Toward a more complex understanding of acculturation and adjustment - Cultural involvements and psychosocial functioning in Vietnamese youth

This study examined possible links between acculturation and adjustment in 182 Vietnamese youths living in a primarily Anglo-American community. Exten ding past work, the present research employed a more complex perspective on both acculturation-cast as separate levels of involvement in the native an d host cultures-and adjustment-measured across personal (distress, depressi on, self-esteem), interpersonal (family relationships), and achievement (sc hool grade point average) domains. Results indicated that, as expected, inv olvement in the U.S. culture predicted positive functioning across all thre e adjustment domains, and involvement in the Vietnamese culture predicted p ositive family relationships. Contrary to hypotheses, involvement in the Vi etnamese culture related negatively to personal adjustment (i.e., distress) . These findings are discussed in terms of the apparent complexities of the acculturation-adjustment link, particularly with regard to the utility of viewing acculturation From a two-dimensional framework and the need to cons ider the type of adjustment indices examined and the social contexts in whi ch ethnic groups reside.