European Doctorate on Migration, Diversity and Identities Intensive Summer programme 2008

1. European Doctorate on Migration, Diversity and IdentitiesIntensive Summer programme 2008 Acculturation and Migrant Adaptation Dermot Ryan 22 June 2008

2. Your Research What cultural groups are you studying?

3. Types of Cultural Groups • Cultural groups in plural societies – 3 factors: • Mobility (sedentary vs migratory) • Voluntariness (forced vs voluntary) • Permanence (temporary vs permanent)

4. Intercultural Contact and Change Have you had contact with other cultures? How have you changed in response to this contact?

5. Acculturation • Acculturation  psychological changes that individuals experience in response to contact with other cultures • Acculturative stress  stressful experiences rooted in intercultural contact

6. Acculturation Strategies(Berry, 1997) Is it of value to maintain my cultural identity and characteristics? Is it of value to have relationships with other cultural groups?

7. Acculturation Strategies

8. Acculturation Strategies

9. Acculturation Strategies

10. Acculturation Strategies

11. Acculturation Strategies

12. Acculturation Strategies

13. Acculturation Strategies • Assimilation Embrace host culture/lose culture of origin • Integration  Embrace host culture/maintain culture of origin • Separation  Maintain culture of origin/reject host culture • Marginalization  Lose culture of origin/reject host culture

14. Acculturation Strategies • Assimilation Embrace host culture/lose culture of origin • Integration Embrace host culture/maintain culture of origin (best psychological outcomes) • Separation  Maintain culture of origin/reject host culture • Marginalization Lose culture of origin/reject host culture (worst psychological outcomes)

15. Strategies of Larger Society

16. Strategies of Larger Society

17. Strategies of Larger Society

18. Strategies of Larger Society

19. Strategies of Larger Society

20. Criticisms of Acculturation Research • Persons not conscious of their ethnic identity • Overculturalisation of adaptation process • Personal vs situational factors • Shifts focus from rights to psychological problems

21. Your Research What are the outcomes of interest in your research?

22. Migrant Adaptation Outcomes • Psychological adaptation • Sociocultural adaptation • Economic adaptation

23. Class Exercise

24. Migrant Adaptation Needs Resources Goals Demands

25. Constraints Needs Resources Goals Demands

26. Migrant Adaptation Defined • The process through which individuals seek to satisfy their needs, pursue their goals and manage demands encountered after relocating to a new society

27. Temporal Phases • Pre-migration • Migration or “flight” • Post-migration

28. Needs • Physiological  food, water, shelter, temperature control • Psychological  safety, sense of belonging, feeling esteemed and wanted, engage in meaningful activities, have goals worth striving for

29. Goals • Goals  personal strivings related to various role domains (family, career, self-development etc.) • Some overlap with needs but personal goals not as closely related to survival • Goals can be replaced, blocked or lost

30. Demands • Demands situations which require mobilisation of resources • Demands can become stressful when  (1) threat of resource loss (2) actual resource loss (3) resource investment fails to give expected return (Hobfoll, 1998) • Some demands are inherently stressful

31. Resources • Resources means by which individuals satisfy needs, pursue goals and manage demands • Personal resources • Material resources • Social resources • Cultural resources

32. Personal Resources • Physical  health, mobility, energy, physical attractiveness • Psychological  skills (problem-solving skills, social skills) and traits (self-esteem, optimism, self-efficacy)

33. Material Resources • Money • Paid employment • Accommodation/Property • Tools and machinery • Means of transport

34. Social Resources • Beneficial aspects of social relationships • Sense of affiliation and (ethnic) identity • Social support (emotional, tangible, informational) • Desired social contact • Protective against loneliness, social isolation, identity confusion

35. Cultural Resources • Skills, knowledge and beliefs learned in a particular cultural setting and whose adaptive value is often related to their being employed in such a setting or a similar one

36. Cultural Resources contd. • Cultural skills  language proficiency, literacy, education, occupational skills, computer skills • Cultural knowledge  includes knowledge of systems and services (banks, public transport) • Cultural beliefs shared religious or philosophical systems that give persons a sense of meaning

37. Constraints • Constraints can operate on use of resources already in migrant’s resource pool or on possibility of gaining new resources in host environment

38. Types of Constraints(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) • Personal constraints  internalised cultural values and beliefs that proscribe certain actions • Environmental constraints  blocking of access to resources by institutions

39. Migrant Adaptation Outcomes • Negative outcomes • Unmet needs • Loss or blocking of goals • Unmanageable levels of demands • Positive outcomes • Satisfaction of needs • Pursuit of goals • Effective management of demands

40. Practical Implications of Resource-Based Model • Identification of risk groups who experience most difficulty in gaining or conserving resources • Persons low on resources on arrival • Prevention of ‘resource loss spirals’ (Hobfoll, 1998) • Facilitation of access to key resources and ‘resource caravans’ (ibid.)

41. Gender and Pre-Migration Environment • Resources  males have more access to education, occupational training, money • Stressful Demands  high exposure to sexual violence among female immigrants

42. Gender and Post-Migration Environment • Females face additional constraints in accessing key resources in host environment • Cultural constraints rooted in traditional patriarchal ideologies and family structures • Greater caregiving burden • Greater impact on females of loss of social network and family separation

43. Key Factors in Migrant Adaptation • Age • Gender • National or ethnic origin (cultural distance) • Family status • Legal status • Host Language Proficiency • Length of stay • Access to employment/education • Access to social support • Host society attitudes

44. Recommended Readings • Berry, J. W. et al. (2002). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. See Chapter 13. • Ryan, D. et al. (2008). Theoretical perspectives on post-migration adaptation and psychological well-being. Journal of Refugee Studies, 21, 1–18 . • Suárez-Orozco, C., & Suárez-Orozco, M.M. (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. • Ward, C. et al. (2001). The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.). Hove, East Sussex: Routledge.

45. Critique of Four-Part Acculturation Model • Rudmin, F.W. (2003). Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Review of General Psychology, 7, 3–37.

46. Readings on Stress Theory • Hobfoll, S.E. (2001). The influence of culture, community, and the nested-self in the stress process: Advancing conservation of resources theory. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 50, 337-421. • Hobfoll, S.E. (1998). Stress, culture, and community: The psychology and philosophy of stress. New York: Plenum. • Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.

47. Thank you!