Roysircai-Sodowsky, G. R., & Maestas, M. V. (2000). Acculturation, ethnic identity, and
acculturative stress: Evidence and measurement. In R. H. Dana (ed.), Handbook
of cross-cultural and multicultural assessment (pp. 131-172). Mahwah, NJ:
Lawernce Erlbaum.
Jonathan Hall
1st Year Doctoral Student
PY 870 Tests and Measurements
Department of Clinical Psychology
Antioch New England Graduate School
Keene, New Hampshire
This article investigates four issues with which ethnic minorities in the United States
must contend:
• The experience of racism and discrimination as a result of belonging to a minority
or immigrant group.
• The experience of the relationship with the dominant culture.
• Preservation of one’s ethnic and cultural heritage.
• Stress, which is a result of the experiences referred to above.
Acculturation as Opposed to Ethnic Identity:
• Sodowsky and Lai(1997) distinguish between the two constructs, stating that,
Acculturation adaptation is a response to the dominant group, and ethnic identity
is a response to one’s ethnic group”(Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p.
133).
• Sodowsky, Lai, and Plake(1991) defined acculturation as the adoption of minority
groups to the culture of the dominant group.
• Based on research conducted by Velez(1995), it was demonstrated among Puerto
Rican and Chinese-American college students that second-generation individuals
had higher acculturation scores when compared to first generation individuals.
• Acculturation and Ethnic Identity create a push/pull relationship meaning that an
individual from a minority group feels pushed to become acculturated into the
dominant group within a society and pulled by the influence of the ethnic group.
• Berry(1993) defines enculturation as an, “ethnic socialization process by which
developing individuals acquire (either by generalized leaning in a particular
cultural milieu, or as a result of specific instruction and training) the host of a
cultural and psychological qualities that are necessary to function as a member of
one’s group”(Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p. 134).
Berry’s description of how culture is transmitted:
• Vertical transmission thought the leaning and influence of one’s parents.
• Horizontal transition involving peer interactions.
• Oblique transmission through interactions with adults and institutions in one’s
society or community.
The dominant culture creates a dual socialization process for minority groups who are
in the process of acculturation. Mainstream institutions, mass media, public schooling,
national holidays and heroes, all reinforce the norms of the dominant culture which
influences minorities in the acculturation process. Enculturation into one’s ethnic society
has less overt reinforcement than acculturation into the dominant society.
Bidimensional Acculturation Model:
This model proposes that ethnic minorities are confronted by two issues:
• The maintenance and development of one’s ethnic distinctiveness by retaining
one’s cultural identity.
• The desire to seek interethnic contact by valuing and maintaining positive
relations with the dominant society.
The Influence of Family Bonds on Various Generations Cultural Values:
Sodowsky et al.(1995) emphasizes that familial bonds are central to
understanding the varying degrees of ethnic identity and acculturation.
• Among Asian Americans, first-generation individuals are likely to sacrifice their
own needs in order to preserve their family’s heritage, traditions, and identity.
• Second generation strive for independence and acculturation into the dominant
society and feel pressure and conflict as a result of the expectations that the family
imposes. This can result in family dysfunction as the children of first generation
parents are not fulfilling their ethnic roles and placing more value into the
dominant society. It also creates emotional distress and confusion for the secondgeneration individuals due to the lack of acceptance of their identity by their
family and the dominant society.
• The conflict that arises within ethnic families is a result of different levels of
acculturation between first generation parents and second-generation children.
Results of familial conflict based on Greenberg and Chen’s(1996) comparison of
Asian Americans and White college students. Asian Americans reported:
• Higher levels of depressive symptoms
• A less favorable view of the family dynamics and relationships
• Less maternal warmth
Acculturative Stress:
Acculturative Stress as defined by Dressler and Bernal(1982): “when an
individual’s adaptive resources are insufficient to support adjustment to a new cultural
environment”( Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p. 138).
Acculturative Stress has resulted in alcoholism in Mexican-American men and
eating disorders in African-American and Native-American women.
Berry and Kim(1988) defined the variables that influence the level of
acculturative stress:
•
•
•
Nature of the dominant society: This relates to how the values of the dominant
society affect the acceptance or rejection of minority groups. For instance,
acculturative stress is less predominant in multicultural societies while more
prevalent in “unicultural” societies.
Nature of the acculturating group: This refers to the willingness, movement
towards integration and permanence of contact that the minority group has with
the dominant group.
Mode of acculturation adaptation chosen: Minority groups either choose
assimilation, integration, rejection, or deculturation.
Relationship Between Acculturative Stress and Self-Esteem:
Phinney, Chavira, and Williamson(1992) researched this construct in multiethnic
groups consisting of Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, and White Americans.
Their results show that, “(with the exception of African Americans and foreignborn Asian Americans, for both high school and college students, having an integrated or
bicultural attitude was related to higher self-esteem. In contrast, assimilation attitudes
were negatively correlated with self-esteem for both school samples and across all ethnic
groups”(Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p. 142).
Studies of Acculturative Stress and Generational Status:
Sodowsky et al.(1991) conducted research using diverse groups of Asians(Asians
from the Indian subcontinent, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese) to study the
various levels of acculturative stress. The results show:
• First generation Asian immigrants experienced more difficulty in adapting to the
dominant society.
• Second and third generations reported less difficulty accordingly.
• First generation immigrants reported having more stress and lower self-esteem
than second and third generations due to this difficulty.
• Second generation immigrants also experienced stress due to the conflict between
the cultural value of their parents and those of the dominant society.
• Overall, generational status, level of acculturation, and level of self-esteem were
predictors of acculturative stress.
Keifer’s(1974) Three Types of Bicultural Conflict:
• Cultural alienation: refers to a sense of personal discontinuity that occurs across
time and as a result of disruption of cultural patterns.
• Cultural Confusion: confusion as a result of being confronted with a variety of
norms and the inability to identify with a specific norm with a certain setting or
context. Such that a member of a minority group is conflicted between the norms
of the dominant society and his or her own group.
• Cultural Conflict: This occurs when one’s learned values and beliefs are seen as
incompatible with the society with which one interacts.
Kim(1981) later defined Identity Crisis as an element of Bicultural Conflict. This
study researched Asian Americans and the crisis that erupted when trying to assimilate
into the dominant society:
• Identity Crisis: A situation where an individual perceives certain aspects of
him/herself, which he/she rejects simultaneously.
In other words, the results of this study demonstrated that Asian Americans attempts
to be part of the White society are compromised, as they cannot rid themselves of Asian
American physical traits or cultural values that influence life. This results in the
formation of the Marginal Person.
• Marginal Person: An individual who lives between the margins of two different
cultural traditions.
Phinney’s Ethnic Identity Development Model:
Three stages of ethnic identity development:
• Unexamined Ethnic Identity: The lack of exploration of ethnicity due to a lack
of interest or the perception that ethnicity is based on opinions of others.
• Ethnic Identity Search: Active exploration to seek understanding of what
ethnicity means within a given context.
• Achieved Ethnic Identity: A clear and confident sense of what ethnicity means
in one’s live.
Smith’s Ethnic Identity Model:
Focuses on the status inequality that exists between majority and minority
members. This effects the movement towards ethnic identity formation.
Smith describes the four phases of Ethnic Identity Development:
• Preservation of Ethnic Self-Identity: An individual’s ethnic self-equilibrium is
challenged by positive or negative contact experience with an outside group.
• Preoccupation with the Ethnic Conflict: Individuals who have significant
contact with an out-group experience strong feelings that motivate them to seek
safety and support from their own in-group.
• Resolution of Conflict: The individual restores his or her ethnic self-equilibrium
by seeking a solution to the ethnic identity conflict.
• Integration: This occurs when the individual integrates current and previous
experiences and events into his or her life.
Sodowsky’s Multidimensional Ethnic Identity Retention Model:
This model proposes that the ethnic identity process is bi-directional, involving
two orthogonal dimensions: degree of adoption of Whiteness and degree of retention of
one’s Asianness.
This study resulted in four ethnic identity orientations:
• Bicultural Identity: Occurs when the individual identifies with both groups
• Strong Ethnic Identity: Occurs when the individual values retaining one’s
ethnic identity over White identity.
• Strong US White Identity: Occurs when the individual is not ethnically
identified.
•
Identity of Cultural Marginalization: Characterizes individuals who do not
identify with either cultural group.
Isajiw’s Ethnic Identity Retention Model:
“Ethnic Identity Retention is defined as the extent to which characteristics of an
ethnic group are present among second of subsequent generations”(Roysircai-Sodowsky
& Maestas, 2000, p. 150)
“Ethnic identity is composed of internal, psychological aspects and external,
social aspects”(Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p. 150).
Internal aspects:
• Moral- Sense of obligation to one’s ethnic group.
• Cognitive- Ethnic self-image and self-cultural knowledge.
• Affective- The sense of belonging or attachment and comfort with one’s
ethnic group.
External aspects:
• Sociocultural behaviors (having ethnic group friendships).
• Speaking the ethnic language.
• Taking part in ethnic traditions and festivals.
Conclusions:
• Phinney(1989) reported “a positive relationship was found between level of ethnic
identity and psychological adjustment. Specifically, ethnic identity-achieved
participants had higher scores on a measure of ego identity as well as other
measures of adjustment”(Roysircai-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000, p. 151).
• One’s generational status is a predictor of ethnic identity retention, difficulty in
acculturation, high levels of stress, and low self-esteem.
• Second and subsequent generations are more significantly influenced by the
dominant culture through media and other variables causing them to place less
emphasis on ethnic identity and values. This creates a feeling of being “trapped”
between two cultures or identities and creates conflict within the family, which
can lead to depression and low self-esteem.
• There are numerous theories that conceptualize how ethnic identity is formed and
how conflict within the developmental stages can create alienation, confusion,
conflict, and interpersonal crisis. One has to be aware of these stages in order to
help promote positive development of one’s ethnic identity.
• Acculturative stress has numerous effects upon an individual, such as substance
abuse, eating disorders, depression, low self-esteem, and family dysfunction. It is
important to recognize the effects of acculturation and ethnic identity when
treating an individual from a minority group as symptoms can be attributed to
these factors.