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Effects of acculturation levels and interpersonal, immigrant, and demographic variables on the cultural adjustment difficulties of Asian international people and Asian Americans
Abstract
Literature on acculturation and cultural adjustment difficulties was reviewed. Questions were investigated regarding the relationships of (1) acculturation levels, (2) interpersonal variables (e.g., perceived prejudice, family closeness, etc.), (3) immigrant variables (e.g., generation level, religion, etc.), and (4) demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, etc.) with the mental health of Asian International people (AIs) and Asian Americans (AAs). This study attempted to develop the Cultural Adjustment Difficulties Checklist (CADC) to assess the stresses and concerns of two Asian groups, AIs and AAs, who as minority groups undergo the process of acculturating to the dominant White society in the U.S. Data were obtained from 292 AI and 175 AA subjects for a 43 percent return rate. Instrument analyses included exploratory factor analyses which suggested a two-factor model of cultural adjustment difficulties for both AIs and AAs. These two factors were named Acculturative Stress and Intercultural Competence. The relationships of the two factors across the two Asian samples indicated coefficients of factor congruence of.91 for Acculturative Stress and.94 for Intercultural Competence. Full scale and subscale internal consistency reliabilities (alphas) were.91,.90, and.85, respectively, for the AI sample and were.91,.89, and.88, respectively, for the AA sample. Parametric tests such as multivariate (MANOVAs) and univariate (ANOVAs) procedures and nonparametric tests such as Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney showed significant effects for (1) acculturation levels of AAs (i.e., high acculturated and medium acculturated), (2) four AI nationality groups (i.e., Asians from the Indian subcontinent, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese, and Malaysians), and (3) five AA ethnic groups (i.e., Asian Indians, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Koreans, and Vietnamese) on the two subscales of the CADC. A hierarchical, forced entry multiple regression analysis indicated that acculturation scores, interpersonal variables, and immigrant variables were significant predicting blocks for the total score on the CADC for the full sample consisting of both AI and AA subjects. Stepwise multiple regression analyses suggested that perceived prejudice, family closeness, generation level, and religion were significant predictors for the cultural adjustment difficulties for both AIs and AAs in the U.S.
Subject Area
Academic guidance counseling|Educational psychology|Educational evaluation|Mental health
Recommended Citation
Lai, Edward Wai Ming, "Effects of acculturation levels and interpersonal, immigrant, and demographic variables on the cultural adjustment difficulties of Asian international people and Asian Americans" (1993). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9415976.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9415976