H - 54 Effects of Acculturation in Neuropsychological Performance of Generation Z Mexicans.

Abstract

We examined the influence of acculturation on Generation Z (i.e., persons born between 1997-2004) adults' cognition. The sample consisted of 15 low-acculturated, 47 moderately-acculturated, and 28 high-acculturated Mexican participants residing in Mexico with a mean age of 20.86 (SD = 1.63). All participants completed the Word Accentuation Test, all the subtests of the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), Boston Naming Test, Phonemic Fluency Test (i.e., FAS), Semantic Fluency Test, the copy and long-delayed Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) tasks, all the subtests of the Digit Span, and the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS) in Spanish. The AMAS was used to categorize acculturation groups. ANOVA's were used to evaluate neuropsychological performance between our acculturation groups. We found the low-acculturation and moderately acculturation groups outperformed the high-acculturation group on the SCWT reading and color-word tasks, p's < 0.05, np's2 = 0.09-0.10. Results also revealed the high-acculturation group outperformed the low-acculturation and moderately acculturation groups on the Semantic Fluency Test, p = 0.002, np2 = 0.14. Finally, the low-acculturation group outperformed the high-acculturation group on the ROCF copy task, p = 0.042, np2 = 0.07. Our data suggests that Generation Z Mexicans' level of acculturation influences their cognition. A possible explanation can be time perspective, where perception of time is influencing cognition to select and pursue certain goals, cognition, and motivation. Future studies using larger sample sizes should investigate the intersection of time perspective and acculturation on Generation Z adults' cognition. More research that evaluates how acculturation influences cognition will help researchers and clinicians understand Spanish speakers' cognition from a generational cohort perspective.