Being specific: Exploring acculturation in work and private settings.

Abstract

Adopting a comprehensive approach, we examined immigrants' actual and ideal acculturation, as well as host-country nationals' (HCNs) immigrant acculturation perceptions and preferences in terms of behaviors, values, and identities in work and private settings. We examined any differences within and across settings for each group. Participants included 428 Hispanic immigrants and 662 HCNs in the United States. We used a 2 × 2 × 2 repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to examine whether differences for each group exist within and across work and private settings. Both within and across settings, Hispanic immigrants' actual and ideal acculturation did not differ. The only exception to this pattern involved heritage practices and identities across settings. In contrast, HCNs perceived and preferred Hispanic immigrants to acculturate differently both within and across work and private settings. The only exception to this pattern involved preferences of adopting U.S. national values and identities across settings. Taking a more comprehensive approach to study acculturation allows a more accurate picture on how immigrants acculturate and HCNs' perceptions and preferences of such acculturation, which is critical in understanding intercultural relations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).