Examining acculturation at the daily level: Adding nuance to acculturation scholarship

Introduction Sleep reactivity, or the tendency to experience sleep disturbances in response to stressful life events, is considered to be a vulnerability factor for insomnia. According to the sleep reactivity hypothesis, those individuals with high sleep reactivity tend to experience greater sleep onset and maintenance problems following a stressor. Few studies, however, have observed whether this phenomenon occurs at the daily level. That is, are day-to-day fluctuations in stress related to changes in sleep onset and maintenance problems among individuals with greater sleep reactivity? Methods Participants included 60 adults from the greater Northwest Arkansas area (63.9% White, 67.2% Female, 30-79 years old) who completed 10 consecutive days of sleep monitoring. Sleep was assessed objectively through actigraphy and subjectively through sleep diaries. Variables examined included actigraphy and diary based total sleep time (TST) and total wake time (TWT). Sleep reactivity was assessed using the Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test (FIRST). Daily stress level was assessed using daily diaries. Participants were asked to rate how “stressed they were that day” on a scale of 1 (being not stressed at all) to 7 (being extremely stressed). Linear regression models were conducted with sleep variables as the outcome. Daily stress and FIRST scores were mean-centered and entered as independent variables. Race, gender, and age were entered as covariates. Results FIRST scores were associated with lower diary TST (β = -2.76, p = 0.02) and greater diary TWT (β = 0.18, p < 0.01). Daily stress was not found to be associated with any sleep variable. FIRST score was not found to moderate the relationship between daily stress level and diary TST (β = 0.63, p = 0.19), diary TWT (β = -0.03, p = 0.13), actigraphy TST (β = 0.54, p = 0.18), or actigraphy TWT (β = 0.07, p = 0.56). Conclusion While sleep reactivity (as assessed via the FIRST) has been consistently linked to greater risk for developing insomnia disorder, the data from the present study suggest that this effect may be cumulative and not observed at the daily level. Support (if any) Graduate-Professional Student Congress Tiffany Marcantonio Research Grant

Mexican Americans interviewed in Spanish (vs. English) tend to have worse self-rated health despite their low morbidity and mortality. This project tests whether this language-of-interview effect also exists in the realm of mental health, and whether this pattern is due to Spanish-language interviewees’ lower acculturation to the United States. Analyses rely on secondary data from 865 Mexican Americans from the National Latino and Asian Americans Study. Multinomial logistic regressions are conducted to test whether the language of the interview is associated with the dissonance between self-rated mental health (SRMH) and diagnostic criteria for any of the most common psychiatric disorders. Acculturation measures are added to the model to explore its role. Results show that respondents interviewed in Spanish have higher risk of worse SRMH despite not having psychiatric disorders. Acculturation measures explain the association between interview language and SRMH without psychiatric disorders. Specifically, language proficiency and ethnic identity (acculturation measures) appear to be the main drivers of this change. Consistent with the physical health literature, Spanish-language interviewees tend to have worse SRMH without psychiatric disorders (dissonant outcomes), compared to English-language interviewees. Results also suggest that lower acculturation to the United States among Spanish-language interviewees explains these patterns. Research on the relationship between acculturation measures and understandings of mental health among Mexican Americans can provide insights about their help-seeking behaviors and treatment. Implications for other cases of international migration are also discussed.

Electrical power fluctuations in a network of DC/AC inverters in a large PV plant: Relationship between correlation, distance and time scale

Family-of-origin is an important system in individual’s lives, and its influence is extensive over the life cycle. The aim of this study was to investigate, in a sample of adolescents’ parents, whether their retrospective perceptions of parenting and relationship qualities within their families-of-origin during adolescence predicted their current collectivist and individualist values. Participants included 110 Portuguese adults with a mean age of 46.86 years old. The results of structural equation modeling supported that retrospective perceptions of parenting and relationship qualities in the family-of-origin predicted the adults’ collectivist values but not their individualist values. This study highlights the importance of retrospective perceptions of supporting and non-rejecting parenting for value acquisition. The results also suggest that values that preserve and protect family connections and collaborations are more likely to be socialized by families. Implications for practice and for the theories on parenting, values, family-of-origin influences and family intergenerational transmission are discussed.

Objective Self-efficacy is an important predictor of smoking cessation. Partners’ confidence in the other partner’s health behaviour, or other-efficacy, seems predictive of beneficial health outcomes, but has not yet been examined with respect to smoking cessation. This diary study examined whether daily fluctuations and general levels of non-smoking partners’ other-efficacy relates to same- and next-day smoking, over and above smokers’ own self-efficacy. Design Smokers and their non-smoking partners (169 couples) participated in an intensive longitudinal study over 21 days with end-of-day diaries, starting on the day of planned cessation. Main Outcome Measures Smoking abstinence Results Smokers who had higher self-efficacy than other smokers in the sample had a lower probability of smoking on a given day, regardless of smoking the previous day. On days with higher self-efficacy and other-efficacy than usual, smokers had a lower probability of smoking. Conclusion To start the quit attempt with high self-efficacy, and maintain it throughout the quit attempt seems important for successful abstinence, as this might help to overcome a lapse. This is the first study to show that other-efficacy is related to smoking behaviour. However, more research is needed regarding the temporal order of smoking and efficacy, from both smokers and spouses.

The purpose of this study was to explore the formation and development of ethnic identity and its psychological implications among 1.5 generation Korean American young adults through the process of creating and reflecting upon one's artwork. The primary research questions for this phenomenological study were: How is the formation and development of ethnic identity recounted and expressed by 1.5 generation Korean American immigrants through artistic expression? What are these psychological experiences, as expressed through the art and interview process? The study utilized a phenomenological research method to collect and analyze the data obtained through the creation of three drawings and an open ended responsive interview with one young adult female participant. There is a lack of literature and research in art therapy with immigrant individuals about the psychosocial reactions to immigration and acculturation. 1.5 generation Korean American immigrants have immigrated at a young age before they have fully integrated a more mature identity, and they are exposed to the discrete cultural values of America and Korea. Abundant psychosocial research has indicated that a reluctance to consciously identify one's own ethnicity and cultural background or perhaps an unconscious process of adaptation can be detrimental to one's quality of life and psychological well-being. Since many of the cultural values and concepts are unconsciously integrated to one's identity, the symbolic communication in artistic expression can provide a new means of communication to explore immigrant individual's identities and serve as a synthesizer in integrating multiple levels of their identities. The essential structures that resulted from the analyses of the artistic and verbal datacollected from the participant included her experience of: self differentiation from the environment; wish for comfort and feelings of connection to other immigrants; bi-cultural identification and awareness; alienation and fear of not belonging in any one identity; ongoing transition of self ethnic identity; individual hardship and a wish for validation of one's struggles; and artistic expression as a means to exploring ethnic identity. The results of this study indicate that reflecting upon one's immigration experiences and ethnic identity through the use of metaphors, such as the tree and the bridge, seems to result in new realizations and self reflections on one's ethnic identity. The use of the three drawing procedures presented in this study can be used as an initial assessment tool in the clinical setting by providing both immigrant clients and clinicians about the degree of cross-cultural influence and pre- and post-migration experiences. It provides a framework from within which clinicians can discuss the interaction between the individual's intrapsychic life with the external life circumstances, and how the individual has learned to adapt to those life changes. In a group or family session, this series of drawings can be used as a tool to share experiences and to facilitate understanding of each other about the process of acculturation among culturally displaced individuals. The combination of both the artwork and verbal associations to the artwork during the process of creating three metaphorical drawings can aid the individuals with secondary process symbolization, allowing them to visualize and synthesize cognitive and emotional aspects of self from past, present and future.

This research examines transformational and transactional leadership expectation and values of collectivism and individualism between subjects in two countries, Taiwan and the U.S.. The leadership and the values between the two countries were compared, and the possible connections between the leadership and the values in the two countries were investigated. It was found that the respondents from the two countries varied in their levels of value of individualism and in their expectations of transformational and transactional leadership, and in the relationships between values of collectivism and individualism and the leadership expectations. The findings imply that in cross-cultural management or training, it is necessary to know that the values held by employees with different cultural backgrounds may result in different expectations of leadership behaviors.

Mental health disparities among Black, Hispanic, and Asian college students remain a critical concern, particularly in relation to culturally stressful experiences and identity processes. In the present study, we examined the interplay of cultural stress, ethnic identity, and national identity with mental health concerns and well-being among Black, Hispanic, and Asian college students. Participants included 1,130 Black, Hispanic, and Asian students from seven ethnically diverse universities across the United States. We used latent profile analysis to model subtypes of cultural stress (i.e. discrimination, microaggressions) and identities (i.e. ethnic, national). We identified three distinct profiles characterized by varying levels of cultural stress, identity development, and negative affect. These profiles differed meaningfully in mental health concerns and well-being. Specifically, students experiencing high cultural stress reported the most severe mental health concerns, whereas those with low cultural stress and well-resolved identities reported the most favorable well-being. Notably, although a resolved bicultural identity was associated with higher well-being, students with resolved identities coupled with high negative affect appeared more vulnerable to mental health concerns under conditions of high cultural stress. Findings highlight the importance of considering the joint roles of cultural stress and identity processes in understanding mental health among college students of color.

The daily timing of circadian ( congruent with 24-h) controlled activity in many animals exhibits seasonal adjustments, responding to changes in photoperiod (day length) and temperature. In Drosophila melanogaster, splicing of an intron in the 3' untranslated region of the period (per) mRNA is enhanced at cold temperatures, leading to more rapid daily increases in per transcript levels and earlier "evening" activity. Here we show that daily fluctuations in the splicing of this intron (herein referred to as dmpi8) are regulated by the clock in a manner that depends on the photoperiod (day length) and temperature. Shortening the photoperiod enhances dmpi8 splicing and advances its cycle, whereas the amplitude of the clock-regulated daytime decline in splicing increases as temperatures rise. This suggests that at elevated temperatures the clock has a more pronounced role in maintaining low splicing during the day, a mechanism that likely minimizes the deleterious effects of daytime heat on the flies by favoring nocturnal activity during warm days. Light also has acute inhibitory effects, rapidly decreasing the proportion of dmpi8-spliced per transcript, a response that does not require a functional clock. Our results identify a novel nonphotic role for phospholipase C (no-receptor-potential-A [norpA]) in the temperature regulation of dmpi8 splicing.

Diurnal changes in the carbohydrates of leaf laminae and fruits and in the bleeding of sugar and amino acids from fruit phloem were followed by successive sampling from a population of Lupinus albus L. plants. Phloem sap was collected for a standard 5 min period from cut distal tips of attached fruits. Daily fluctuations in leaf dry matter resulted largely from changes in starch and sugar. Leaf sugar rose to a maximum in the afternoon, starch to a maximum at, or shortly after, dusk. Leaves lost sugar and starch from dusk to dawn. Phloem bleeding rate varied little over a daily cycle but sucrose levels fluctuated from a noon maximum of 12-13% (w/v) to a dawn minimum of 9-10%. The rhythm of phloem sugar levels matched closely those of fruit and leaf. Phloem amino acid levels fluctuated in phase with that of sucrose: the relative composition of the amino fraction did not vary significantly over the daily cycle. Pulse feeding of source leaves with (14)CO2 at different times in the photoperiod allowed study of the pattern of release of labelled photosynthate to the fruit phloem and the build up and depletion of (14)C starch in leaves. Plants transferred to continuous darkness showed a rapid decline in output and concentration of phloem sap solutes, and translocated nitrogen to their fruits at only one quarter of the rate of control plants retained in natural daylight. The combined data from the experiments showed that the rate of output of sugar from cut phloem of a fruit was directly related to the current level of sugar in leaves. When leaf sugar levels were low (5-10 mg ml tissue water(-1)) sugar in phloem was 10-11 times more concentrated than in source leaves, but at high leaf sugar levels (25-30 mg ml(-1)) this concentration difference was only 3-4 fold.

Latino/a youth are at risk for cigarette smoking. This risk seems to increase as youth navigate the U.S. cultural context, especially for girls. To investigate how acculturation may influence Latino/a youths' intentions to use cigarettes, this study combines a bidimensional/multidomain model of acculturation and the Theory of Reasoned Action. Our sample consisted of 303 recent Latino/a immigrant youth who had resided in the United States for five years or less at baseline (141 girls, 160 boys; 153 from Miami, 150 from Los Angeles) who completed surveys at 3 time-points. Youth completed measures of acculturation (Latino/a practices, Latino/a identity, collectivistic values; U.S. cultural practices, U.S. identity, individualistic values), smoking related health risk attitudes, perceived subjective norms regarding smoking, and intentions to use cigarettes. Structural equation modeling indicated that collectivistic values were associated with more perceived disapproval of smoking, which in turn was negatively associated with intentions to smoke. Collectivistic values may help protect Latino/a immigrant youth from intending to smoke. Thus, educational smoking prevention efforts could promote collectivistic values and disseminate messages about the negative consequences of smoking on interpersonal relationships.

Turkish immigrant-origin youth in Western Europe often develop strong ethnic and weaker national identities. To advance our understanding of this pattern, we investigated the concurrent development and intergenerational transmission of both identities over time in conjunction with maternal homesickness. Our study was based on a sample of 176 Turkish mother-child dyads from Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands. Mothers (Mt1 = 38 years) reported on their identities and homesickness at T1 and children (Mt1 = 12 years) on their identities at T1 and T2. Our results showed that children’s ethnic and national identities became more incompatible over time, mother’s homesickness strengthened children’s ethnic identities, and mother’s ethnic identities in combination with high levels of homesickness weakened children’s national identities. We conclude that early adolescence is a critical time for Turkish immigrant youth’s identity development and that a focus on parental acculturative stressors can advance ethnic socialization and cultural transmission research.

Objective:The Cordoba Naming Test (CNT) is a 30-item lexical retrieval task that was developed to be administered in multiple languages. Research shows that self-identifying Mexicans residing in Mexico outperform self-identifying Mexicans that reside in the United States on the CNT. Studies indicate that the process of acculturation can influence cognitive performance. Previous studies demonstrated that Generation Z individuals (i.e., people born between 1997 and 2012) have underperformed on the CNT compared to Generation Y individuals (i.e., people born between 1981 and 1996). To our knowledge, no study has examined the influence of acculturation on Generation Z Mexicans’ CNT performance. We expected Mexicans residing in Mexico (MRM) to outperform Mexicans residing in the United States on the CNT and to report higher acculturation traits. We also predicted that acculturation would correlate with CNT performance.Participants and Methods:The present study sample consisted of 285 Generation Z psychologically and neurologically healthy Mexicans with a mean age of 20.32 (SD = 1.60). Participants were divided into three groups: MRM, Mexicans residing in the United States, and Mexican-Americans residing in the United States (MARUS). All participants completed the CNT and acculturation measure in Spanish. Acculturation traits were measured by the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS). ANCOVAs were used to evaluate differences in the CNT and AMAS (i.e., Spanish language, Latino competency, Latino identity). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between acculturation on CNT performance.Results:MRM outperformed the Mexicans residing in the United States and MARUS on the CNT, p = .000, np2 = .49. The MRM group reported better Spanish language abilities compared to Mexicans residing in the United States and the MARUS groups, p = .000, np2 = .10. Additionally, MRM reported better Latino competency than the MARUS group, p = .000, np2 = .08. Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed that the MARUS’s Spanish language abilities impacted CNT performance, p = .000, r = .48. In addition, we found that Latino competency correlated with CNT performance, p’s < .05, r’s = .20-.47, in both the MRM and Mexicans residing in the United States groups. Latino identity did not significantly correlate with CNT performance in any group.Conclusions:Results confirmed that MRM individuals perform better on the CNT than Mexicans residing in the United States and MARUS. Additionally, we found that several acculturation traits correlated with Mexican groups’ CNT performance. Our research indicates that while all Generation Z individuals of Mexican heritage feel strongly connected to their Latino identity regardless of where they live, MARUS feel less competent in Spanish and Latinx culture than MRM and Mexicans residing in the United States. Future work should further explore these differences for better insight into how acculturative factors influence lexical retrieval performance. Future work with bigger sample sizes can additionally examine CNT performance and acculturation in Generation Z first-generation and non-first-generation Mexicans (e.g., second-generation, third-generation) residing in the United States.

En 2001, les Chinois formaient la minorité visible la plus importante au Canada avec plus d’un million de personnes s’identifiant comme telles. La question se pose de plus en plus quant à savoir jusqu’où les Chinois et d’autres membres de groupes minoritaires peuvent s’ajuster et s’assimiler à la société majoritaire. Cependant, il n’existe pour le moment aucun instrument utilisable pour mesurer les niveaux d’acculturation des Chinois résidant au Canada. Cet article en présente un spécifiquement conçu pour ces derniers. Il porte sur sept aspects à évaluer : interactions sociales, préférence langagière, perception de soi, identité ethnique, présentation de cadeaux et célébration de fêtes, nourriture et préférence communautaire, ainsi que piété filiale. Cette approche fournit des données mesurables quant au contenu, à leur fonction discriminante, et à leur validité prédictive ainsi qu’un haut degré de fiabilité. Mais il ne faut pas ignorer les limitations de cette recherche, ni les besoin d’une autre à venir.

Prosocial behavior is undertaken voluntarily to benefit others and includes a range of actions, such as helping, sharing, caring, and comforting. Our study concerned psychological mechanisms stimulating prosocial behavior explaining it from both the within-individual (daily fluctuations) and inter-individual (individual differences) perspectives. We tested a model in which positive orientation and positive affect directly predict within-individual variability in prosocial behavior and in which positive affect mediates the relationship between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. These two-level mediation mechanisms were investigated using an intensive longitudinal study design with seven daily measurements on a sample of 181 undergraduates and 1119 daily observations. The results confirm that, with personality traits, sex, and prosocial behavior during the previous day adjusted for, inter- and within-individual variability in positive orientation predict daily prosocial behavior. Inter-individual variability in positive affect is a significant predictor of prosocial behavior and a mediator between positive orientation and daily prosocial behavior. No such mediation mechanism was detected for within-individual variability in positive affect. These results suggest several recommendations on how to stimulate prosocial behavior. By stimulating the general tendency to cultivate positive affective experiences and to view life in a positive light, it may be possible to prepare people to notice and respond to the needs of others.