. Once again, a lower correlation was found for the Sami children. The discrepancy between parents’ and teachers’ perception of problems that needed attention was highest for the Sami, and lowest for the Norwegians. The Sami parents reported fewer perceived difficulties and less impact of problems than did the Norwegian parents. In contrast, no ethnic differences emerged for teachers’ ratings. The paper discusses how cultural norms might influence the reports of child problems. It demonstrates the importance of combining parent and teacher reports of child behavior problems in minority and indigenous children, who often live under different cultural norms in home and school contexts.

Gender differences in the semantics of ownership: A quantitative phenomenological survey study

Abstract Gender differences in the meaning of ownership were sought in phenomenological data from 320 respondents from three Eastern Ontario samples (ferry queue, adult undergraduates, law students). Inspired by Husserls psychology and Freges semiotics, the study asked respondents to list examples of things they own but for which they have little sense of ownership and examples of things they do not own but for which they have some sense of ownership, and then to describe their sense of ownership. Responses were categorized by literal content analysis, and gender differences were determined by phi coefficient tests. Results showed men to be more focused on property as rights, with emphasis on absolute autonomy and exclusivity. Women more frequently reported ownership to entail responsibility, self-connection, and pride, and accordingly reported feeling ownership of familiar people and their possessions. Following Gilligan (1982), the argument is made that womens appreciation and understanding of ownership has not been well represented in traditional property discourse.

Editorial: Steps towards the Renovation of Acculturation Research Paradigms: What Scientists’ Personal Experiences of Migration Might Tell Science

Acculturation refers to cultural learning and adjustment in the context of continuous cross-cultural experience. Plato, in his ‘Laws’, considered cross-cultural imitation to be a risk arising from foreign commerce. In the 19th century, European theorists wrote of the amalgamation processes by which diverse peoples were culturally unified for the purposes of the nation-state. In the 20th century, acculturation research first focused on the cultural changes of conquered and dispossessed native peoples, and later on the cultural adaptation, assimilation, or integration of immigrants and other minorities. Native peoples and immigrants were stereotyped as genetically and culturally inferior and prone to diseases and mental illness. Thus, in most research, improved health became the criterion of successful acculturation, and further confusion came from the good intentions to advise public policy. A century of such research has come to no confident conclusions and has produced little useful information. Acculturation research paradigms need renovation. As one step forward, four acculturation researchers have here reflected on their own research in the light of their own acculturation experiences. Their self-observations and insights point to new questions and constructs, and eventually to new research paradigms.

Book Review: IMMIGRANT YOUTH IN CULTURAL TRANSITION: ACCULTURATION, IDENTITY, AND ADAPTATION ACROSS NATIONAL CONTEXTS, edited by John W. Berry, Jean S. Phinney, David L. Sam, & Paul Vedder. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006, 336 pp. ISBN 0-80-585156-9.

“Monumental” is the right word to describe this summary report of the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY), which was conceived in the 1980s, organized in the 1990s, and now reported in 2006. Psychometric data were collected using 23 measurement scales and 150 questions in 42 samples of immigrant adolescents (n = 5,366) and matched samples of nonimmigrant classmates (n = 2,631) in 13 nations (Australia, Canada, Finland, France, German, Israel, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States). About half of the immigrant parents were also questioned. The nine chapters reporting this study were prepared by different sets of coauthors. Chapter 1 emphasizes the ever-increasing press of migration and explains that the motivations for the research were “driven by concerns with public policy and practical program development” (Berry, Phinney, Kwak, & Sam, 2006, p. 3). Chapter 2 explains that nations were selected to sample three types of nations (settler, former colonial, and recent receiving societies) and to sample a range of cultural diversity within nations. Chapter 3 explains that nonrandom recruitment was mostly done via schools. The questionnaire included demographic questions and psychometric scales about acculturation attitudes, identities, language abilities and use, peer contacts, family values, perceived discrimination, life satisfaction, self-esteem, mental health, school adjustment, and school behavior. The questionnaire was translated into the languages of the sampled nations, and a version in the minority group’s language was available if requested. Chapter 4 reports results for the 13 intercultural variables and their use to cluster 4,344 of the 5,366 immigrant youth such that 29% had an integration profile, 18% an ethnic profile, 15% a national profile, 18% a diffuse profile, and 19% were not admitted to the analysis. Chapter 5 reports the measures of psychological and social adaptation, showing that immigrant youth were equal to, or better than, their nonimmigrant peers in psychological well-being (life satisfaction, self-esteem, mental health) and school well-being (school adjustment, school behavior). The profile groups were all within one third of one standard deviation of mean psychological well-being and within one fifth of one standard deviation of mean school well-being. Chapter 6 reports a structural equation model based on the 4,767 immigrant youth (89%) with complete data, showing that psychological well-being was predicted by school well-being (γ = +.28), perceived discrimination (γ = –.24), ethnic orientation (γ = +.17), ethnic contacts (γ = +.11), and last, by integration attitudes (γ = +.06). School well-being was predicted by discrimination (γ = –.28), integration (γ = +.13), ethnic orientation (γ = +.10), and national orientation (γ = +.04). [Note: γ symbolizes standardized path coefficients and can be understood as β in regression.] Chapter 7 compares the adolescents’ and parents’ responses of the 2,374 immigrant youth and of the 968 nonimmigrant youth with dyad data, showing that immigrant adolescents and parents had higher family obligations scores and greater intergenerational discrepancies than did the nonimmigrants. Chapter 8 focuses on Vietnamese and Turkish groups, each sampled in seven nations, and for each group replicates the finding that well-being is diminished by discrimination and is enhanced by ethnic orientation, by ethnic contacts, and to a lesser degree by integration attitudes. Chapter 9 presents summaries, caveats, and three closing conclusions: (1) “Our findings suggest that there should be support and encouragement for immigrants to pursue the integration path, as both psychological and sociocultural adaptation are more positive among those who orient themselves in this