Acculturation Gaps Between Turkish Immigrant Marriage Partners

Abstract

Research on acculturation gaps has traditionally focused on parent–child dyads and the negative implications for youths’ psycho-social adaptation. The current study explored the impact of acculturation gaps in Turkish immigrant couples (N = 121) on each spouse’s acculturation stress. Wives and husbands reported their acculturation across two domains (language and identity) and dimensions (German and Turkish), and two facets of stress (homesickness and upholding traditions). Actor–partner interdependence models were used to estimate effects (Cook & Kenny, 2005). While homesickness was a burden for both partners, upholding traditions was not an immense stressor but was higher among husbands. Host culture adaptation was associated with lower levels of homesickness among wives and higher levels of stress with traditions among husbands. Heritage culture maintenance was associated with lower levels of stress with traditions among husbands. Overall, there were very few partner effects although better Turkish language abilities of wives were related to less homesickness among husbands. Acculturation gaps were either unrelated to spouses’ acculturation stress or associated with lower levels of stress. Results are discussed with respect to an interpersonal perspective on immigrants’ acculturation strategies. We promote the idea that biculturalism can be achieved within the couple.

Perceived Parental Remote Acculturation Gaps Among Divorced Coparents and Children’s Adjustment in Turkey

“…This finding underscores how remote acculturation and perceived remote acculturation gaps might uniquely function across different domains of acculturation. Results are consistent with some previous immigrant acculturation studies with Turkish immigrants in Europe (Spiegler et al, 2015) and other ethnic groups in the United States (Birman, 2006b;Calzada et al, 2009;Ho & Birman, 2010), showing significant results only in the domain of identity. This is a very interesting finding because changes in cultural identity are "deeper" than changes in behavioral practices (Berry & Sam, 2016) because they require an adoption of beliefs and practices of multiple cultures to construe a sense of belonging (Jensen, 2011).…”

“…Research with Turkish immigrant couples in Europe stated that behavior and identity domains of acculturation can have different associations with well-being for one partner versus the other. Among 121 Turkish immigrant couples in Germany, husbands’ Turkish and German orientations in both identity and language domains have been linked to well-being, whereas for wives only German orientation in the identity domain is related to stress due to homesickness (Spiegler, Leyendecker, & Kohl, 2015). In light of this, we examined remote acculturation and its impact on children’s adjustment across one “shallow” domain (behavior) and one “deep” domain (identity).…”

“…Several studies have used the difference score method, in which one parent’s acculturation score on a given scale is subtracted from the other parent’s. Using this method, Turkish immigrant husbands in Germany had higher German orientation than did their wives (identity domain: Spiegler et al, 2015), and Chinese immigrant fathers in Canada engaged more with Canadian culture than did mothers (behavior, identity, and value domains: Costigan & Dokis, 2006). Using squared difference scores, Chance and her colleagues (2013) also found that a larger parental acculturation gap (behavior domain) predicted greater discrepancies in parents’ expectations about adolescents’ family assistance, and this link was mediated by poorer perceptions of coparenting quality.…”

Socio-Economic Status and Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Turkish Immigrant Mothers in Germany

“…Further studies should therefore focus on factors that support Turkish immigrants or other immigrant groups. Here, it has to be taken into account that first generation immigrants often have left family members behind in the country of origin, that they do not speak Germany very well, that they are likely to be poorly integrated into the host society, and that they quite possibly suffer acculturation stress (Spiegler et al, 2015 ). Further studies should therefore focus on factors that support immigrant parents' participation in the society by facilitating their access to education, language competencies, and consequently into the labor market as well.…”

The Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science

“…Thus, in families with at least one first-generation parent, the culture and language of origin are more likely kept alive than in families with two second-generation parents (Spiegler, Leyendecker, & Kohl, 2015). For offspring, speaking their parents’ heritage language is important to communicate with the first-generation parent (Leyendecker et al, 2014).…”