The effects of ethnicity and acculturation on early adolescent delinquency

We examined the influence of ethnicity and acculturation status on the relationship between parental monitoring, susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure, and delinquency. The sample consisted primarily of Caucasian (63%) and Mexican-American (24%) early adolescents. Self-report data were collected from 1021 sixth and seventh graders, equally divided by gender (mean age =12.7 years). The Mexican-American adolescents were categorized into one of three acculturation groups: (a) acculturated; (b) unacculturated by choice; and (c) recent immigrants. Acculturated Mexican-American early adolescents reported significantly more delinquent behaviors than the Caucasian, unacculturated by choice, and recent immigrant youth. Recent immigrant early adolescents reported more parental monitoring than the acculturated Mexican-American early adolescents. Level of perceived susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure did not differ between ethnic or acculturation groups. Regression analyses revealed that the relationship between parental monitoring and delinquency was mediated by susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure for all the groups regardless of ethnicity or level of acculturation. Findings emphasize the importance of: (a) examining level of acculturation when sampling ethnically diverse populations; and (b) comparing global mean level differences and specific relationships among independent variables.     

A Study of Acculturation Differences Among International People and Suggestions for Sensitivity to Within-Group Differences

The acculturation of international people in a midwestern university was studied. Acculturation variables of perceived prejudice, observance of cultural practices and social ties, and language usage were measured. Africans, Asians, and South Americans were significantly less acculturated than were Europeans. Significant differences were also found for permanent versus nonpermanent United States residence status, length of residence in the United States, and religion. Themes derived from open-ended responses showed that participants related their identity to the values, religion, physical appearance, and language of their national origins. Emerging themes also suggested a reciprocity of acceptance and animosity in the dominant-minority intergroup relations.     

DISORDERED EATING, ACCULTURATION, AND TREATMENT-SEEKING IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF HISPANIC, ASIAN, BLACK, AND WHITE WOMEN

The purpose of this study was to examine disordered eating, acculturation, and treatment-seeking in a community sample of Hispanic, Asian, Black, and White women. Participants were 118 women with disordered eating (49 Hispanic, 21 Asian, 23 Black, and 25 White) and 118 healthy controls. Interviews were conducted to assess eating and weight-related behaviors, psychiatric symptoms, acculturation, and health care usage. Results indicated that the four ethnic groups were equally likely to present behavioral symptoms of bulimia, anorexia, or a binge-eating disorder. Hispanics were the most likely to use diuretics, and Black women were the most likely to use laxatives. Despite psychological distress among the eating disorder group, only a small percentage had received treatment during the past year; the eating disorder group was more likely than the controls to report that they had been denied treatment. More acculturated individuals were more likely to suffer from eating problems, and among the eating disorder group, less acculturated individuals were less likely to have received treatment.     

Hostility on the TAT as a Function of Defensive Inhibition and Stimulus Situation

It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the aggressive imagery of inhibited and uninhibited subjects when TAT cards or instructions strongly suggested an aggressive response but not when the experimental conditions did not suggest hostile themes. This prediction was verified on a sample of women but no support was found in a sample of men. The findings were related to other studies in the literature and directions for further research suggested.     

Treatment acceptability among mexican american parents

There is a void in the literature with regard to Hispanic parents' views about common interventions for children with behavior problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment acceptability of child management techniques in a Mexican American sample. Parents' acculturation was also examined to determine if it would account for differences in treatment acceptability. Mexican American parents found response cost, a punishment-based technique, more acceptable than positive reinforcement-based techniques (e.g., differential attention). Results suggest that Mexican American parents' acculturation has little impact on acceptability of child management interventions. No association was found between mothers' acculturation and treatment acceptability. However, more acculturated Mexican American fathers viewed token economy as more acceptable than less acculturated fathers. Results are discussed in the context of clinical work and research with Mexican Americans.     

Mexican-American migrant students' academic success: sociological and psychological acculturation.

This study attempted to describe and compare academically successful and academically unsuccessful high-risk Mexican-American migrant high school students. The two groups were compared on sociological and psychological indicators of acculturation, urbanization, and socioeconomic status (SES). It was hypothesized that the successful group would have higher SES, be more acculturated, urbanized, and psychologically adjusted to modern value systems, and have higher occupational aspirations and expectations than the unsuccessful group. In addition, their world views were compared by exploring early recollection data. The results showed that the unsuccessful group came from families that were larger, poorer, more rural, and more "foreign" (i.e., more parents and children born in Mexico) than the successful students' families. Regarding the psychological indicators of acculturation, the successful group was found to score higher on modernism, to be more stably acculturated, to have a clearer sense of themselves, to have higher occupational aspirations and expectations, and tended to desire jobs with greater responsibility and stability than did the unsuccessful group.     

Adapting Manualized Treatments: Treating Anxiety Disorders Among Native Americans

Although there is a small but growing body of literature examining the psychopathology of anxiety among Native Americans, no data are available regarding the efficacy of empirically supported treatments for anxiety disorders among Native Americans. Moreover, exceptional challenges arise in adapting mainstream approaches to Native Americans, such as language barriers, contrasting beliefs about the cause and treatment of emotional illness between mainstream and traditional Native American culture, problems with homework compliance, allowing extra time for rapport building, and the need for a spiritual component in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Native Americans also confront the challenges of rural living and low socioeconomic status. The focus of this article is largely conceptual in nature, informed by the limited psychopathology data and the first author’s experience with cognitive behavioral treatment protocols for anxiety disorders and the provision of mental health services to Native Americans. In this article we highlight the unique challenges of adapting manualized anxiety treatments for Native American clients.     

A spanish translation and validation of the daily stress inventory and a comparison of the level of stress experienced by three culturally distinct hispanic groups

Two studies were conducted, the first to establish a valid Spanish version of the Daily Stress Inventory (DSI). A second study was conducted using the bilingual version of the DSI to assess differences in the level of stress experienced by three selected Hispanic groups: (a) very Hispanic/Hispanic-oriented bicultural, (b) true bicultural, and (c) Anglo-oriented bicultural/very Anglicized as determined by the adapted version of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA). It was expected that stress levels would be highest for the least acculturated group. The results of the first study indicate that the Bilingual DSI scores are highly correlated with the scores of the original DSI when both instruments are responded to simultaneously by fully bilingual individuals. In Study 2, the initial data analyses showed no difference in the level of stress reported by Hispanics at different levels of acculturation as measured by the ARSMA. When a median-split method was employed, differences in the DSI I/E measures between the two groups were significant, suggesting that acculturation level may be related to stress level.     

Red as an Apple: Native American Acculturation and Counseling With or Without Reservation

The United States has a long history of advocating policies of both extermination and assimilation of Native peoples. This historical context provides an important backdrop for understanding issues of trust/mistrust and the impact of acculturation on Native Americans who often find they have to reconcile 2 cultures. Therefore, counselors must assess a Native American client's level of acculturation rather than making assumptions based on the limited information offered by appearance or other personal characteristics. The Native American Acculturation Scale is presented as an operationalized means of formally or informally assessing a Native American client's cultural identity.     

Psychological Acculturation of Ethnic Minorities Into White Anglo American Culture: Consequences and Predictors1

The United States is comprised of a patchwork of ethnic groups. To varying degrees, such groups have become acculturated into the White Anglo American culture. Our study is an attempt to examine the consequences and predictors of psychological acculturation. The data were taken from 320 students attending a large state university on the West Coast of the United States. Our results show that grade point average (GPA) and income earned were positively related to psychological acculturation. Religion, ethnicity, age of entry to the United States, enrollment in a graduate program, and self‐esteem affected psychological acculturation. The implications of the results are discussed.     

Patterns of practice with the TAT in juvenile forensic settings

Psychologists in juvenile forensic psychological clinics were surveyed about usage of the TAT. A clear majority uses the TAT as part of their assessment battery, the majority using between six and ten cards. Administration and scoring methods were examined. Selection of cards was harmonious with prior research on theme productivity. Many respondents were found not to use the TAT because of time constraints, a finding discussed in terms of appropriate standards of care. Additional research needs to establish representative as well as expected standards of ethical practice for the TAT among general clinical groups, both adult and adolescent.     

Predictors of Soviet Jewish refugees' acculturation: differentiation of self and acculturative stress

The authors investigated the acculturation of 108 Jewish young adults who had immigrated to the United States between the ages of 9 and 21 from the former Soviet Union as a function of differentiation of self (M. Bowen, 1978) and acculturative stress. One aspect of differentiation, the ability to take an "I-position" with others, uniquely predicted greater American acculturation and less Russian acculturation, indicating that participants who reported an ability to act on their own needs in the context of social pressure tended to be more assimilated. Russian acculturation was also uniquely associated with more frequent perceived discrimination (one aspect of acculturative stress) during adolescence. Participants who had spent a greater proportion of their lifetime in the United States were more American acculturated and less Russian acculturated, reflecting assimilation rather than biculturalism.     

Acculturation of Greek Americans: Change and continuity in cognitive schemas guiding intimate relationships

The study compares Greek Americans to Greeks and to third‐generation white Americans in their endorsement of two cognitive schemas guiding intimate relationships. Greek Americans were more rejecting of low self‐disclosure in intimate relationships than were Greeks but did not differ from them on how strongly they advocated sacrificing the self for one's partner. By contrast, Greek Americans did not differ from Americans in their rejection of low self‐disclosure and more strongly endorsed self‐sacrifice in intimate relationships than did Americans. These findings were interpreted as indicating that Greek Americans have acculturated to a more individualistic orientation in terms of self‐disclosure while maintaining a collectivistic orientation regarding self‐sacrifice in intimate relationships. Respondents' age, cultural group, and whether they were college students or professionals interacted with how strongly individuals rejected low self‐disclosure and showed that age and status differences were more pronounced between rather than within the three cultural groups. It revealed that the initial finding, showing that Greeks and Americans differed, was based on the scores of students; professionals, with one exception, did not differ in their disagreement with low self‐disclosure, regardless of their age and cultural group. The exception was the older Greek American professional subgroup, whose stronger disagreement with low self‐disclosure may be an overreaction to the acculturation process. Age and status differences were not significant in the American group, while there was a pattern in Greece for professionals to reject low self‐disclosure more strongly than did students. Women were more rejecting of both low self‐disclosure and self‐sacrifice in intimate relationships than were men. Older women most strongly disagreed with the self‐sacrifice principle and older men adhered to it more strongly with increasing age.     

Is hostility linked with affiliation among males and with achievement among females? A critique of Pollak and Gilligan

This investigation attempted to replicate and to clarify methodologically an investigation by Pollak and Gilligan (1982). Those investigators reported sex differences in violence imagery to Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) pictures depicting affiliation and achievement situations. Pollak and Gilligan concluded that men perceive danger in situations of affiliation whereas women perceive danger in situations of achievement. It was demonstrated in the present study that Pollak and Gilligan incorrectly classified TAT cards into motivational categories, which may have resulted in incorrect inferences. In addition, their findings could not be replicated when using four different systems for classifying TAT cards into motivational categories. Other potential sources of error in their research, including a restrictive scoring scheme for hostility, unusual instructions, and failure to control for sex role in the TAT pictures, did not influence the pattern of results.     

Age differences in the acculturation process

Age differences were assessed in a conceptual model that seeks to explain how acculturation affects psychological well-being among Mexican Americans. The data were from a national probability sample of 859 persons of Mexican decent. It was hypothesized that low acculturation creates financial stress. Moreover, low acculturation and financial stress were in turn predicted to erode feelings of personal control and self-esteem. Finally, diminished feelings of control and low self-esteem were hypothesized to exert a negative impact on psychological well-being. When data from respondents of all ages was assessed, empirical support was found for all of the hypotheses except the linkage between acculturation and financial stress. However, few age differences emerged in the model. The authors conclude that older Mexican Americans may not be more vulnerable to the stressors associated with acculturation.     

Counseling Native Americans

This article addresses the issues facing White counselors in providing services to Native Americans, whose values differ significantly from the dominant culture's. Native Americans have been consistently threatened with cultural assimilation. Previously published recommendations to counselors are reviewed and the relevance and possible uses of traditional Native American healing practices are discussed. One such practice, the vision quest, is described in detail. Counselors need to learn culturally relevant metaphors in order to promote healing and change and, in effect, must themselves undergo an acculturation process.     

The Effects of Contact with Asians and Asian Americans on White American College Students: Attitudes, Awareness of Racial Discrimination, and Psychological Adjustment

On the basis of acculturation theory, explicating mutual influences between different cultural or ethnic groups coming into contact, this study focused "on the other side of acculturation" theory by examining the effects of intercultural contact with Asians and Asian Americans on the psychosocial experiences of White American college students. Participants (N = 315), undergraduates attending a public university located within the state of Massachusetts, completed a survey that assessed demographic and personal characteristics, acculturation (extent of intercultural contact with Asian people and Asian cultures), attitudes towards Asians and Asian Americans, awareness of institutional discrimination and blatant racial issues, and psychological distress. Results indicated that White American students' intercultural contact with Asians and Asian Americans contributed significant variance to the prediction of their attitudes towards this ethnic group and awareness of discrimination and racial issues, but not to psychological distress. This study provides implications for understanding mutual acculturative influences between different ethnic groups in the United States.     

Multiple Mediators of the Effects of Acculturation Status on Delinquency for Mexican American Adolescents

Research has shown that more acculturated Latino adolescents are at increased risk for delinquent behavior relative to their less acculturated counterparts. The present study examined the mediating effects of seven variables hypothesized to account for the empirical link between acculturation status and delinquent activity for a sample of Mexican American adolescents. Mediational analyses provided support for four of the putative mediators which included family conflict, maternal monitoring, inconsistent discipline, and negative peer hassles. Examined together, these variables totally mediated the effect of acculturation status on delinquent behavior. In addition, family conflict and maternal monitoring uniquely accounted for a significant proportion of the mediated variance above that explained by the other variables in the model. Adolescent's cultural identity, perceived discrimination, and maternal acceptance were not supported as mediators.     

Aspects of fear of personal death,levels of awareness,and religious commitment

This study used a multidimensional and multilevel approach to study the relation between fear of death and religious commitment. A multidimensional self-report measure of fear of personal death, four TAT cards known to elicit a relatively high frequency of death themes, and an index of Jewish religious commitment were administered to 178 young male Jewish Israelis. Unidimensional and multidimensional analysis of these measures suggested that Jewish religious commitment is related to a heightened specific sensitivity to death at different levels of awareness.