Week 3: Acculturation & Mental health (KNOWLEDGE CLIPS & LECTURE)

Question 1

Why is it important to study migration

Answer 1

Because we live in an era where many people migrate, some people have to migrate and the means are also more accessible. We are living in an increasingly diverse/multicultural world. Migration is also a highly politicized topic.

Question 2

What are 2 reasons that people migrate?

Answer 2

1. PUSH factors = factors that drive people away from a certain country
   –> eg. Lack of opportunities, Poverty, Shortage of food, Armed conflict, Genocide, Discrimination
2. PULL factors = factors that pull people towards a certain country
   –> eg. Job opportunities, Higher wages, Quality of education, Safety, Freedom, Reunion with family/friends, Adventure

Question 3

What are 4 kinds of participants of intercultural contact and review the type based on voluntariness and sedentariness

Answer 3

1. Ethnocultural groups = people who’s ancestors came there many years before, so in some way they are part of the culture but they are also different from the others
   –> eg. Dutch people in South Africa
   –> voluntary, sedentary
2. Indigenous people = most Indigenous peoples are in a minority in the traditional territory they inhabit and have experienced domination by other groups
   –> eg. Native Americans in the USA
   –> involuntary, sedentary
3. Economic migrants/sojourners = someone who leaves his or her country of origin purely for financial or economic reasons
   –> EM = permanent, Sojourner = temporary
   –> voluntary, migrant
4. Refugees/Asylum seekers = person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country
   –> Refugee = permanent, Asylum seeker = temporary
   –> involuntary, migrant

Question 4

What 3 factors belong to the process of acculturation

Answer 4

Contact, Influence, Change

Question 5

What are 2 kinds of theoretical models when it comes to the directionality of change in studying acculturation and evaluate them

Answer 5

1. Unidimensional models: Engagement of new culture inevitably linked to rejection of heritage culture; acculturation = assimilation
2. Bidimensional models: Relationship with heritage & mainstream culture are
   conceptually independent cultural orientations (assimilation, marginalization, integration, seperation)

The bidimensional models constitutes a broader and more valid framework for understanding acculturation. Although the unidimensional model has the advantage of parsimony, it is believed to offer an incomplete and often misleading rendering of the acculturation process.

Question 6

Name and explain the 2 outcomes of acculturation

Answer 6

1. Sociocultural adaptation = Doing well in new culture; Ability to “fit in” or negotiate interactive aspects of life in a new cultural milieu
2. Psychological adjustment = Feeling well in new culture; Mental health; Wellbeing & satisfaction

Question 7

Explain how different factors of the bidimensional model are related to the outcomes of acculturation

Answer 7

Integration technique was related to most psychological and sociological adaptation, then separation > assimilation > marginalization

Question 8

Explain acculturative stress

Answer 8

= psychological impact on the process of cultural adaptation. It is defined as a reduction in mental health and well-being of ethnic minorities that occurs during the process of adaptation to a new culture

Question 9

Explain biculturalism

Answer 9

= identifying with more than one culture

Question 10

Explain Bicultural Identity Integration (BII) and its two components

Answer 10

= how well people manage their dual cultural identities; Individual-level indicator of compatibility of cultures

2 independent components:
1. BII harmony (vs. conflict): Feelings and attitudes towards cultures
2. BII blendedness (vs. compartmentalization): Organization and structure of cultural orientations

–> High BII generally associated with more positive outcomes (e.g., self-esteem, well-being)

Question 11

Explain the importance of cultural competence

Answer 11

When there is no cultural competence, there are often negative therapy outcomes: higher and premature drop-out rates and lower ratings of effectiveness. Culturally adapted psychotherapy leads to a 4 times higher effectivity than the general approach.

Question 12

What are 2 approaches of cultural competence in therapy?

Answer 12

1. Multicultural competence = awareness (of own culture), knowledge (of other cultures), skills
   —> ways of doing
2. Multicultural orientation = cultural humility, cultural opportunities, cultural comfort
   —> ways of being

Question 13

What is emotional acculturation

Answer 13

= the process of change in people’s emotional lives/experiences
—> there are systematic cultural differences in people’s patterns of emotional experience

Question 14

On what 3 things does it depend whether patterns of emotion acculturate?

Answer 14

1. Minorities’ generational status matters: emotional fit with majority pattern is better in later generations compared to earlier generations
2. Social contact is key: the more social contact there is between minorities and people in the culture they are trying to fit into (eg. Turkish adults in Belgium and Belgian people), the higher the emotional fit (acculturation)
3. It may not be a willful process: adopting values and traditions from the host culture may not be a willful process, just having the motivation to belong/fit with the emotional patterns of the host culture is not enough

Question 15

What 2 things happen to the emotional patterns of the heritage culture?

Answer 15

1. Minorities may maintain heritage patterns: at home, people usually have a higher fit with typical heritage than with host culture patterns —> the more contact someone had with their heritage culture, the more they maintain it
2. Minorities switch cultural frames in the domain of emotion: the way someone behaves emotionally depends on their cultural context