ACCULTURATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON SELF-ESTEEM AMONG IMMIGRANT LATINA WOMEN

Relationships in the stress-process model, examining level of accultur ation, social support, marital status, religion, education, and ethnic ity associated with self-esteem in 491 immigrant women from Latin Amer ica at baseline and 1 year later were studied. The mediating/moderatin g effects of social support marital status, religion, and education on the relation between level of acculturation and self-esteem were anal yzed Findings, based on correlations and various multiple regression a nalyses, showed that the Latina immigrant women experienced increases in both level of acculturation and self-esteem over the I-year period When baseline self-esteem was controlled for; only ethnicity and chang e in level of acculturation were significantly related to follow-up se lf-esteem; no significant mediators or moderators of acculturation cha nge were found. Differences between Mexican and other Central American participants were noted.