Yes / The aim of this research is to determine the extent of online and offline acculturation preferences affecting purchase intentions within a minority ethnic community. This study investigates the role of social media as an agent in terms of how it influences acculturation and consumption. It also investigates the moderating role of education level. The findings highlight the significance of investigating language and friendship orientations and subsequent acculturation preferences. Empirical results confirm the impact of language and friendship orientations on enculturation/acculturation, which in turn impact purchase intentions. The results suggest differences among three groups in terms of their education level. The study discusses contribution to theory and provides future research directions, while offering useful practical implications for marketers.

Yes / This study explores how global and local forces influence the processes of consumer re-acculturation amongst third-generation British Sikhs in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Data is collected over a three-year period using multiple methods that focus on the experiential consumption of shaadi.com by third-generation British-born Sikhs. Data is analysed using thematic analysis, and findings reveal three transcultural identity patterns: accommodating, re-acculturating, and resisting Sikh culture. We argue that the emergent identity patterns are fluid, as our participants feel neither wholly British, wholly Sikh, nor wholly British-Sikh, positioning themselves beyond, rather than against, Sikh or British culture. We uncover the connectedness between the traditional cultural practices of arranged marriages and the space of shaadi.com, a matrimonial website. We interpret this website as a medium through which transcultural identities are constructed. We contribute to theory by showing the development of transcultural patterns of consumption and consistent transcultural identity construction in non-migrating ethnic communities.

Le nombre d'élèves immigrants dans les écoles secondaires au Québec est croissant. L'école joue un rôle important dans l'acclimatation de ces jeunes, car elle représente le lieu où ils seront le plus exposés au contact avec la société d'accueil. La présente recherche de maîtrise avait pour but de dégager les postures du gouvernement québécois et du milieu universitaire concernant l'acculturation des immigrants fréquentant les écoles secondaires, au niveau de la province de Québec et, plus spécifiquement, de la ville de Sherbrooke. Les résultats indiquent une orientation d'intégration du côté gouvernemental, même si quelques traits assimilationnistes sont visibles. Les documents scientifiques communiquent une orientation d'individualisme. Les deux types de document [i.e. documents] considèrent que la socialisation est le rôle principal de l'école auprès de l'élève immigrant, ce qui les conduirait vers une intégration réussie. Toutefois, les définitions de ce que sont la socialisation et l'intégration pour l'ensemble du corpus restent absentes ou contradictoires.

The current study examined relationships among acculturation, parent-child relationship quality, and selected wellbeing indicators (health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, anxiety, depression, and stress) among a group of young adults from immigrant families of Asian and Hispanic descent. The first goal of the current study was to replicate previous research demonstrating a mixed relationship between acculturation and the wellbeing indicators. The second was to explain this relationship by testing for a moderation effect of parental care on the acculturation-wellbeing relationship. An examination of differences between members of the two ethnic groups on all measured variables served an exploratory purpose. Participants included 204 participants of Asian (N =80) and Hispanic (N = 124) descent who came from an immigrant family, or a family in which at least one parent was born outside of the U.S. Eligible respondents were also current students at the University of the North Texas who fell within the age range of 18-24, and the data for the current study was selected from a larger dataset (N = 1064). Results indicated that higher acculturation levels had a positive effect on each wellbeing indicator. Father Care and Mother Care were found to be significantly positively correlated with most outcome variables but neither parental care variable moderated the acculturation-wellbeing relationship. Asian and Hispanic participants differed on a number of predicting and outcome variables. Implications of the findings, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

A THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 / Introduction: An increase in the prevalence of eating disorders, body image dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and unhealthy weight control behaviors have been reported among adolescents worldwide, and are a public health concern with physical and psychological consequences. Although underweight and stunting still persists in South Africa, overweight and obesity is increasing in all ages, gender, and ethnic groups. Obesity is a biological risk factor for body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and eating disorders among adolescents, all of which have been found to be associated with various weight change behaviors and strategies. South Africa being a culturally diverse country is undergoing rapid political, socioeconomic, nutrition and epidemiological transitions, and therefore offers a unique opportunity to investigate this area of research. Study design: There are two study components: (1) A cross-sectional study to determine gender and ethnic (black and white) differences in eating attitudes, self-esteem and body satisfaction in 13, 15 and 17 year-old boys (n=391) and girls (n=340) living in urban Johannesburg; (2) A longitudinal survey of the Birth-to-Twenty (Bt20) cohort at ages 13 and 17 years (n=1435) to compare eating attitudes, body-esteem and weight control behaviors between black and mixed ancestry adolescents, to examine the changes over time in these variables, and to investigate ethnic differences in the male and female perceptions of female body silhouettes at age 17 years. These ages were selected to provide a diverse sample of adolescents (early, mid and late adolescence). Methods: Anthropometric measurements were performed on all participants. Overweight and obesity were determined using age-gender specific cut-offs for BMI for children aged up to 17 years. Eating attitudes test-26 (EAT-26) scores were used to determine an increased risk of developing an eating disorder. The total EAT-26 score is the sum of the 26 items and scores range from 0 to 78. Participants who score more than 20 are considered to be at greater risk of developing an eating disorder, and represent more unhealthy attitudes towards food, body weight and eating. Body-esteem was measured using a body esteem scale. It consists of a set of 21 questions which measure 1) global feelings about one’s body e.g. “I like what I see when I look in the mirror”, 2) satisfaction with one’s weight e.g. “I really like what I weigh” and 3) positive evaluations about one’s body and appearance e.g. “People my own age like my looks”. The body-esteem assessment uses a 5-point scale ranging from “never” (1) to “always” (5) and the higher the score the more satisfied the participant is with their body. Total scores are divided into three categories; low body esteem (score 1 to 21), average body-esteem (score 22 to 42), and high body esteem (score > 43). The Rosenberg self-esteem tool was used to measure general self-esteem of the participants. Body image satisfaction tool was used to rate participants satisfaction with different parts of their body whereas, the body esteem scale was used to assess participant’s attitudes and feelings about their body and appearance. A series of randomly placed female silhouettes were used to assess participants association with different attributes. They were also asked to associate a series of randomly placed female silhouettes, with specific words or phrases including clumsy, happy, worst, strong, happiest, best, less respect, more respect, unhappy. All participants were asked a number of questions about their attempts to change their weight. Girls and boys were asked the following questions: “During the past year have you done anything to try to lose weight?”, “During the past year have you done anything to try to gain muscle?” If participants answered positively they were asked to give reasons, which included; health and cosmetic reasons e.g. to look better, clothes too tight, too fat, unhappy with self, and want to be a model. They were further asked about the methods they used to lose weight, and their responses were categorized into three groups: (i) healthy weight control behaviors (e.g. to exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables, and to eat less high fat foods and less sweets) [20] unhealthy weight control behaviors (e.g. fasting, eating very little food, skipping meals, cigarette smoking and use of food substitutes (iii) extreme weight control behaviors (e.g. use of diet pills, self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives and diuretics). Descriptive analyses were completed and stratified according to gender and ethnicity. For normally distributed data we used t-tests and ANOVAs, and for data that was not normally distributed Wilcoxon rank test was done to determine significant difference. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences between categorical data. Pearson correlation test was done to determine linear associations. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the non-cohort sample, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in the white girls and boys compared to their black peers, significantly more black than white adolescents of both genders reported an EAT-26 score ≥20 (predisposition to an eating disorder). Although the prevalence of low self-esteem was greater in the white compared to black girls, in the study of the male adolescents, the low self-esteem was more prevalent in the black compared to the white boys. Significantly more black than white girls had high body image dissatisfaction (38.8 vs. 16.7%). There were significant differences between the male and female ethnic groups in their perception of female silhouettes, and the majority of the white girls (65.4%) wanted to be thinner compared to only 38.8% of the black girls. BMI was positively associated with self- esteem and negatively with dieting behavior in white boys , and with lower EAT-26 bulimic and oral control scores in black boys. In the Birth to Twenty cohort, black African females had a higher BMI (p<0.001) and an increased risk of developing eating disorders as well as significant increase in the prevalence of weight loss practices between the ages 13 and 17 years. At age 17 years both mixed ancestry adolescents had lower body-esteem compared to black adolescents. The prevalence of possible eating disorders was 11% and 13.1% in early and late adolescents respectively. Males and females shared similar opinions on normal silhouettes being the 'best', 'getting respect' and being the 'happiest', while the obese silhouette was associated with the 'worst' and the 'unhappiest', and the underweight silhouette with the "weakest". Conclusions: Black African urban teenagers seem to be embracing Western norms to fit in with the demands of Western culture, however there is still evidence of traditional influences in both boys and girls with regard to perceptions of female silhouettes. Our findings suggest ethnicity and gender play a major role in psychosocial disorders. Ethnicity and gender were found to be associated with an increased risk of future eating disorders, as well as weight loss and muscle gain practices. These findings are highly relevant for all African countries undergoing transition, and are important in planning the development of interventions to optimize adolescent health prior to adulthood.

Thesis advisor: Usha Tummala-Narra / Despite the Asian Indian community being one of the fastest growing populations in the U.S., there continues to be a paucity of research available that examines the specific nuances of the acculturation process within this population, particularly with regards Asian Indian women in the immigrant context within the U.S. Guided by a socioecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1994), the aim of this present study was to examine how Asian Indian immigrant women, who migrated to the U.S. between 1966-1985, have engaged in the acculturative process and made sense of their ethnic and gender identity across time. Utilizing a qualitative descriptive methodology, 18 participants (ages 55 to 71 years) were interviewed via a semistructured format. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data collected in this investigation and revealed six broad domains related to participants’ experiences as Asian Indian immigrant women living in the U.S. These domains include following: 1) marriage and family; 2) working in the U.S; 3) experiences of gender; 4) challenges to acculturation; 5) cxperience of immigration over time; and 6) coping and resilience. The findings from this study illuminate the ways in which gender is restructured within the immigrant context, the immigrant experience transforms over time, and the psychological impact of the acculturative process among the Asian Indian immigrant women population. Important implications for culturally informed clinical practice and future research directions are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

This dissertation presents a comprehensive literature review of the acculturation process and describes the following aspects: constructs, theoretical models, measurement instruments, limitation in research, and an emphasis on the acculturation process and its proposed relationship with alcohol consumption among Hispanics. Included are also findings from an study conducted on the relationship between the acculturation process and hazardous alcohol use among 180 Hispanic college students in late adolescences. Final results from the study were obtained using a path analysis, a confirmatory approach to test hypothesis. Evaluation indices suggest the path analysis had good model fit, CFI, RMSEA and SRMR (1.00, 0.001, and .02, respectively). In regard to the first hypothesis, data show that behavioral enculturation was a statistically significant (beta = .69, p < .05) predictor of greater alcohol consumption. Further, moderation analyses indicate that behavioral enculturation (beta = .59, p < .05) was a greater risk factor of alcohol use for men than women. Regarding hypothesis two and three, acculturative stress, intragroup marginalization, and depression did not mediate the indirect influence of acculturation and enculturation on alcohol use. However, higher scores of enculturation were associated to greater acculturative stress and higher score of acculturation were related to greater intragroup marginalization. In turn both acculturative stress and intragroup marginalization were statistically significant predictors of depression. In all, the model accounted for 31 percent of the variance in depression and 20 percent in alcohol consumption. In view of these results, interventions should be designed to target segments of the Hispanic populations that are likely to be enculturated. Further, interventions should consider introducing gender socialization differences regarding attitudes toward alcohol use that directly attending to the moderating role of gender. Given that data also indicate that pressure from both the heritage culture and dominant culture may increase the risk of depression, mental health providers should be attune to these effects of the acculturation process to help adolescents negotiate expectations of both cultures. Lastly, interventions for alcohol use and depression may incorporate family effectiveness training, to attend to differential acculturation as a systemic family issue that needs to be addressed at the family interactional level.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-117).

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Fonctionnement des écosystèmes et agrosystèmes : Toulouse, INPT : 2006. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. 289 réf.