Paper 1: SCA - Acculturation
Acculturation SAQExplain acculturation with reference to one research study. (9)Acculturation refers to social, psychological and?cultural changes?that occur when people enculturated in one culture come into first-hand continuous contact with people who identify with another culture. According to Berry (1990), these changes depend upon how much a person strives to preserve their original cultural identity and/or be accepted by members of the second culture. Integration occurs when there is strong identification with both the first and second cultures, assimilation occurs when the first culture is abandoned in favour of the second, separation occurs when the first cultural identity is preserved and the second culture is rejected, whereas marginalisation results from a rejection of both the first and second cultures. Many personal and social factors affect the strategy a person employs and when, e.g. age, language proficiency and perceived prejudice and discrimination, which can be two-way between the individual and the second culture. However, researchers agree that acculturation can be stressful, and thus a trigger for anxiety and depression. This can happen when people lack culturally-relevant skills to function well within either the host culture or even within their own family, if inter-generational differences exist in acculturative strategies, e.g. separatist elders and integrated/assimilated adult children. Mui and Kang (2006)’s study of acculturative stress and depression shows how people’s behaviour can be negatively affected, even after many years of exposure to a second culture. They aimed to identify factors which predicted depression in a random sample of 407 older first-generation Asian-Americans (mean age: 72). They were originally from China, Korea, India, The Philippines, Vietnam or Japan but they had lived in the US for many years, (mean= 21). They were interviewed for approximately 1.5 hour, at home and in their preferred language. Depression was measured using Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) while acculturation was measured by asking participants to rate the importance of statements about family values (e.g. know your family ancestry and history), as these are central to many Asian cultures. High scores indicated traditional views (low acculturation) and low scores represented high acculturation. They also measured the perceived inter-generational cultural gap between the participants’ own views on these values, and those of their adult children. 40% of Mui and Kang’s participants were depressed, however there were wide differences between the ethnicities, e.g. 76% for the Japanese but only 15% for Filipinos. High or low acculturation alone was not predictive of depression, yet perception of a cultural gap between themselves and their adult children was. Contrary to previous research, longer US residence was also predictive of depression and the authors suggest this may be related to increased probability of having adult children (born in the US), with differing acculturative styles and values which can be a source of family conflict and tension. This study provides a good illustration of the complexity of the relationship between acculturation and acculturative stress, as there were wide differences between the experiences of immigrants of different ethnicities and these may be dependent upon dynamic factors such as the host country’s level of prejudice towards certain groups, e.g. following WW2 prejudice towards Japanese immigrants may have been high, meaning parents early acculturative experiences may be different to those of their children. Word count: 525 ................
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