Adaptation of immigrants is one of the most relevant international and national issues in the modern world. In this thesis, the psychological aspects of immigrants' acculturation changes occurring in the Czech Republic will be discussed. Acculturation appears to be a complex, dynamic process that involves a large number of elements, the interaction between which is the subject of our research. An important aspect in the process of acculturation is the phenomenon of acculturative stress. Successful overcoming of acculturative stress depends on a number of predictors and its research might be beneficial not only for immigrants, but for the host society as well. The desirable aim of any acculturation process is the effective adaptation of immigrants, which is associated with creating a series of prospective psychological competencies. In the empirical part we wanted to investigate the interrelationship between selected factors influencing the preference of acculturation strategy: moderating factors prior to (sociodemographic characteristics, tolerance, anxiety) - and during acculturation (personal characteristics such as anxiety and coping strategies). The performed analysis utilizes quantitative data processing based on methods of statistical analysis. The data was obtained using questionnaires from...

Immigrants lose their unique psychosocial context when their experiences are subsumed under pan ethnic labels such as Hispanics, Latina/o, Asians or Africans. The stress from navigating different cultural contexts becomes problematic when immigrants operate within mainstream cultural norms that are in conflict with their traditional values. The number of Kenyan immigrants to the United States has steadily increased since the 1980s. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to study the lived experience of Kenyan immigrants by focusing on their integration experience and how the integration processes may have affected their mental health. Very few studies center on the psychological impact of the integration processes on Africans, while even fewer studies focus on Kenyans. The results of the study could be used by helping professionals to assist Kenyan immigrants with mental health problems as well as policy makers on immigration issues in both Kenya and the United States. Future Kenyan immigrants to the United States can also use this information as they prepare to migrate. The transition theory and social constructionism theory were used as the theoretical lens for this study. Data were collected using semi structured interviews conducted with 7 Kenyan men and women over the age of 18 from Northeastern United States who had immigrated from 1996 to the present day. Coding was used to analyze the data by cross-case analysis to search for themes and patterns. Data analysis revealed discrimination, alienation, shame, overcompensation, and cultural shock among other issues faced by immigrants, but from the Kenyan immigrants' perspective.

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The intersection of Asian American identity and illicit substance use is greatly understudied in psychological literature, especially with matters of mental health and drug use being stigmatized by Asian cultural norms. However, with an increasingly alarming number of fatal drug overdoses by Asian Americans at electronic dance music (EDM) events, attention must be drawn to the needs of this unique population. The present study characterizes this community by drawing from data of 1,290 Asian American young adults who participate in the EDM scene. This study also hypothesizes the impact of acculturative stress and feelings of social belonging on MDMA usage patterns. Analysis reveals a population of largely East and Southeast Asian, 2nd generation, college-educated young adults with strikingly high usage rates of MDMA, an illicit drug linked to the EDM scene. Multiple regression models were created that could predict MDMA use through various measures related to acculturative stress and social belonging. Findings revealed the significant impact of acculturation, acculturative stress, mental health, peer relationships, and desires for social belonging on this population’s MDMA usage patterns, providing an important platform from which future research may launch much-needed additional studies of Asian American young adults and illicit drug use.

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Die Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Möglichkeit der Wissensvermittlung für alte Migranten mit Sprachbarrieren. Mithilfe der Grounded Theory, die gleichermaßen als wissenschaftstheoretische Grundlage für die empirische Hypothesen- sowie Konzeptentwicklung als Fazit der Arbeit dienen soll, werden über unterschiedliche Zugänge zum Thema am Beispiel eines gegebenen Projektes, Handlungsansätze für zukünftige Methoden und Forschungsbereiche erschlossen. Zunächst beschäftigt sich die Arbeit mit einer Abhandlung über Kultur(-anthropologie) und die Auswirkungen auf kollektive und individuelle Identität eines Migranten. Der Begriff der Migration wird definiert, die historische Entwicklung der Migration in Deutschland skizziert, um im Anschluss die Lebenssituation in Deutschland lebender Migranten darzustellen. Da es sich bei dieser Arbeit hauptsächlich um in Deutschland gealterte Migranten handelt, schließt sich eine Definition des alten Menschen an, woraus schließlich der Begriff des alten Migranten entwickelt wird. Um pädagogische Mechanismen des Lernens verständlich zu machen, werden Lerntheorien erläutert, woraus sich dann Besonderheiten für das Lernen im Alter unter Berücksichtigung aktueller Konzepte (z.B. Lebenslanges Lernen ) ableiten lassen. Die Identitätsentwicklung der in Deutschland lebenden Migranten wird weiter unter dem Gesichtspunkt des Akkulturationsstresses erörtert. Es werden hirnbiologische Zusammenhänge für die Lebenssituation der alten Migranten erarbeitet, um einerseits individuellen Stress dieser Menschen und andererseits Stress durch Migration als kollektive Erfahrung mit Folgen im Ankunftsland in Einklang zu bringen. Fallbeispiele aus der psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischen Praxis als pathologisches Endstadium für die Unfähigkeit des Nicht-Lernen-könnens werden eingebracht. Mithilfe einer nicht-experimentellen bundesweiten Erhebung zur Lebenszufriedenheit (FLZ: Fragebogen zur Lebenszufriedenheit) werden theoretische Überlegungen belegt. Dazu werden ferner verfügbare statistische Daten beispielsweise über die Teilnahme an Deutsch- bzw. Integrationskursen sowie Abbruch- und Erfolgsquoten herangezogen. Die Entstehung und Nutzung der Neurodidaktik - eine Verschmelzung der biologischen und pädagogischen Forschung - dient als Überleitung zu pädagogisch-didaktischen Möglichkeiten des informellen Lernens, wobei zuvor formelles und informelles Lernen mit historischen Beispielen (von Platon bis Freire) definiert werden. Der Infokoffer des Projektes Älter werden in Deutschland wird als Beispiel einer praktikablen Möglichkeit unter Berücksichtigung der in der Arbeit bereits genannten kritischen Momente des Lernens für ältere Migranten ausführlich dargestellt und erläutert. Letztlich werden als Fazit Elemente für zukünftige Entwicklungen von Methoden für die Arbeit mit in Deutschland lebenden älteren Migranten dargeboten. Durch diese Arbeit ergeben sich zusätzlich Ansätze zu aktuell gesellschaftlich diskutierten Thema der Integration und das Feld biophysiologischer Untersuchungen an Migranten als weitere Forschungsbereiche. Um beim Leser das Verständnis zu gewährleisten und Zusammenhänge ausreichend und umfassend vermitteln zu können werden im Verlauf der Arbeit Exkurse zu tangierenden Themen, Konzepten und Aspekten geboten.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chinese students are the biggest ethnic group of international students in the United States. Previous studies have identified many unique problems of Chinese students during their acculturation process and a higher level of acculturative stress than international students from other countries. A systematic review of instruments that assess acculturative stress revealed that none of the existing scales apply to Chinese students in the United States, either because of language issues or validity problems. Thus, this study aims to develop a reliable and valid scale to accurately measure the acculturative stress of Chinese students in the United States. A 72-item pool was generated by interviewing eight Chinese students and borrowing items from existing literature and scales. The item pool was sent online to 607 Chinese students and 267 of them completed the survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted to empirically derive the factor structure of the Acculturative Stress Scale for Chinese Students (ASSCS). The results produced a 32-item scale in five dimensions, which were Language Insufficiency, Social Isolation, Perceived Discrimination, Academic Pressure, and Guilt toward Family. The ASSCS demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.939) and initial validity by predicting depression (Beta = 0.490, p<.001) and life satisfaction (Beta = -0.505, p<.001). It was the first Chinese scale of acculturative stress developed and validated among a Chinese student sample in the United States. Further studies need to be conducted to provide empirical support and confirm the validity for the scale. In the future, the scale can be used as diagnosing tool and self-assessment tool.