Acculturation is an ongoing and multistaged process experienced by immigrants after they land in their destination country.
Acculturation refers to a dynamic process of psychological and behavioral changes that occur when individuals integrate elements of their heritage and mainstream cultures into their sense of identity (Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000).
The evidence suggests that
acculturation is common, but generational.
In this study, we look at
acculturation not only in terms of language dominance and time in the United States, but also using two additional components: social media social network ethnic diversity, and perceived commonality with other races and ethnicities.
For example, Krishnan and Berry (1992) explored the relationship between
acculturation and acculturative stress using a sample of 76 Indian immigrants living in the mid-western US.
As we seek to adapt through
acculturation, our ultimate goal is to find physical and psychological well-being and sociocultural balance when managing daily activity within this new reality.
These z-scores were used as outcomes to analyze the relationship between pain sensitivity and
acculturation. Gender, age,
acculturation, and BMI were used to fit separate linear regression models for each experimental pain measure.
Three factors were examined as markers for
acculturation: age at migration, length of residence in Australia, and other language spoken at home.
First, we argue that outdated and xenophobic notions of culture need to be abandoned, and that scholars need to do a much better job of measuring and conceptualizing culture and
acculturation as part of a critical analysis of urban poverty, as Pimentel (2008) so astutely notes.
According to the way the immigrant chooses to follow the process of
acculturation, rather than a decision, it is a negotiation between the components of the cultural context of the host country and the tools and skills of the immigrant (Yanez and Cardenas, 2010) which is going to influence their state of mental health.
Acculturation has been described as a process an individual experiences by giving up traditional cultural values and behaviors while taking on the values and cultures of the dominant social structure, in this case the American culture (Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987).
According to Berry (2005),
acculturation results in changes to social structures, institutions, and cultural practices at the group level, but at the individual level it involves changes in a person's behavioral repertoire.
