Acculturation and Performance of Hispanics on Selected Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Tests

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of acculturation on Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological test performances on nonimpaired Hispanics. The sample consisted of three groups of 50 subjects, representing distinct levels of acculturation: (a) Mexican-American, (b) Anglo-American, and (c) Mexican. A significant effect ( p > .05) for acculturation was found on several measures, including the Tactual Performance Test (TPT; Dominant, Nondominant, and Total), the Seashore Rhythm Test, and the Halstead Category Test. Measures not affected by acculturation were TPT Localization and Memory, Finger Tapping, and the Trail Making Test. Recommendations for further research and clinical implications of findings are discussed.

The Functional Impact of HIV-Associated Neuropsychological Impairment in Spanish-Speaking Adults: A Pilot Study

“…However, since previous studies suggest that acculturation is an important factor in effectively interpreting NP assessments of members of minority groups (Ardila, 1998;Arnold et al, 1994;Manly et al, 1998), a measure of acculturation was included in this study in order to aid in the interpretation of the NP and functional assessments. The fact that, unlike previous studies, the current study found no association between NP results and acculturation certainly does not refute previous findings.…”

“…A key factor in interpretation of NP assessment of a member of any minority group is level of acculturation (Ardila, 1998;Arnold, Montgomery, Castañeda, & Longoria, 1994;Manly et al, 1998). According to Berry (1997), acculturation can be broadly defined as the ability to understand and maneuver within a different, dominant culture from one's own.…”

Cross-cultural neuropsychological assessment: A comparison of randomly selected, demographically matched cohorts of English-and Spanish-speaking older adults

“…Level of acculturation has been shown to affect performance on neuropsychological measures in Hispanic groups (Arnold, Montgomery, Castaneda, & Longoria, 1994). Because no formal measure of acculturation was available in this cohort, we examined the effect of English fluency as an estimate of level of acculturation.…”

Considerations for the Neuropsychological Evaluation of Older Ethnic Minority Populations

“…Emerging literature points to the signi fi cant impact of numerous sociocultural factors on test performance among ethnic minority individuals, including quality of education [57][58][59] , acculturation [ 37,[60][61][62] , language (including bilingualism) [ 59,[63][64][65][66] , and stereotype threat [ 67 ] . There is also potential test bias related to the lack of support for the cultural equivalence and construct validity of several measures with ethnic minority populations [ 13,68,69 ] .…”

“…Multicultural research has demonstrated that neuropsychological performance among neurologically healthy younger and older adults signi fi cantly differs between ethnic minority and non-Hispanic white groups, even after statistically adjusting for other demographic factors (e.g., age, education, and gender) [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] . Further, the poor speci fi city of many neuropsychological tests often results in misdiagnosis of neurocognitive disorders among African Americans and Latinos [ 38 , 45-56 ] .…”