Berry's Acculturation Research Articles

Analyzing Acculturation Strategies and Psychological Outcomes in Post-Colonial Narratives: A Study of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "An American Brat" Using Berry's Acculturation Theory

Analyzing Acculturation Strategies and Psychological Outcomes in Post-Colonial Narratives: A Study of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "An American Brat" Using Berry's Acculturation Theory

베트남 여성 결혼이민자의 한국 식문화 적응 양상

Objectives The purpose of this study is to apply Berry's acculturation theory to investigate the aspects of adaptation to the food culture of Vietnamese female marriage immigrants living in Korea, classify them into various adaptation types, and identify changes according to the period of residence.
 Methods This study targeted Vietnamese female marriage immigrants living in Incheon City. Participants were recruited by dividing them into three groups according to their residence period: less than 3 months, more than 3 years, and more than 6 years. Based on Berry's acculturation theory, a questionnaire was developed to understand the food culture adaptation process of Vietnamese female marriage immigrants. Afterwards, in-depth interviews were conducted individually with the participants to understand in detail their experiences and feelings about adapting to the food culture.
 Results As a result of analyzing the aspects of Vietnamese female marriage immigrants' adaptation to food culture in Korea using Berry's acculturation theory, the change in food culture adaptation according to the period of residence successfully adapts through stages from initial rejection to intermediate integration and final assimilation. The result was derived. The group of residents who lived for less than 3 months faced language difficulties and cultural adaptation challenges, while the group who lived for more than 3 years faced new food diversity and difficulties with language communication. Additionally, the group of residents living for more than 6 years confirmed the need to overcome language difficulties and adapt to healthy food choices, spicy food, and delivery culture.
 Conclusions Based on these results, various policy support was proposed, taking into account the areas that require response depending on the period of residence.

Considering the role of integration experiences in shaping immigrants' post-migration food choices and eating practices.

This article draws on data collected from qualitative interviews with 38 recent immigrants in two Ontario cities to provide an overview of recent immigrants' general dietary acculturation experiences. With insights from both Cockerham's health lifestyle theory and Berry's acculturation model, this article explores how structural inequalities related to integration and settlement may shape recent immigrants' post-migration food choices and eating practices. The results of this study revealed that immigrants from non-Western countries experienced greater challenges in healthy eating. Findings are in line with Cockerham's health lifestyle theory: immigrants' post-migration food choices and dietary acculturation strategies were not only bounded by socioeconomic status and cultural differences but were also shaped by various structural inequalities, especially those related to systematic barriers during the integration and settlement process. Overall, this paper provides a more holistic understanding of the multifaceted nature of immigrants' dietary acculturation experiences.

Acculturative stress while online dating: An exploration of the experiences of second generation Indian and Pakistani immigrants in the United Kingdom

AbstractThe aim of this qualitative study was to explore the acculturative stress experienced by second generation Indian and Pakistani young adults in the United Kingdom, who use online dating services—a practice common in Western cultures but unapproved in traditional South Asian cultures. Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews were conducted with six participants who were recruited through purposive sampling. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings indicate that while it is exposure to Western culture that influences participants to engage in online dating, it is their native cultural values that affect most of their online dating attitudes and behaviors such as preference for ethnically congruent partners, avoidance of casual sexual encounters, and expectations of slow‐paced and long‐term relationships. These findings are discussed as strategies used by participants to integrate different cultural orientations and manage their acculturative stress, based on Berry's (2003) Acculturation Model. This study contributes toward expanding literature in the field of cultural psychology and romantic relationships, by adding to an understanding of the pressures and challenges experienced by those navigating differing and often opposing sets of social and cultural norms, in the context of modern online dating.

파라과이 한인 현황과 문화적응 유형

This study utilized Declan Berry's acculturation type to analyze the cultural identity of Koreans in Paraguay, a major Korean residential area in Latin America. As a result of the survey, among the four scales of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization, Koreans showed strong tendencies toward integration and separation. The strong tendency of integration and separation can be attributed to the attitude of actively accepting the local culture while maintaining the culture of the home country. This seems to be related to the transitional situation in which the number of first-generation Koreans and second and third-generation Koreans are similar. In addition, the fact that Korean schools(Colegio Coreano del Paraguay) serve as a window for the next generation of Koreans to learn the Korean language and related culture can be seen as a factor in maintaining the culture of the homeland.

Immigrant students’ acculturation profile and reading competence development in secondary school and beyond

• Latent profile analysis shows mixed support for Berry's acculturation orientations revealing an indifferent profile. • Integrated acculturation profile shows lower reading competence than non-immigrant students in Grade 9. • Separated acculturation profile shows lowest reading competence in Grade 9. • Reading competence development beyond Grade 9 follows compensation rather than Matthew effect. This longitudinal correlational study investigates immigrant students' reading competence development as a function of acculturation profile. The study draws on data from N = 15,239 students in secondary school whose reading competence was assessed at three time points starting in Grade 9. Including four distinct acculturation profiles in latent growth curve modeling revealed no difference between immigrant students with assimilated profile and non-immigrant students, while immigrant students with integrated, separated, or indifferent profile displayed lower reading competence and only that of students with a separated profile showed to develop more strongly. Our results suggest differential development of reading competence depending on acculturation orientation in and beyond school, with assimilation showing the most favorable development analogous to that of non-immigrant students.

Acculturation in a multicultural classroom: perspectives within the yin-yang metaphor framework

ABSTRACT This study examines the acculturation characteristics of Chinese students in the context of a multicultural classroom. The Chinese yin-yang philosophy is used to provide another dimension of interpretation and analysis in addition to Berry's acculturation strategy framework. Qualitative data over a five-year period reveal their changing psychological states in a multicultural classroom. Four stages of acculturation were identified: initial, contact, reflection, and change. At each stage, Chinese students dynamically react and change in the acculturation process, which is similar to the intertwining process of yin and yang, a metaphorical image seen in the Chinese yin-yang philosophy.

Ethics-related value acculturation: the case of Thai employees working at UK and Japanese MNCs in Thailand

PurposeMultinational corporations (MNCs) at their foreign subsidiaries hire local employees, whose cultural values may differ from the organisations' home cultures. Such value differences may pose managerial difficulties, making it critical to observe whether working at MNCs changes local employees' cultural values, reducing these differences. This study investigates how and to what extent local employees from a collectivistic culture acculturate their ethics-related values when working at MNCs' foreign subsidiaries. The authors examine (1) whether local employees change their values to become closer to the MNCs' home cultures, and if so, (2) whether the cultural distance between the MNCs' home and host national cultures affect the degree of such adaptation.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected through stratified random sampling from Thai employees of a Japanese-owned MNC (n = 196), a UK-owned MNC (n = 143) and a Thai-owned organisation (n = 137), all operating in Thailand. Hypotheses were developed using Berry's bidimensional acculturation model and were tested using OLS and logistic regression analyses.FindingsThe study's findings indicate that MNCs' local employees from collectivistic cultures adopt Berry's integration acculturation strategy and acculturate their ethics-related values – collectivism, ethical relativism, collective responsibility preference and executive pay differentiation tolerance – towards the values prevalent in MNCs' home cultures. Overall, acculturation is greater when cultural distance is greater. New insights are presented in relation to collective responsibility preference and pay differentiation tolerance.Originality/valueFindings add to current knowledge on acculturation in management by (1) providing new insights into value acculturation (2) utilising Berry's acculturation model to analyse employees' acculturation within an organisation in the context of an emerging economy, outside the more frequently studied topic of mergers and acquisitions, and (3) investigating the impact of cultural distance on the degree of employee acculturation outside the field of expatriate adjustment.

The Dance from a Distance. The Pandemic and Its Contribution to Changing the Context of Dance

The ethnographic field of this study is the internet and specifically the virtual community called "Online Traditional Dance Seminars". The aim of this research paper is to study the reconstruction of the identity of Greeks involved in the kinetic activity of Greek traditional dance, during the covid-19 pandemic. Netnography was used to collect the data of the research. Oral history was also used as a method, through which everyday memory is projected as a quest of social history. For the presentation and analysis of the data, Geertz's model of "thick description" was adopted. Finally, the interpretation of the data was based on the theoretical visuals of the socio-cybernetic according to the control model of identity (ICT-identity control theory) that Burke proposed, under the terms of Berry's acculturation model. The analysis of the data showed that the traditional dance communities in Greece, in order to maintain the model of their identity, were acculturated and transformed into virtual dance communities, constructing a new identity of their collective and individual self. This new identity did not remain the same, but changed again when the conditions of the pandemic changed. This constant reconstruction of identity justifying the position that both the collective and the individual identity are not permanent, but are adapted according to the environmental conditions, being at the same time a process of interaction and internal control, that is a cybernetic process.

Community multiculturalism and immigrant crime

There is considerable international and local-level variation in immigrant crime. In this article, we propose a theoretical model to better understand that contextual variation. Furthermore, we present the results of our first attempts to empirically assess the validity of the framework, focussing on local-level variation in crime among residents of Turkish or Moroccan origin in the Netherlands. The proposed model connects Berry's acculturation theory to criminological theories, using relevant findings from the immigration acculturation literature as starting points. It theorises that host societies with a ‘multicultural acculturation orientation’ tend to reduce immigrant crime by fostering informal social control and attenuating criminogenic strains. The empirical analyses explore whether local-level variation in multicultural attitudes among the native-Dutch indeed predicts municipal variation in the number of registered suspected crimes among first- and second-generation immigrants, focussing on men of Turkish or Moroccan origin residing in 35 Dutch cities. The empirical analyses are based on a unique database that combines aggregated survey data, which were used to measure natives’ acculturation attitudes, with administrative microdata, including micro-level police data. Evidence is found for a protective effect of local-level multiculturalism for first-generation immigrant crime in particular, especially for immigrant men living in larger local immigrant communities. We also find stronger effects for the more cohesive and societally accepted Turkish-Dutch group than for the more fragmented and excluded Moroccan-Dutch.

A Typological Theory of Domestic Employees’ Acculturation Stress and Adaptation in the Context of Globalization

Integrating Hobfoll's (1989) conservation of resources theory with Berry's (1997) acculturation taxonomies, we develop a typological theory to explain the acculturation stress and adaptation proces...

Using Cognitive Interviewing Methodology to Define Acculturation Among Asian American Women.

Introduction: Berry acculturation model (BAM) includes five measurement components. Current instruments do not examine all five components. This study's aim was to complete cognitive interviews with Asian American college-aged women using two frequently used measures and investigate whether all five BAM's components of acculturation are included. Methodology: This is a qualitative study using in-depth semistructured cognitive interviewing. Data were collected until saturation was reached (n = 20). Content analysis was completed. Results: Two themes emerged: Components of acculturation and survey structure. All components of BAM were evident in the data. The women agreed that physical, biological, cultural, and social relationships are important aspects of acculturation. The psychological component emerged as women discussed intergenerational conflicts related to acculturation. Discussion: Future research includes psychometric testing of a new acculturation instrument that incorporates all five components of BAM. A valid, comprehensive measure is needed to understand how AA women adapt to mainstream culture.

'No Austrian Mother Does This to Sleep Without a Baby!' Postnatal Acculturative Stress and 'Doing the Month' Among East Asian Women in Austria: Revisiting Acculturation Theories From a Qualitative Perspective.

Acculturative stress is a phenomenon describing negative emotions experienced by immigrants in their socio-cultural and psychological adaptation process to the host society’s dominant culture and its population. Acculturative stress is assumed to be one the reasons for higher prevalence of postnatal depression among immigrant women compared to non-immigrant women. Theories and models of acculturation and coping strategies suggest that certain cultural orientations or behaviors could mitigate acculturative stress and postnatal depression. Nevertheless, quantitative studies applying these theories have so far revealed inconsistent results. Given this background, we ask: what can a qualitative study of immigrant women’s postnatal experiences tell us about the interrelationships between immigrant mothers’ acculturation behaviors or cultural orientations, and maternal psychological health? Particularly, we explore the postnatal experiences of Chinese and Japanese women who gave birth in Austria, focusing on their experiences and behaviors influenced by their heritage culture’s postnatal practices (zuò yuè zi and satogaeri). Theoretically, we apply Berry’s acculturation model through a focus on what we call ‘Postnatal Acculturative Stress’ (PAS). By doing so, we identify factors that prevent or mitigate PAS. Another aim of this article is to critically reassess Berry’s model in the context of postnatal care and maternal psychological health. Data were analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive method through the application of directed content analysis and phenomenological approach. Women’s postnatal experiences were summarized as an ‘unexpected solitary struggle in the midst of dual identity change’ in four specific domains: postnatal rest and diet, social support, feelings toward significant others and identity. Preventive and mitigating factors against PAS included trust (in self and one’s health beliefs) and mutual respectful relationships with and between the significant others. The application of Berry’s acculturation model provided a useful framework of analysis. Nevertheless, the multifarious complexity involved in the process of acculturation as well as different power dynamics in the family and healthcare settings makes it difficult to draw causal relationships between certain acculturation behaviors or cultural orientations with specific health outcomes. Health professionals should be aware of the complex psychosocial processes, contexts as well as social environment that shape immigrants’ acculturative behaviors.

Transition in Older Parent-Adult Child Relations in U.S. Chinese Immigrant Families.

The family fundamentally underpins the immigration and acculturation processes. But most existing research on acculturation focuses on individual instead of family experience. Guided by Berry's acculturation theory and Intergenerational Solidarity Theory, this study examined continuity and changes in parent-adult child relations of older Chinese immigrants over a 2-year period, and their implications for older adults' depression and quality of life (QoL). Participants included 2,605 older Chinese immigrants from the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE). Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) was used to identify transitions in multidimensional parent-child relations over time. Negative binomial and logistic regressions were used to examine the influence of family transitions on depression and QoL, respectively. LTA revealed five types of family relations: traditional, modified traditional, coresiding-unobligated, independent, and detached. Over 40% of the respondents shifted to a different relation type, with more families classified as modified traditional or independent over time. Transitioning into modified traditional relations or out of detached relations was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better QoL at the follow-up. Transitioning into independent relation was associated with more depressive symptoms over time. Parent-child relations among Chinese older immigrants demonstrate significant complexity, including both heterogeneity and fluidity. Better well-being of these older adults seems to stem from the optimal combination of retaining the supportive heritage culture and embracing the host society's instrumental cultural elements. Services to this population need to include the family context in assessment and interventions.

Acculturation and accounting standardization strategies

Research question: The objective of this research is to develop a reliable and valid measurement scale for releasing new cultural attributes based on social psychology concepts and apply them afterwards in the accounting field. Motivation: Migration to International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) standards by a large and growing number of countries has marked the accounting field. However, this application varies from one country to another due to several environmental factors especially cultural ones. Idea: This paper puts the important issue of cultural differences in applying international financial reporting standards (IFRS) to the forefront and especially the strategies countries may apply when coping with the implementation of these standards within their local environment. Data: We selected a total of 33 items from these scales that match most with the objective of our survey. We also added the two questions posed by Berry to determine its acculturation strategies. We used 874 answers from different countries to our questionnaire. Tools: By taking Berry’s typology, we conducted a cluster analysis to dynamic clouds using SPSS, which allows us to identify the different acculturation strategies used by respondents. Findings: Using Berry's acculturation model borrowed from social psychology and adopting an exploratory perspective based on the interpretive approach, we developed a measurement scale through which we identified five new acculturation attributes: interpersonal communication, work performance, open-mindedness, ethnocentrism and knowledge of the host culture. We also found that the integration strategy is the most widespread strategy in a new cultural context. This finding corresponds to the convergence strategy that is most solicited by countries applying IFRS. Contribution: Our research is an adaptation and extension of the acculturation model across some countries that could function as a “map” of potential interventions to strengthen local application of IFRS.

Acculturation orientations and Chinese student Sojourners' career adaptability: The roles of career exploration and cultural distance

Drawing on career construction theory and Berry's acculturation model, this study examined how student sojourners' acculturation orientations predicted their career exploration and career adaptability. We conducted a survey study among Chinese student sojourners (N=222) and the results showed that after the effects of big-five personality and approach/avoidance traits were controlled, both host culture orientation and home culture orientation had positive indirect effects on career adaptability through the mediation of career environmental exploration, but not self-exploration. In addition, cultural distance was revealed as a significant moderator on the effect of host culture orientation such that the relationship between host culture orientation and environmental exploration was only significant when the cultural distance between host country and home country was higher. The corresponding moderated mediation model was also supported such that the indirect effect of host culture orientation on career adaptability through career exploration was only significant when the cultural distance was higher. These findings carry implications for research on acculturation and career development.

Consequences of Turkish return migration from Western Europe

We studied the consequences of Turkish return migration in the reconstruction of ‘migrant’ identities into ‘almanci’ identities (literally: German-like; a pejorative term denoting Turkish returnees with a German-like identity) using semi-structured, oral interviews among 48 informants. The study uses a qualitative approach and inductive content analysis to get insight into the factors influencing (re) adaptation of Turkish return migrants. On the basis of informants' self-reports, we found that perceived discrimination, cultural distance with mainstream Turks and children-related issues experienced after return emerged as major themes in the returnee's narratives. The research revealed that re-adaptation difficulties varied substantially across generations and the socioeconomic status of the informants. The migration experiences and the acculturation orientations of the migrants in the countries of immigration played essential roles for a successful re-adaptation period. The results are discussed within the framework of two major models, Berry's acculturation model and Sussman's cultural identity model.

Patterns of minority and majority identification in a multicultural society

There has been increasing investigation of the national and ethnic identification of minority populations in Western societies and how far they raise questions about the success or failure of multicultural societies. Much of the political and academic discussion has, however, been premised on two assumptions. First, that ethnic minority and national identification are mutually exclusive, and, second, that national identification forms an overarching majority identity that represents consensus values. In this paper, using a large-scale nationally representative UK survey with a varied set of identity questions, and drawing on an extension of Berry's acculturation framework, we empirically test these two assumptions. We find that, among minorities, strong British national and minority identities often coincide and are not on an opposing axis. We also find that adherence to a British national identity shows cleavages within the white majority population. We further identify variation in these patterns by generation and political orientation.

Влияние мотивации к этнокультурной преемственности и стратегий аккультурации родителей на аккультурацию детей в русских семьях Латвии

The paper presents outcomes of an empirical research on the relationship between motivation for ethno¬cultural continuity and acculturation strategies in ethnocultural minorities (with Russians in Latvia as an example). Since acculturation is a process that affects several generations, we adopted a research plan that involved representatives of two generations of a family (parents and children). 112 Russian families partici¬pated in the research (parents: N=112, age 35—59, Me=42; children: N=112, age 16—24, Me=17). A question-naire we used included J. Berry's acculturation strategies, scales of satisfaction with life and oneself, and the Motivation for Ethnocultural Continuity scale by C. Ward. The employed structural modeling revealed that acculturation strategies of the children correlate significantly with those of their parents as well as with their own motivation for ethnicultural continuity. The adolescents' choice of integration strategy is positively relat¬ed to their satisfaction with themselves; however, in the cases of marginalization and assimilation this relation is negative.

Acculturation Attitudes and Social Adjustment in British South Asian Children

A 1-year longitudinal study with three testing points was conducted with 215 British Asian children aged 5 to 11 years to test hypotheses from Berry's acculturation framework. Using age-appropriate measures of acculturation attitudes and psychosocial outcomes, it was found that (a) children generally favored an "integrationist" attitude, and this was more pronounced among older (8-10 years) than in younger (5-7 years) children and (b) temporal changes in social self-esteem and peer acceptance were associated with different acculturation attitudes held initially, as shown by latent growth curve analyses. However, a supplementary time-lagged regression analysis revealed that children's earlier "integrationist" attitudes may be associated with more emotional symptoms (based on teachers' ratings) 6 months later. The implications of these different outcomes of children's acculturation attitudes are discussed.