Acculturation strategies among Vietnamese-Americans
Introduction
Since the fall of South Vietnam in April 1975, between 1 and 2 million Southeast Asians have sought refuge in the United States. From this number, the Office of Refuge Resettlement reported 723,971 Vietnamese refugees (including AmerAsians) in the US as of September 1992 (Nguyen, 1994). After living in the US for several months, many Vietnamese were able to adjust to the new environment but others were unable to, especially those who were older, less educated, and had not lived as long in the US (Rumbaut, 1989; Sue, 1993).
As noted in past research (Berry & Kim, 1988; Krishnan & Berry, 1992; Rutledge, 1992; Berry, 1998), attitudes and involvement with the host society greatly influence the psychological consequences of refugee adjustment. Furthermore, attitudes can strongly influence the strategies that individuals use to adapt to their environment as they participate in different cultures. The present study examined four predictors (education, years in the United States, involvement with American culture, and involvement with Vietnamese culture) to determine their effects on Vietnamese-Americans’ acculturation strategy. Furthermore, acculturation strategy was predicted to act as a mediator between these four predictors and self-esteem.
Section snippets
Acculturation
Acculturation, as defined by Graves (1936), Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits (1954), is a process of adaptation to a new environment as a result of two independent cultures coming in contact with each other. Graves (1967) suggested there are two levels of acculturation: individual and group. Graves referred to the individual level as psychological acculturation or changes that an individual experiences due to being in contact with another culture. Acculturative changes at the group level for both
Participants
One hundred and sixteen participants were recruited from Vietnamese club meetings, mall sites, and supermarkets in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. An additional 22 participants were members of the Vietnamese Student Association and their families at a Midwestern university. Seventy-four percent of the questionnaires were completed in English, and 26% were completed in Vietnamese. Sixty-four participants were males and 73 were females. A majority of the participants were born in Vietnam
General description
To determine whether our hypotheses that the four acculturation strategies would act as mediators between the predictors (education, years in the US, involvement with American culture, and involvement with Vietnamese culture) and self-esteem, we used the LISREL8 structural equation modeling program (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) to test our proposed mediated model. The analysis also tested several other variables and their interactions (e.g., age, gender, SES, and ethnicity). These variables did not
Discussion
Berry (1986), Berry (1998) theorized that, as acculturating individuals participate in the host culture, they develop certain attitudes about both the host culture and their own culture, which in turn influence their adaptation process. These attitudes influence individuals to adopt certain strategies to deal with the changes they experience as part of the acculturation process. Using Berry's theoretical model of acculturation, past studies (Kim & Berry, 1985; Berry, Kim, Minde, & Mok, 1987;
Conclusion
Past research have shown that the acculturating individuals’ attitudes of the host culture and their own culture do influence their adaptation to their new environment. Using Berry's Acculturation Model, the present study hypothesized that the four acculturation strategies would act as mediators between several predictors and Vietnamese-Americans’ self-esteem. More specifically, by using path analyses to test for causation, the present study demonstrated that the Vietnamese-Americans who lived
Future direction
A possible future direction for examining Vietnamese-Americans’ adaptation to living in the US is to survey the elderly population. Tran (1988) suggested that one possible cause of the generation gap among Vietnamese-Americans is due to how each has adapted to living in America. Younger Vietnamese-Americans assimilate much faster than elderly Vietnamese-Americans for several reasons. For example, younger Vietnamese-Americans have more options open to them in terms of getting an education,
Acknowledgements
This study was conducted by Thuy B. Pham in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the master's degree at Kansas State University. Portions of the paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, IL, May 1997. The authors wish to thank Catherine Cozzarelli, Janet Benson, and Andy Karafa for reviewing the drafts of this paper. In addition, gratitude is extended to Thoa Pham, Tien Pham, Thuy Dang, and Thu Phan for the distribution and the
References (51)
Acculturation and sociocultural variability
Assessing and understanding biculturalism–multiculturalism in Mexican-American adults
Influences of time, ethnicity, and attachment on depression in southeast Asian refugees
American Journal of Psychiatry
(1988)The acculturation process and refugee behavior
Acculturation stress
Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation
Applied Psychology: An International Review
(1997)Acculturation and healthTheory and research
Intercultural relations in plural societies
Canadian Psychology
(1999)- et al.
Psychological adaptation of Vietnamese refugees in Canada
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
(1982) - et al.
Acculturation and mental health
Comparative studies of acculturative stress
International Migration Review
Acculturation attitudes in plural society
Applied Psychology
The boat people and achievement in AmericaA study of family life, hard work, and cultural values
Behavioral acculturation among Vietnamese refugees in the United States
Journal of Social Psychology
Vietnamese in AmericaThe adaptation of the 1975–1979 arrivals
Human nature, class, and ethnicity
Psychological aculturation in a tri-ethnic community
South-Western Journal of Anthropology
LISREL8Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language
Household structure and family ideologiesThe dynamics of immigrant economic adaptation among Vietnamese refugees
Social Problems
Acculturation attitudes of Korean immigrants in toronto
Principles and practice of structural equation modeling
Acculturative stress and acculturation attitudes among Indian immigrants to the United States
Psychology and Developing Societies
Psychological impact of biculturalismEvidence and theory
Psychological Bulletin
Adaptational problems of Vietnamese refugees. Part III.Case studies in clinic and field: Adaptative and maladaptive
Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa
Cited by (53)
The integration hypothesis: A critical evaluation informed by multilevel meta-analyses of three multinational datasets
2023, International Journal of Intercultural RelationsHypertension management among Latinos: A qualitative investigation comparing Latinos experiences in established and new Latino destination states
2023, SSM - Qualitative Research in HealthAcculturation patterns and education of refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic literature review
2018, Learning and Individual DifferencesCitation Excerpt :This metric was the most common outcome reported in the literature, with 10 studies in this review measuring this factor. Six studies (Cheung, 1995; Le, 2004; Pham & Harris, 2001; Phillimore & Goodson, 2008; Ross, 2012) found evidence to directly associate higher levels of education with increases in integration, while lower levels of education were associated with increases in separation and marginalization. Cheung (1995) presented evidence that the relationship between acculturation and education is bidirectional when the Cambodian women in his sample (particularly those under the age of 31), were more likely to acculturate through participation in education, while women who were integrated were more likely to have more opportunities in education.
Tourists' strategies: AN acculturation approach
2014, Tourism ManagementCitation Excerpt :Tourists' acculturation strategies were measured using Berry, Kim, Minde, and Mok's (1987) Acculturation Strategy Scale. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Dona & Berry, 1994; Pham & Harris, 2001; Sam, 2000; Tang & Dion, 1999), the present study used the four-question approach, with a single item representing assimilation (“American/Chinese/German people traveling in Australia should adapt to Australian cultural traditions [e.g., food, habits and customs] but not maintain their own while they are in Australia”), integration (“American/Chinese/German people traveling in Australia should adapt to Australian cultural traditions [e.g., food, habits, and customs] and also maintain their own while they are in Australia”), separation (“American/Chinese/German people traveling in Australia should not adapt to Australian cultural traditions [e.g., food, habits and customs] but they should maintain their own cultural traditions while they are in Australia”) and marginalization (“American/Chinese/German people traveling in Australia should neither maintain their own cultural traditions [e.g., food, habits and customs] nor adapt those of Australians while they are in Australia”). As some strategies are related (i.e., integration has high host culture immersion and high home culture maintenance, scores on this measure were mean-centered to indicate the relative importance of each strategy to tourists).
Factors affecting immigrants' acculturation intentions: A theoretical model and its assessment among adolescent immigrants from Russia and Ukraine in Israel
2012, International Journal of Intercultural RelationsCitation Excerpt :Previous studies have confirmed the role of personality characteristics in the immigrants’ choice of acculturation strategies. Openness to change (Benet-Martinez & Haritatos, 2005), flexibility (Bakker, van der Zee, & van Oudenhoven, 2006), sensation seeking (Luijters, van der Zee, & Otten, 2006), high self-esteem (Giang & Wittig, 2006; Pham & Harris, 2001), self-efficacy (Kim & Omizo, 2006), and resilience (Safdar et al., 2003) have been associated with integration and assimilation. Rigidity and low sense of self-efficacy have been associated with separation and marginalization (Cernovsky, 1990; Piontkowski, Florack, Hoelker, & Obdrzalek, 2000).
Psychosocial factors and work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Southeastern Asian female workers living in Korea
2011, Safety and Health at Work