Acculturation, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Korean Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

A sample of 157 Korean immigrants responded to measures of acculturation level, stress from acculturation, and depressive symptoms. The authors hypothesized that adaptive acculturation would depend on assimilation regarding social interactions and the host culture's language as well as on retention of a core identity, including values and traditions of the culture of origin. Consistent with the mediation hypothesis, acculturation, based on a factor representing language use and social relationships, was related to lower acculturative stress and, in turn, lower depression. However, there was no direct support for the integrative, or bicultural, strategy of acculturation. Stress did not mediate the effect of a 2nd acculturation factor, identity and tradition-based acculturation. Rather, this measure of acculturation was directly related to higher depression (i.e., immigrants reporting abandonment of Korean identity, traditions, and values scored higher for depression).

The acculturation of international residential tourists and their shopping behaviours

“…Yeh (2003) and Oh, Koeske, and Sales (2002) have not found differences in men vs. women acculturation. However, Ghuman (1997) has found that young females show higher levels of acculturation than young males.…”

Eating Attitudes, Self-Dissatisfaction and Emotional Distress Among Early Adolescents in Hawai'i: A Gender Comparison

“…Hence future research could include a measure of socio-economic opportunity for family connectedness and its interactions with eating attitudes -and highly tentatively perhaps, any potential interaction with gender. Another limitation of the present study was the failure to include any measure of ethnic identity, immigration status, or acculturation, as numerous studies have found these variables are related to increased risk of depression (Chamorro & Florez-Ortiz, 2000;Gonzalez, Haan, & Hinton, 2001;Oh, Koeske, & Sales, 2002), disordered eating (Davis & Katzman, 1999;Guenewardene, Huon, & Zheng, 2001) and other weight-related illnesses (Laurderdale & Rathouz, 2000;Smith, Bogin, VarelaSilva, Orden, & Loucky, 2002). Although Asian and Pacific Islanders make up the largest ethnic group in Hawai'i, the percentage of Caucasians on the island of Maui (37%) is higher than the state average (25%; U.S. Census, 2005).…”

The Variables Affecting Acculturative Stress of Women in International Marriages

“…문화적응 스트레스란 모국문화와 이민 사회의 주류문화에 대한 적응과 정착과정에서 나타나는 심리적 어려움으로서 (Berry, 1990), 특히 이민자들의 정 신건강 위험을 증가시키는 주요 변수로 주목되어왔다 (Hwang & Ting, 2008;Oh et al, 2002). 국제결혼이주 여성은 국제이주와 결혼을 동시에 선택한 상황에서 한국 사회라는 주류사회와 다문화가족에서의 적응이라는 이중 과제를 안고 있고 (양옥경 외, 2009) …”