The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between acculturation and refugee Somali adolescents' perceptions of counseling. Specifically, the study investigated a potential relationship between various dimensions of acculturation and perceptions refugee Somali adolescents held toward counseling. In addition, the relationship between gender and attitudes toward counseling was also explored. The methodology consisted of the use of a quantitative research design in which students were asked to provide background information and participate in face-to-face interviews to obtain responses on two questionnaires: the Language, Identity and Behavior Acculturation Measure (Birman & Tricket, 2001) and Attitudes Toward Professional Psychological Counseling Help (Sok, 2004). The sample consisted of 63 refugee Somali adolescents aged 1 1 through 18 years attending public school in a Georgia county and who immigrated to the United States between 1990 and 2000. 1 Statistical procedures, including the Pearson Product moment Correlation Coefficients, were performed through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 1 1 .O. Results showed that refugee Somali adolescents' attitudes toward counseling were related to their overall level of acculturation and with the three dimensions of acculturation measured by the Language, Identity and Behavior. Refugee Somali adolescents were less likely to hold positive attitudes toward counseling or seek counseling: (a) as their English language acculturation increased, (b) the more they thought of themselves as being American, and (c) as their participation in American culture (e.g., books, clubs and parties) increased. However, they were more likely to hold positive attitudes towards counseling: (a) as their Somali language acculturation
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:auctr.edu/oai:digitalcommons.auctr.edu:dissertations-1576 |
| Date | 01 May 2008 |
| Creators | Lacy, Mary Sue |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center |
| Source Sets | Atlanta University Center |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | ETD Collection for Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds