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Acculturation SAQ

Acculturation involves the assimilation of one's cultural schema with a new culture, which can lead to acculturative stress or culture shock if negatively experienced. A study by Lueck & Wilson found that factors such as bilingualism, family cohesion, and socioeconomic satisfaction can reduce acculturative stress, while negative treatment and language barriers can increase it. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining a balance between preserving one's original culture and adapting to a new one to mitigate the effects of acculturative dissonance.

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38 views1 page

Acculturation SAQ

Acculturation involves the assimilation of one's cultural schema with a new culture, which can lead to acculturative stress or culture shock if negatively experienced. A study by Lueck & Wilson found that factors such as bilingualism, family cohesion, and socioeconomic satisfaction can reduce acculturative stress, while negative treatment and language barriers can increase it. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining a balance between preserving one's original culture and adapting to a new one to mitigate the effects of acculturative dissonance.

Uploaded by

Hajara Sanda
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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EXPLAIN THE INFLUENCE OF ACCULTURATION ON ONE BEHAVIOUR, ATTITUDE OR

IDENTITY

Key terms:
Acculturation is the assimilation of your current schema with a new culture other than your
own. When this assimilation negatively impacts a persons’ psychology, it is said to cause
acculturative stress or culture shock. Factors that can help lower the impact of culture shock
are protective factors, such as sharing similar values to a persons’ family. Reverse culture
shock, as the name suggests, is when a strong feeling of surprise, disorientation or
alienation is felt when a person returns to native culture, and finding major discrepancies
between what they thought culture was and reality. Acculturative gaps (or acculturation
dissonance) therefore, are when there are differences in how acculturation strategies are
used by different generations. Berry’s acculturation model, explains the different
consequences of possessing or not possessing the following two variables: having a positive
relationship with new culture and the desire of keeping one’s original culture. When both
these variables coexist, biculturalism occurs. Marginalisation occurs when both of these
variables are not present. While only valuing relationships with new culture, but not valuing
original culture, usually means that they have adapted into new culture (assimilation). The
opposite combination occurs (seperation) preserving original culture is present but not the
other.

Lueck & Wilson (2010) study aimed to find the variables that may predict acculturative stress
in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans. The sample
consisted of 2095 Asian Americans. 1271 of the participants were first generation
immigrants who were at least 18 years old when they came to the US. The rest consisted of
US citizens born to first generation immigrants. Online or in-person semi-structured
interviews were conducted with interviewers who had similar cultural backgrounds. The
interviews measured the participants’ level of acculturative stress, as well as, impact of
communication abilities, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion and the
socioeconomic statuses on acculturative stress. 70% of the sample were found to have
acculturative stress. A number of variables where found to have either contributed or
reduced instances of acculturative stress.

The results concluded that the following features are associated with high and low
acculturative stress respectively. Negative treatment (prejudice or harassment for example),
preference for speaking only English and Asian Americans who did not know native
language well, were all predictors of high acculturative stress. This can be explained by the
presence of acculturative gaps that existed between generations, the younger generation
may have totally assimilated into the American culture to the point of not retaining native
language, causing major issues with parents who may not be familiar with the language of
the new culture. Contrasting , acculturative stress was significantly lowered by bilingualism,
sharing similar values as a family and those who were very satisfied with their economic
opportunity. This can be explained as, bilingualism (and therefore biculturalism) represents
that there is both importance of preserving original culture and of having a positive
relationship with new culture, contributing to less culture shock. Acculturative dissonance is
also reduced by having a common understanding between cultures. Through the findings of
Lueck & Wilson, the process and effects of acculturation can be explained.

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