The social adjustment of Filipino nonmigrants, emigrants, and immigrants to Hawaii

Abstract

This study compared the social adjustment of a group of Filipinos who had initiated definite arrangements to emigrate to Hawaii (emigrants) with another group of Filipinos from the same communities as the emigrants who expressed no intention to emigrate (nonmigrants). These two samples were then compared with a group of recent Filipino immigrants to Hawaii. Social adjustment was measured by the Katz Adjustment Scales, relative's rating form, in terms of clusters of symptomatic and social behavior. The results showed that the immigrants in their social adjustment were less emotionally expressive than the emigrants, who were in turn, less expressive than the nonmigrants. However, significant cluster score differences obtained primarily between the Philippine samples and the immigrants, while there was a general lack of significance between the nonmigrants and the emigrants. The overall decline in the level of emotional expression of the immigrants was attributed to their adherence to the paramount Philippine value of social acceptance as their modal means of adjustment to the immigration experience. Thus, the direction and nature of changes in the emotional expression of Filipino immigrants follow from their culture and its integral norms and values rather than being derivative of processes of acculturation.