A Life Domains Perspective on Acculturation and Psychological Adjustment: A Study of Refugees from the Former Soviet Union

Abstract

The study articulates a contextual approach to research on acculturation of immigrants, suggesting that the relationship between acculturation and adjustment is dependent on the cultural demands of the life domains considered. Specifically, the study investigated the mediating effects of adjustment in occupational and social life domains on the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment for 391 refugees from the former Soviet Union. The study used bilinear measures of acculturation to the host (American) and heritage (Russian) cultures. Using Structural Equation Modeling, the study confirmed the hypothesized relationships, such that the positive effects of American acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by occupational adjustment, and the effects of Russian acculturation on psychological adjustment were mediated by satisfaction with co-ethnic social support. Psychological adjustment was measured in two ways, as psychological well-being, using a measure of life satisfaction, and as symptoms of depression and anxiety, using the Hopkins symptom checklist (HSCL). Life satisfaction served as a mediator between adjustment in occupational and social domains and HSCL, suggesting that it may be an intervening variable through which environmental stress associated with immigration contributes to the development of symptoms of mental disorder.

Acculturation and Health: The Moderating Role of Sociocultural Context

“…Among former Soviet Union refugees in the United States, coethnic social support was associated with better mental health (Birman et al. ). Hispanics may find support and familiarity in barrio communities (Pérez‐Escamilla and Putnik ; Riosmena, Wong, and Palloni ), where health benefits have been observed for first‐generation (Cagney, Browning, and Wallace ) and second‐generation Hispanics (Lee and Ferraro ).…”

The Impact of Acculturation Style and Acculturative Hassles on the Mental Health of Somali Adolescent Refugees

“…Greater acculturation to US culture among refugee young adults was related to depression only when parents' acculturation to US culture was low; this was not the case when parents' acculturation to US culture was high [26]. A study by Birman and colleagues found that acculturation both to the native culture and to the host culture were related to mental health of Former Soviet refugees but in different ways [27]. Acculturation to American culture was positively related to life satisfaction because of its effects on occupational success, while acculturation to their native Russian culture was related to life satisfaction because of social support from their co-ethnic social network [27].…”

Situational variations in ethnic identity across immigration generations: Implications for acculturative change and cross‐cultural adaptation

“…Christian, Gadfield, Giles, & Taylor, 1976;Okamura, 1981), interest in the dynamic nature of ethnic identity has recently increased, as scholars attempt to identify the situational contexts in which certain identities become more or less important and understand the implications of identity dynamics for cross-cultural adaptation (e.g. Birman, Simon, Chan, & Tran, 2014;Doucerain, Dere, & Ryder, 2013). For instance, sociocognitive perspectives on culture demonstrate that bicultural persons tend to switch cognitive frames in response to cultural primes (Hong, Morris, Chiu & Benet-Martínez, 2000).…”