Time and Context in the Relationship between Acculturation Attitudes and Adaptation among Russian-Speaking Immigrants in Finland and Israel

Abstract

In this study we examine the time-, context- and outcome-specificity of the effects of acculturation attitudes on immigrant psychological and socio-economic adaptation. The participants were 172 immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet Union residing in Finland and Israel, and the mean time since their arrival was approximately six years. Each of the three acculturation attitudes (separation, assimilation and integration) was positively related to immigrant adaptation, either directly or moderated by the length or by the country of residence. A main effect was obtained only for integration attitude positively predicting psychological adaptation. There was also clear evidence of context-specificity in the effect of the separation attitude on both psychological and socio-economic adaptation. The impact of integration and assimilation attitudes on socio-economic adaptation was also time-specific; these attitudes showed adaptive value only at earlier stages of the acculturation process in the culturally diverse context. These results were interpreted in terms of the different social and economic needs salient at different stages of immigrant acculturation, and of the differences in the opportunities for immigrants to meet these needs in culturally diverse and non-diverse acculturative contexts.