Ph.D., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008 / The ‘two-world hypothesis’ argues that women may employ self-starvation as a means of coping with the demands of ‘straddling two worlds’ which occurs during periods of transition such as adolescence, industrialization, emancipation of women and culture clash, where women are required to ‘juggle’ the demands of conflicting socio-cultural expectations (Katzman & Lee, 1997). This resonates with the construct of acculturative stress proposed by Rodriguez, Myers, Mira et al., (2002) as the simultaneous ‘push and pull’ of opposing pressures to acculturate to a new culture and pressures against this acculturation from the culture of origin; and suggests that acculturative stress may mediate the development of eating disorders during periods of sociocultural transition. This study aimed to identify relationships between acculturative stress and eating disorder by exploring associations between the Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale (MASI: Rodriguez et al., 2002), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT26; Garner, Olmsted, Bohr & Garfinkel, 1982) and the Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale (EDDS: Stice, Telch & Rizvi, 2000) as a substitute for follow-up clinical interview, in a sample of black adolescent schoolgirls in the rapidly changing socio-cultural context of South Africa. Focus Groups were conducted to evaluate the validity of these instruments within the South African context. Groups suggested that the EAT26 needed to be qualified and the MASI needed to be modified and revised. The 34-item MASI-Revised contained three subscales, Pressure to Acculturate, Pressure against Acculturation, and a new subscale, Conflict, which appeared to reflect the sum of opposing acculturative pressures as cultural-identity confusion. The General Health Questionnaire-12 was used as a ‘gold standard’ measure of stress. The study selected a sample of 5 urban state high schools from which 187 black female learners were sampled from grades 9-12. Response rate was low and random sampling was not possible. Results indicated that 24.5% of the sample scored positively on the EAT26 and 13.9% qualified for a diagnosis of eating disorder as measured by the EDDS; while a further 24% engaged in regular dysfunctional eating patterns worthy of clinical attention. Subjects scoring positively on both the EAT26 and the MASI-R were significantly more likely (Odds Ratio=29.408; p<0.001) to have an eating disorder on EDDS than those who were negative on both scales. Eating disorders were also significantly and independently predicted by the MASI-R and the EAT26, where subjects scoring positively on either of these scales were significantly (Odds Ratio=4.917; p<0.001) more likely to have an eating disorder than those scoring negatively on both scales. Results suggested that acculturative stress may be a significant risk factor in the development of eating disorders in black South African females and that adolescents experiencing cultural identity confusion may be most at risk.

Focus of on-going cross-cultural investigation has throughout the time shown that inadequate language skills paired with absence of knowledge of cultural practices and norms within the receiving society would create a number of stress behaviors among immigrants, often manifested as lowered mental health status- depression, anxiety, confusion; feelings of marginality and alienation; psychosomatic symptoms and identity confusion (Berry and Annis, 1988; Greenberg & Greenberg, 1989; Kessler, Turner and House, 1988; Shams and Jackson, 1994; Vega et al., 1986; Vinokur, Price and Caplan, 1991; Winefield, Winefield, Tiggermann and Goldney, 1991). It was further noticed that refugee populations across the world are adapting to the receiving societies in a much slower rate then other migrating groups (Greenberg & Greenberg, 1989), and yet due to sensibilities surrounding research of a refugee population, there are still questions surrounding this process. In addition, it appears that the attempts to demystify acculturation and uncover objective underpinnings of it, has further reduced the current concept undermining validity and reliability of the findings. Therefore need for subjective experience and definition of acculturation, as well as reconsideration of complexity of the phenomenon (acculturation) was recognised by this research. This study was designed to offer a qualitative insight into the acculturative differences within a family unit among refugees from former Yugoslavia. 21 women, recent refugee- arrivals were requested to participate in the open- end interview. In the semi- structured interview the women were asked to give a detailed account of their personal, their partners’ and their children’s experiences concerning the emotional, social, economical, occupational and psychological aspects of their and their family- members’ acculturation processes. The obtained data was analysed through the means of narrative and Erickson’s analytic induction. The results showed that cultural incompatibilities have spread into diverse spheres of living, thus complexity of the acculturation-related problems was acknowledged. The results showed that (1) split families (due to immigration), (2) inability to establish new social ties in the novel environment and (3) decay in professional status were often reported in connection with eroded physical and mental well-being of the participants and their families. The research also looked at cultural diversities, and gender differences, concentrating on concepts of resilience and coping strategies within the acculturative practice. It appears that cognitive restructuring and the ability to “let go” of the previous lives was the best coping mechanism.

<p>A growing body of research has indicated the challenges and difficulties international students face including but not limited to language barriers, academic struggles, social isolation, discrimination, and psychological distress. Among international students, East Asian international students represent a large subgroup and report higher acculturative stress and struggles due to their deep and complex cultural and language differences from the U.S. culture, compared to students from other areas. Using Tweed and Conway’s (2006) framework, the current research examined a model to understand the roles of culturally relevant coping strategies (e.g., perseverance, meaning-focused coping) and acculturative stress in explaining well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and peace of mind) among 200 East Asian international students. The results indicated that acculturative stress was a strong predictor of all well-being variables, perseverance was a predictor of well-being except for negative affect, and meaning-focused coping was a predictor of life satisfaction and positive affect. Tests of indirect effects revealed that perseverance partially mediates the relationship between acculturative stress and positive affect and peace of mind. The results also suggested that meaning-focused coping does not mediate the relationships between acculturative stress and well-being variables. The discussion addresses limitations of the study, suggestions for future research, and implications for literature and counseling psychology practice for East Asian international students. </p>

Depression seems to affect a large portion of Americans living the U.S. Specifically, it has been found to affect the Latino population more so than other ethnicities. When considering Latino immigrants, it is important to take into consideration the additional challenges (e.g. adaptation, acculturation) that may lead to the development of depression. In the current study, the aim is to find a relationship between depression and other psychological constructs (e.g. dominant group and intragroup marginalization, acculturative stress) in order to determine high risk factors for depressive symptoms among Latino immigrants in the Florida community. 128 Latino immigrants (44 males, 81 females, 3 indicated no specific gender) residing in the Central Florida Community completed scales assessing Marginalization by non-Latinos, Marginalization by Latinos, Symptoms of Depression, and Social Support. Marginalization by Whites and by Latinos/as was not associated significantly with symptoms of depression (rs = .16 and -.02, ps > .05, respectively). In contrast, acculturative stress correlated significantly with symptoms of depression (r = .33, p < .01). It was also predicted that social support would mitigate the association between acculturative stress and symptoms of depression. To test this, I first established that social support correlated significantly with symptoms of depression (r = -.39, p < .001). Next, a partial correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relation between acculturative stress and symptoms of depression while partialing social support. The resulting correlation (r = .30, p < .01) suggested that social support did not account for the observed association between acculturative stress and symptoms of depression. From a clinical perspective, this research is beneficial in knowing what may contribute to depressive symptoms among a growing population, which could then create additional components to consider in treatments.

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Acculturative stress has a significant impact on any individual that experiences it. This type of stress is felt specifically within various immigrant populations brought on by the differences (culture, language, systems, supports, etc.) from host nation to country of origin. The effects of acculturative stress can manifest psychologically, physiologically or as some combination of the two. This research used an online survey and individual interviews to review and examine the current supports at Conestoga College in order to assess their role in reducing the impacts of acculturative stress in first year, full-time, international students. The data from the online survey (n= 57) and in-person interviews (n=16) determined that the majority of participants felt varying levels of acculturative stress after arriving to Canada for their program of study. The data displayed that although the majority of students were aware of and accessed many of the supports provided by Conestoga College, it did not reduce the experiences of acculturative stress. Four emergent themes were also revealed through the data; navigation, emotional impacts, independence and belonging which further contribute to the understanding of acculturative stress and the field of acculturation more broadly. These emergent themes are ones which can be applied to a multitude of immigrant groups and can help to unify the field of acculturation. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

When Latino children immigrate to the United States, they encounter challenges and opportunities associated with immigration (Alba & Foner, 2015; Arbona et al., 2010). Although there were nearly 2.5 million foreign-born children living in the United States in 2016 (U.S. CensusBureau, 2016), little is known about these children’s perspectives on immigration, particularly their perspectives on homesickness. The current research study investigated Latino immigrant children’s perspectives on homesickness and bilingual picture books containing stories of homesick Latino immigrant children. The children’s experiences were compared with current theories ofacculturative stress.Through semi-structured interviews using the hermeneutic method, the researchers interviewed 12 Latino children, aged 8-12, who immigrated to the United States within the current school year. Contributions to homesickness included missing family, friends, and the familiarity of their home countries as well as difficulty learning English. The children reported feeling safer in the United States and recognized greater opportunities for their future because of immigration. Subjects identified with the books in which characters’ experiences were similar to their own. Like current theories of acculturative stress, the children have found relief in homesickness through socialsupport.It is recommended that future mental health practitioners and educators working with Latino immigrant children help them recognize and express their feelings about immigration, provide reassurance, and tailor response strategies to the needs of each individual child. Additional research is needed to better understand Latino immigrant children’s perspectives on homesickness and other challenges and opportunities that accompany immigration.

This study was designed to describe the experiences of acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping behaviors among Black international students. While research exists on the acculturative and coping experiences of international students in the United States, very few studies have been designed to explicitly examine the experiences of Black international students of sub-Saharan and Caribbean origins. A majority of the existing literature has focused on experiences of Asian and Latin American international students (Malcolm & Mendoza, 2014). This study was intended to provide information about the acculturative experiences of Black international students enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Interviews were conducted with four focus groups, each comprising three participants. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an interpretive phenomenological approach, and themes were generated from the interviews. The themes that emerged shed light on experiences related to acculturative stress, anti-Black and anti-immigrant discrimination, and adjusting to a new academic environment. Themes also highlighted several ways that Black international students coped with these experiences (e.g., talking to other international students, keeping in contact with family in their home country, and relying on a faith community). Results from this study will inform future research on how Black international students learn race within the U.S context, how geographical location influences the acculturative experiences of Black international students, and the interactions between Black immigrant communities and African American communities. Results of this study could also be used to develop diversity trainings for university staff and community members, and to develop social programs specifically for Black international

Acquisitions are growing in popularity as a way for organizations to grow. Yet the proportion of acquisitions that fail to meet their performance goals are high. The reason behind this failure rate can be many, but one often cited cause is differences in organizational culture and acculturative stress.    This thesis aims to gain a fuller understanding of how acculturation and acculturative stress are perceived by the members of staff of an acquired firm. This thesis took a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews as the method of data collection. The sample consisted of four members of staff of a firm who had been acquired part of an international acquisition.    The results showed that they perceived the acquirers preferred mode of acculturation to be more intrusive than the one preferred by the members of staff of the acquired firm. Furthermore, the participants expressed that the organization suffered from common symptoms of acculturative stress, such as increased turnover among management.