A Cultural Analysis of China’s Scientific Brain Drain: the Case of Chinese Immigrant Scientists in Canadian Academia

While the booming market and policy incentives of China are reversing the pattern of talent flow across the Pacific, a large proportion of the mainland Chinese immigrant scientists currently in Canadian academia have decided not to return home; meanwhile, their interactions with China in terms of brain circulation are not extensive overall. This study attempts to explore the key factors for the paradox of China’s scientific brain drain through the lens of culture, drawing on data mainly from in-depth interviews with 14 mainland Chinese immigrant scientists in Canadian academia. The theoretical framework derives from the models of cultural negotiation (Sakamoto 2001) and bidimensional acculturation (Berry, Appl Psychol 46: 5–34, 1997). Data analysis reveals that cultural factors override everything else in shaping the leave–stay decision and brain exchange behavior of these Chinese scientists, who have gone through a cultural negotiation and construction process. With a transformed perspective, these academic migrants hold firmly the new culture’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors; therefore, the work styles, notions, and ethics of their counterparts in China have cultural limitations and are incongruent with their practice in Canada. Meanwhile, they have been significantly influenced by Chinese cultural values, notably group orientation, hierarchy loving, self-abasement, harmony seeking, face saving, etc. The findings should shed some light on public policies aiming to realize the full value of top talents for the benefits of China, Canada, and beyond.     

Perceived cultural distance and acculturation among exchange students in Russia

The relations of perceived cultural distance, personality, acculturation orientations and outcomes were studied among exchange students (N = 187) in Russia who came from various countries in Asia, sub‐Saharan Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet Union. The hypothesis was supported that a larger perceived cultural distance between mainstream and immigrant culture is associated with less psychological (homesickness and stress) and sociocultural (behaviour with Russian students and behaviour with co‐nationals) adjustment. The statistical relations between perceived cultural distance, personality and sociocultural adjustment were much stronger for host domain behaviour than for home domain behaviour. Adjustment was higher for participants with more cultural empathy, openmindedness and flexibility. Adjustment showed statistically stronger associations with cultural distance than with acculturation orientations. It is concluded that cultural distance may be more salient than acculturation orientations in studies of heterogeneous groups of immigrants. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions revealed through timed event sequences

This report extends a previous cross-cultural study of synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions (Bornstein et al., 2015) to immigrant samples. Immigrant dyads from three cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, South America) living in the same culture of destination (the United States) were compared to nonmigrant dyads in those same cultures of origin and to nonmigrant European American dyads living in the same culture of destination (the United States). This article highlights an underutilized analysis to assess synchrony in mother-infant interaction and extends cross-cultural research on mother-infant vocal interaction. Timing of onsets and offsets of maternal speech to infants and infant nondistress vocalizations were coded separately from 50-min recorded naturalistic observations of mothers and infants. Odds ratios were computed to analyze synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions. Synchrony was analyzed in three ways -- contingency of timed event sequences, mean differences in contingency by acculturation level and within dyads, and coordination of responsiveness within dyads. Immigrant mothers were contingently responsive to their infants’ vocalizations, but only Korean immigrant infants were contingently responsive to their mothers’ vocalizations. For the Japanese and South American comparisons, immigrant mothers were more contingently responsive than their infants (but not robustly so for South American immigrants). For the Korean comparison, mean differences in contingent responsiveness were found among acculturation groups (culture of origin, immigrant, culture of destination), but not between mothers and infants. Immigrant dyads’ mean levels of responsiveness did not differ. Immigrant mothers’ and infants’ levels of responsiveness were coordinated. Strengths and flexibility of the timed event sequential analytic approach to assessing synchrony in mother-infant interactions are discussed, particularly for culturally diverse samples.     

Asian Indian Immigrant and White American Maternal Emotion Socialization and Child Socio-Emotional Functioning

Previous research provides an inadequate account of parental emotion socialization and its relation to child functioning among ethnic minority groups in the United States. This study compared reports of Asian Indian immigrant and White American mothers’ emotion socialization and examined relations between mothers’ emotion socialization and child outcomes in these two groups. Indian immigrant (n = 34) and White American (n = 38) mothers completed measures of child behavior problems and social competence, as well as self-report measures of two types of emotion socialization, responses to children’s negative emotions and emotion expressivity. Children completed a self-report measure of social competence. Results revealed that Indian immigrant mothers were more likely than White American mothers to report responding nonsupportively to their children’s negative emotions. However, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were not related to child outcomes in the Indian immigrant group. In the White American group, reports of mothers’ nonsupportive responses were positively related to child behavior problems. Mothers’ self-reported negative emotion expressivity was positively related to child behavior problems and negatively related to mother-rated child social competence for Indian immigrants, while no significant relation was found between mothers’ negative emotion expressivity and child outcomes for White Americans. Moderation analyses were performed with these variables but were nonsignificant. Results are discussed in the context of cultural influences on emotion socialization and subsequent impact on child functioning.     

Forced migration and resettlement: Its impact on families and individuals

An increasing number of families are forced to migrate as a result of political turmoil, civil wars, and ethnic cleansing. This paper describes the impact of forced migration on individuals and their families. We suggest that forced migrants reject the new culture while their children are likely to embrace it. This discrepancy between the old values of the migrants and the values to the new culture espoused by their children is a frequent source of intrafamilial tension. We also describe a second acculturation process that takes place when forced migrants return to their country of origin. Families who migrate back to the country of origin realize, often to their surprise, that both they and their country of origin have changed significantly.     

The Effect of Adaptive Organizational Culture on Long-Term Survival

Purpose

Organizational culture is a critical resource for organizations to adapt to dynamic environments and to survive in the long term. Unfortunately, a lack of clarity exists in the conceptualization of adaptive cultures and little empirical research investigates its impact on survival. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to identify, define, and develop a measure of adaptive organizational culture and (2)  to demonstrate the effect of adaptive culture on organizational survival.

Design/Methodology/Approach

An adaptive culture rating scale was developed based on a review of the existing literature. Ninety-five organizations founded prior to 1940 were rated on nine characteristics of adaptive culture. Ratings were used to predict likelihood to survive using a Cox regression with proportional hazards survival analysis.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis revealed two broad factors of adaptive culture, values toward change and action-orientation. Findings indicate organizations with adaptive cultures were more likely to survive.

Implications

The present effort provided evidence that culture can serve as an adaptive mechanism with effects spanning decades. Leaders should focus on establishing adaptive cultural norms and values in order to increase chances of surviving.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first historiometric studies to develop and utilize a measure of adaptive culture. Further, this study looked at the impact of adaptive culture on long-term organizational outcomes using survival analysis, a statistical technique not often employed in the organizational literature.

     

Age and Gender Variations in Healthy Immigrant Effect: a Population Study of Immigrant Well-Being in Canada

The healthy immigrant effect (HIE) is the phenomenon in which immigrants show better health than their native-born counterparts but this healthier condition declines with length of residence. This study investigated whether (1) immigrants also show better adaptation than non-immigrants as well as better health, (2) length of residence affects their health and adaptation differently, and (3) differential outcomes are found for different age and gender groups. Utilizing the Canadian Community Health Survey (2011–2012) data, immigrants (N?=?17,555) and non-immigrants (N?=?103,579) were divided into adolescents (15–19 years old), adults (20–49), older adults (50–64), and seniors (65–74) to examine their subjective general and mental health, diagnosed chronic and psychological illnesses, and self-reported daily stress, life satisfaction and sense of belonging. After controlling for key demographics, HIE was found to be more robust in health than adaptation. In general, recent immigrants reported better health conditions than long-term immigrants; however, the two did not differ with daily stress or life satisfaction. The older adult immigrants were the only segment of the immigrant population who did not display HIE; within the immigrant population, working-aged long-term adult immigrants were those experiencing negative well-being in both health and adaptation compared to the same-aged recent immigrants. Regarding diagnosed psychological illnesses, immigrants yielded no difference by age, gender, or length of residence, indicating ‘reluctant’ views on seeking professional help for mental health were persistently held by both recent and long-immigrants. The findings suggest that health policy needs to take into consideration age-related life stages, and enhancement of mental health awareness for immigrant well-being.     

Gender Roles in Immigrant Families: Parenting Views, Practices, and Child Development

Ecological and acculturation frameworks are especially central to understanding the experiences of immigrant populations and to date, current research has yielded new conceptual and methodological tools for documenting the cultural and developmental processes of children and their families. This special issue of 12 articles focuses on immigrant families and the importance of gender along various dimensions: parental roles, parent–child relationships, child outcomes. The collection of articles also represents various innovative methodologies used, including quantitative and qualitative approaches.     

A Tale of Two Cities: Replication of a Study on the Acculturation and Adaptation of Immigrant Adolescents From the Former Soviet Union in a Different Community Context

While a great deal of research has been conducted to understand acculturation and its relationship to adaptation in the new country, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the ways in which the characteristics of the local community impact these processes. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the potential role of community differences in the acculturation and adaptation processes of 269 refugee and immigrant adolescents from the former Soviet Union who resettled in two different community contexts. Specifically, a prior study on acculturation and adjustment among high school students (D. Birman, E. J. Trickett, & A. Vinokurov, 2002) was replicated with the same émigré population in a contrasting community within the same state. The contrast between these communities allowed us to test hypotheses emerging from an ecological perspective concerning (1) patterns of acculturation, (2) levels of discrimination and its effect on acculturative outcomes, and (3) community differences in the relationship between acculturation and outcomes. In addition to the focus on community differences, the study also employs a multidimensional measure of acculturation and assesses acculturation to both American and Russian culture. Furthermore, adaptation is assessed across different life domains; including peer relationships, family relationships, school adaptation, and psychological adaptation. Findings support the general ecological perspective, suggesting the importance of studying acculturation and adaptation as a reflexive process in which culture and context are very much intertwined.     

The Subjective Assessment of Accomplishment and Positive Relationships: Initial Validation and Correlative and Experimental Evidence for Their Association with Well-Being

In his Authentic Happiness Theory, Seligman describes three orientations that lead to happiness: The life of pleasure, the life of engagement, and the life of meaning (in Authentic happiness, Free Press, New York, 2002). The Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire (OTH; Peterson et al. in J Happiness Stud 6:25–41, 2005) has been developed as a subjective measure for these three orientations. In 2011, Seligman revised his theory and added two new components; i.e., positive relationships and accomplishment. These five are the basic tenets of his well-being theory. The present set of studies describes the construction and initial validation of two short scales for the subjective assessment of the endorsement of positive relationships and accomplishment. Their relation with the OTH-scales is also tested. Study 1 describes the scale construction and provides evidence for the factorial, convergent and divergent validity in three samples (n = 233, n = 336, and n = 125). Study 2 showed that the new scales have high test–retest reliabilities over a period of 1, 3, and 6 months (r = .68–.78), respectively. Study 3 examines the malleability of positive relationships and accomplishment in an intervention study that shows that the scores of both new scales increase in the intervention condition. Overall, the three studies show that the new scales have satisfactory psychometric properties—also when used together with the OTH-scales—and possible applications are discussed.     

Parental Influence on Children during Educational Television Viewing in Immigrant Families

It has been suggested by researchers that educational television programmes may support the language and literacy development for children, especially those in immigrant families. In an immigrant family, many family characteristics appear to be related to educational television programme viewing of children at home, for example, parental acculturation (the process of adapting to the new culture) and parental mediation (supervision and guidance) of television viewing. In the present work, the parental influence on children during educational television viewing was studied quantitatively, based on a sample (n = 171) of immigrant families with children aged 3–6 years collected across the U.S. The results have revealed that significant differences existed between Asian and Hispanic groups in coviewing mediation and in their children's educational television viewing. Furthermore, language in parental acculturation significantly predicted instructive and restrictive parental mediation, and parental occupation significantly predicted language in parental acculturation. This study initiates the attention to the topic of educational television viewing in immigrant families, which warrants further investigations in the future as the Asian and Hispanic immigrant population increases rapidly in the U.S. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solitude in context: On the role of culture,immigration, and acculturation in the experience of time to oneself

Older adults spend much time in solitude (without social interaction), putting them at risk of loneliness, especially if aging outside their country of origin (e.g., Chinese immigrants to Canada). Yet, cultural contextual factors that may reduce loneliness in moments of solitude are poorly understood. This study sought to disentangle the roles of culture, immigration, and acculturation in solitude-loneliness associations across two countries. Community-dwelling adults aged 51–85 in Vancouver (N = 58 East Asian, N = 37 European/North American) and in Hong Kong (N = 56 East/Southeast Asian) completed approximately 30 ecological momentary assessments over 10 days on their current affect and social situations. Participants in Vancouver spent more time in solitude, desired solitude more, and felt less lonely overall than those in Hong Kong. Multilevel models revealed that moments of solitude felt lonelier than moments spent in social interaction, but only for individuals less acculturated to their host culture or not concurrently desiring solitude. Associations held regardless of host culture, cultural heritage, or immigration status. Findings suggest that solitude need not feel lonely if it happens by choice and if individuals feel connected with their host culture, for both immigrant older adults and those aging in their birth country.     

The social cognition of immigrants' acculturation: effects of the need for closure and the reference group at entry

Three studies found support for the notion that immigrants' acculturation to the host culture is interactively determined by their need for cognitive closure (A. W. Kruglanski & D. M. Webster, 1996) and the reference group they forge on their arrival. If such reference group is fashioned by close social relations with coethnics, the higher the immigrants' need for closure, the weaker their tendency to assimilate to the new culture and the stronger their tendency to adhere to the culture of origin. By contrast, if the reference entry group is fashioned by close relations with members of the host country, the higher their need for closure, the stronger their tendency to adapt to the new culture and the weaker their tendency to maintain the culture of origin. These findings obtained consistently across 3 immigrant samples in Italy, 1 Croatian and 2 Polish, and across multiple different measures of acculturation.     

中国留学生的文化认同、社会取向与主观幸福感

采用问卷,调查了在澳大利亚的144名中国留学生的文化认同、社会取向及主观幸福感。结果显示,随着文化融入的进程,中国留学生对澳大利亚主流文化认同增强,对中国文化认同减弱;文化融入进程对个体取向没有显著影响,但通过主族和客族文化认同间接地减弱集体取向;中国留学生的文化认同和社会取向均可直接影响其幸福感;文化融入进程可直接影响中国留学生的幸福感,并可通过文化认同和社会取向对其幸福感产生间接的影响。     

Female Mexican Immigrants in the United States: Cultural Knowledge and Healing

ABSTRACT

Mexican American immigrant women have faced many adversities historically, resulting in significant injuries to their physical and psychological selves. In attempts to heal from such injuries, these women have long engaged in self-healing through maintenance of their own cultural values, identities, and beliefs and also through working with, or even becoming, traditional healers. Such healing processes can be seen as a form of adjustment to a new culture, as well as a maintenance of native culture (Espin, 1996 Espin, O. M. (1996). Latina healers: Lives of power and tradition. Encino, CA: Floricanto Press. [Google Scholar]) and may take the form of a blending of cultures representing a “new indigeneity.” This article highlights such healing practices, including the role of cultural values and beliefs for healing, as well as current efforts to blend cultural healing practices within a framework of equality and respect.     

Humanizing the Understanding of the Acculturation Experience with Phenomenology

Multiple disciplines have contributed to acculturation research with aims to measure, conceptualize, and theorize this complex phenomenon. Few studies, however, have attempted to find meaning in how acculturation is lived and, this lack may have contributed to acculturation being understood as a construct removed from human experience. The purpose of this article is to show how a research methodology based on phenomenological epistemology can humanize the understanding of the acculturation experience. This contribution is demonstrated in a study that used a phenomenological approach to describe and elucidate acculturation as a lived experience in the context of Latina adolescents who emigrated from Mexico to the US. Thus, this article illustrates how the phenomenological approach used in this study allows new meanings of acculturation to be experientially revealed.

Physicians' Reactions to Uncertainty: Refining the constructs and scales

The Physicians' Reactions to Uncertainty (PRU) scales were developed to measure physicians' affective reactions to uncertainty. However, the structural (factor) model for the two PRU scales has not been cross validated on an independent sample of physicians. We surveyed 337 physicians in internal medicine at Indiana University to test the structural model for the PRU scales using confirmatory factor analysis and, if necessary, to refine the constructs and scales. The structural model of the original PRU scales did not fit the data (X²=559.26,p<.001) provided by the 265 (79%) respondents. Based on models suggested by 15 volunteers, we refined the constructs and scales. The four new scales are Anxiety Due to Uncertainty (five items,=.85), Concern about Bad Outcomes (three items,=.74), Reluctance to Disclose Uncertainty to Patients (five items,=.76), and Reluctance to Disclose Mistakes to Physicians (two items,=.75). The revised structural models have greater conceptual clarity, better fit to the data, and shorter scale measures than the original PRU model.This research was supported in part by National Research Service Award HS00032 from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.