Acculturative stress and specific coping strategies were assessed in a group of 214 multicultural college undergraduates of both sexes who were divided into four generational status groups: early immigrants (immigrated before 12 years of age) and late immigrants (immigrated after age 12), second-generation and third-generation. Also explored was the relationship of acculturative stress to self-esteem, locus of control and loyalty to American culture. The self-administered questionnaire contained the short version of the Padilla SAFE Acculturative Stress Measure, a loyalty toward American culture scale, Rotter's Internal/External Locus of Control scale, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Findings revealed that late immigrant students experienced greater acculturative stress than the other groups. Also, late immigrants coped with stress more frequently by taking a direct, planned action (individualistic) approach, while secondand third-generation groups more often coped by talking to others about the problem (social network). Early immigrants employed both coping strategies.
This study examined the psychosocial stressors experienced by Mexican and Central American immigrants to the United States. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 62 respondents, half of whom were males, who were nearly equally divided between Mexicans and Central Americans. Major identified group stressors were obtaining employment and related financial difficulties, the language barrier of not speaking English, and problems in adapting to the life‐style of the U.S. Use of a social support network was found effective as a coping response for seeking and obtaining employment, locating a place to live, and overcoming language difficulties. Married respondents with children expressed concern about the availability of drugs and about low moral standards, which they said characterized U.S. society. Men were found to score higher on a measure of depression than were women. This may be due to greater role strain experienced by men who have limited resources to use in the care of their families.
This study compared the cognitive appraisals and incident ratings of urban American Indians (N = 50), Anglo‐Americans (N = 50), and Hispanics (N = 47) on a revised version of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). Results indicated no overall significant differences among the three ethnic groups. However, on comparison of individual life events items, the groups differed significantly on the cognitive appraisal of 8 items and on the incidence of 10 items. Of these items, only 2 overlapped between cognitive appraisals and actual incidence. Results are discussed in terms of potential use of the revised SRRS with these ethnic groups in future research on the relationship between life events and physical and psychological disorders.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.