A Rough Guide to Immigrant Acculturation: Hassles, Stress,

1
A Rough Guide to Immigrant Acculturation
Hassles, Stress, Support

• Saba Safdar, Ph.D.
• Centre for Cross-Cultural Research, Psychology
  Department
• Presented at the SOAS, University of London
• October 29, 2008

2
What is Acculturation?

• Acculturation is the process of cultural and
  psychological change that takes place as a result
  of contact between cultural groups and their
  individual members (Redfield, Linton
  Herskovits, 1936).

3
Acculturation Research

• Research on acculturation in the last four
  decades indicates that the long term
  psychological consequences of the process of
  acculturation depend on social and personal
  factors that reside in the society of origin and
  the characteristics of the society of settlement
  (Berry 1997 Berry Safdar, 2007 Phinney et
  al., 2001).

4
Acculturation of Iranians

• The Goals of the study were
• To evaluate the generalizability of
  Multidimensional Individual Difference
  Acculturation (MIDA) model which includes the key
  factors identified for a framework of cultural
  adaptation for immigrants.
• To identify characteristics of groups and
  settings that influence the adaptation of
  immigrants.

5
Components of the MIDA Model
Contact with Out-group New culture
Psycho-Social Resources Psychological Well-being,
Out-group Support, Cultural Competence
Acculturation Attitudes
Contact with In-group Heritage culture
Connectedness Family Allocentrism, In-group
Support, Ethnic Identity
Avoidance of Psycho-Physical Distress Psychologica
l Physical Distress
Hassles In-group, Out-group, Family, General
6
Varieties of Intercultural Strategies (Berry,
1974)
Maintenance of heritage culture
-

Contact with the other group
Integration Assimilation Separation
Marginalization
-
7
Multidimensional Acculturation Model Safdar,
Lay, Struthers (2003)
B
P
_

_
_




_
_

_

8
Measures

• Psychological well-being (18-item Ryff Singer,
  1989)
• Cultural Competence (10-item based on Lay et
  al., 1998)
• Perceived Social Support (12-item Zimet, Dahlem,
  Zimet, Farley, 1988)
• Ethnic Identity Scale (9-item Cameron, Sato,
  Lay, Lalonde, 1997)
• Behavioural Adaptation Scale (8-item Safdar,
  Lay, Struthers, 2003)
• Hassles Inventory (12-item Lay Nguyen, 1998)
• Acculturation Attitudes (4-item van Oudenhoven
  Eisses, 1998)
• Psychological Distress (9-item van Oudenhoven
  van der Zee, 1994)
• Health Symptoms Scale (6-item Safdar et al.,
  2003)

9
The Three Countries in the Study

• Participants in the study were first generation
  Iranian immigrants in the U.S., the U.K., and the
  Netherlands.
• The U.S., the U.K., and the Netherlands, are
  relatively similar in cultural terms, including
  values, family structure, religion, and gender
  equality (Hofstede, 2001).
• The U.S., U.K., and the Netherlands differ in
  their level of policy diversity from Canada
  (Berry, Westin, Virta, Vedder, Rooney, Sang,
  2006).

10
Iranians in the UK

• 68 Male, 26 Female
• Age M33
• Years in Britain M10
• 41 Citizen
• 40 Refugee
• 46 High school diploma or under
• 38 Employed
• 29 Home-maker/ Student
• 32 Unemployed

11
Iranians in the Netherlands

• 40 Male 40 Female
• Age M37
• Years in the Netherlands M10
• 49 Refugee, 43 Citizen
• 95 Post Secondary
• 27 Unemployed
• 24 Student/Homemaker

12
Iranians in the USA

• 35 Male, 28 Female
• Age M36
• Years in the U.S. M19
• 59 US Citizen
• 98 Post-secondary
• 76 Employed
• 24 Student/ Home-maker

13
The Best-Fit Model for the Three Immigrant Groups
Own Culture Maintenance
.05
In-group Contact
Psycho-Social Resources
.27
.14
.40
.46
Out-group Contact
Connectedness
-.18
.28
.16
New Culture Acquisition
-.26
Psycho-Physical Distress
-.40
.17
Hassles
X2 (63) 78.97, p .08, GFI.93, TLI .94,
RMSEA .03
14
The Best-Fit Model for the Three Immigrant Groups
Own Culture Maintenance
In-group Contact
Psycho-Social Resources
.46
Out-group Contact
Connectedness
-.40
.28
New Culture Acquisition
Psycho-Physical Distress
Hassles
15
The Best-Fit Model for the Three Immigrant Groups
Own Culture Maintenance
In-group Contact
Psycho-Social Resources
.27
.40
-.18
Out-group Contact
Connectedness
New Culture Acquisition
Psycho-Physical Distress
Hassles
16
The Best-Fit Model for the Three Immigrant Groups
Own Culture Maintenance
In-group Contact
Psycho-Social Resources
Out-group Contact
Connectedness
New Culture Acquisition
Psycho-Physical Distress
.17
Hassles
17
The Best-Fit Model for the Three Immigrant Groups
Own Culture Maintenance
In-group Contact
Psycho-Social Resources
.05 (U.K.) .50 (U.S.) .42 (Dutch)
Out-group Contact
Connectedness
.16 (U.K.) .14 (Dutch) .34 (U.S.)
New Culture Acquisition
Psycho-Physical Distress
Hassles
18
Psychophysical Distress

• The three groups differed significantly on
  Psychophysical Symptoms, F (2, 188) 6.26, p lt
  0.01.
• The Iranian-American group had significantly
  lower scores on Psychophysical Symptoms than the
  other two groups.

19
Psychological Well-Being

• The three groups differed significantly on
  Psychological Well-Being, F (2, 188) 4.94, p
  lt 0.01.
• The Iranian-American group had significantly a
  higher level of positive psychological
  functioning than the Iranian-British group.

20
Cultural and Linguistic Competence

• The three groups differed significantly on
  Cultural and linguistic Competence, F (2, 188)
  16.94, p lt 0.001.
• The Iranian-American group had significantly
  higher scores on Cultural and linguistic
  Competence than the other two groups.

21
Iranians Groups

• Three waves of emigration from Iran
• Beginning in 1950 and lasting until the 1979
  revolution.
• After revolution and it is referred to as brain
  drain.
• From mid 1990s to the present and consists of two
  very distinct population highly skilled
  individuals and working-class labour immigrants
  and economic refugees.

22
UNHCR (2004) Global Migrant Origin
Database (2000)
23
Conclusion

• How people acculturate in their ethno-cultural
  groups and the larger society is a function of
  the societal and the individual variables.
• The association between some variables within the
  MIDA model varies from one cultural context to
  another and from one immigrant group to the next.
  

24
Future Research

• We need to examine mutual Intercultural Relations
  in plural societies by combining research
  traditions of acculturation and intergroup
  relations.

25
Varieties of Intercultural Strategies (Berry,
1984)
Maintenance of heritage culture

-

-

Contact with the other group
Integration Assimilation Separation
Marginalization
Multiculturalism Melting pot Segregation
Exclusionism
-
26
A New International Project

• Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural
  Societies (MIRIPS)
• Assist us in collecting data among dominant and
  non-dominant groups in plural societies. Get
  authorship and publication.
• Obtain samples of 200 persons distributed evenly
  by gender and by age groups (20-35, 36-50, 50)