University of Kansas, Clinical Child Psychology Program, United States.
University of Central Florida, Psychology Department, United States.
J Adolesc. 2019 Oct;76:129-138. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.07.016. Epub 2019 Aug 31.
This study examines the relations among native and host country acculturation, identity distress, and internalizing symptoms among multicultural adolescent refugees (N = 33) resettled to the United States from a range of countries including Cuba, Iraq, Jordan, Haiti, Colombia, and Venezuela. Despite previous research supporting the advantages of developing a bicultural style to acculturation, mixed results have been found regarding native and host country acculturation patterns among resettled refugees and how these patterns may be associated with refugee mental health outcomes.
The objective of this study was not only to consider the roles that US and native acculturation may play on the self-report of identity distress and internalizing symptoms among refugee adolescents more broadly, but also to consider the role various dimensions of acculturation (e.g., cultural identity, language competence, and cultural competence) may play for refugee adolescents post-resettlement.
The study findings indicate that native acculturation, and more specifically native cultural identity, may serve as significant protective factors against identity distress among adolescent refugees post-resettlement, with native cultural identity additionally serving as a protective factor against internalizing symptoms. US acculturation was not found to be significantly associated with identity distress or internalizing symptoms, nor were the acculturative dimensions of language learning (i.e., English and native language competencies), cultural knowledge (i.e., US and native cultural knowledge competencies), or US cultural identity. Recommendations and implications for practice and future research are discussed.
本研究考察了母语和东道国文化适应、身份困扰以及内化症状之间的关系，研究对象为来自古巴、伊拉克、约旦、海地、哥伦比亚和委内瑞拉等多个国家的 33 名移民到美国的多元文化青少年难民。尽管先前的研究支持发展双文化适应模式的优势，但在重新安置的难民中，母语和东道国文化适应模式以及这些模式如何与难民的心理健康结果相关方面，研究结果存在差异。
本研究的目的不仅是考虑美国和母语文化适应可能在多大程度上对难民青少年的身份困扰和内化症状的自我报告产生影响，还考虑了文化认同、语言能力和文化能力等各种文化适应维度在难民青少年重新安置后的作用。
研究结果表明，母语文化适应，特别是母语文化认同，可能是重新安置后难民青少年身份困扰的重要保护因素，而母语文化认同也可以作为内化症状的保护因素。美国文化适应与身份困扰或内化症状之间没有显著关联，语言学习（即英语和母语能力）、文化知识（即美国和母语文化知识能力）或美国文化认同等文化适应维度也没有显著关联。讨论了对实践和未来研究的建议和影响。
