Acculturation Expectations and Experiences as Predictors of Ethnic Migrants’ Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

There is a need for a better acknowledgement of the pre-and postmigration factors that influence postmigration psychological adaptation of ethnic migrants. In the present study, first, we examined the effects of pre-acculturative stress, anticipated sociocultural difficulties, and anticipated discrimination on ethnic migrants' (N = 153) psychological well-being in the postmigration stage. These pre-migration factors were expected to influence postmigration acculturation experiences (i.e., perceived acculturative stress, sociocultural difficulties, and discrimination), which, in turn, were expected to be decisive for postmigration well-being. Second, we examined how the concordance between these premigration and postmigration factors affects postmigration well-being. According to the first set of results, (1) the effect of anticipated sociocultural difficulties on psychological adaptation is mediated by perceived sociocultural difficulties and acculturative stress in the postmigration stage, and (2) the effects of preacculturative stress and anticipated discrimination are present in terms of their impact on subsequent postmigration experiences (stress and discrimination, respectively), which are further associated with postmigration well-being. The second set of results, in turn, shows that ethnic migrants' psychological adaptation is highest (1) when both anticipated and perceived sociocultural difficulties are low and correspond with each other (but not when they anticipated more sociocultural difficulties than they experienced after migration), (2) when they both anticipate and perceive low levels of ethnic discrimination, and (3) when their perceived acculturative stress after migration is lower than pre-acculturative stress. The implications of the results for premigration interventions are discussed.

The mixed blessings of migration: Life satisfaction and self‐esteem over the course of migration

“…Life Satisfaction increased and Self‐Esteem decreased. These changes in opposite directions could explain why our previous study, Mähönen & Jasinskaja‐Lahti (), which employed the broad bandwidth General Well‐Being Index (Gaston & Vogl, ), found no changes in well‐being before and after migration. Our result could be considered unexpected because Self‐Esteem has in cross‐sectional research been considered one of the main determinants of Life Satisfaction (e.g., Campbell, ; Diener & Diener, ; Kwan, Bond, & Singelis, ).…”

“…Third, perceived everyday difficulties, including experiences of difficult intergroup relations, are also factors likely to have a strong impact on migrants' well‐being. A previous study (Mähönen & Jasinskaja‐Lahti, ) using the same sample of Ingrian Finns—but only one post‐migration assessment and a different measure of well‐being—showed that difficulties in socio‐cultural adaptation (Brisset, Safdar, Lewis, & Sabatier, ), acculturative stress (Lazarus & Folkman, ), and experiences of discrimination (Berry et al, ; Jasinskaja‐Lahti et al, ) are all relevant in predicting migrants' well‐being. All of these factors are widely studied precursors of immigrant adaptation (Berry, ).…”

“…Our participants constituted a subsample of the larger longitudinal research project INPRES ( Intervening at the pre‐migration stage: Providing tools for promoting integration and adaptation throughout the migration process ), which investigates the migration of Ingrian Finns and their family members to Finland between 2008 and 2013. The current paper can be considered a sequel to the paper by Mähönen and Jasinskaja‐Lahti (), who showed that individual differences in post‐migration socio‐cultural adaptation, acculturative stress, and perceived discrimination, were all associated with post‐migration psychological well‐being. In their study, well‐being was assessed using the 22‐item General Well‐Being Index (Gaston & Vogl, ), a broad bandwidth measure tapping general mood/affect and somatic complaints/physical health.…”

“…By contrast, the present paper focuses on two positive indicators of psychological well‐being, namely Life Satisfaction and Self‐Esteem, thereby addressing the need to employ more positive indicators of immigrant adaptation (Berry, ; Rudmin, ). More importantly, whereas Mähönen and Jasinskaja‐Lahti () employed only pre‐migration and post‐migration data from the first follow‐up, the present paper reports on pre‐migration data and on data from all three follow‐ups. Extending the time range of the study is important for two reasons.…”

The ironic effect of national identification on support for collective action

“…Varjonen, Arnold, & Jasinskaja-Lahti, 2013). 1 Although ethnic migrants often face rejection and questioning of their identity, their identification with host nationals is typically high, and being treated as a full member of the society is typically expected (Mähönen & Jasinskaja-Lahti, 2013;Tartakovsky, 2008). Also, because of their preparations before migration (e.g.…”