Evaluating the integration hypothesis: A meta‐analysis of the ICSEY project data using two new methods

Abstract

The Integration Hypothesis states that acculturating migrants who adopt the integration strategy (i.e. being doubly engaged, in both their heritage culture and in the larger national society) will have better psychological and socio‐cultural adaptation than those who adopt any other strategy (Assimilation, Separation or Marginalization). This hypothesis was supported in the original evaluation of the ICSEY project data, using the mean adaptation scores for individuals in the four acculturation clusters. This conclusion was further supported by an analysis that used scores that were derived from the two underlying dimensions. This paper further evaluates this hypothesis meta‐analytically using two new methods: Cultural Involvement and Cultural Preference; and Euclidean Distance. The results showed that these two methods provided support for the integration hypothesis, for both psychological adaptation and socio‐cultural adaptation. The pattern of relationships was stronger for positive than for negative indicators of adaptation. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

The Search for Some General Psychological Principles for Improving Intercultural Living in Plural Societies

“…Being in the ethnic profile contributed positively to psychological adaptation (but not to sociocultural adaptation), and a national orientation was related positively to sociocultural adaptation (but not to psychological adaptation). In further analyses of these data (Abu-Rayya & Sam, 2017; Abu-Rayya et al, 2023), using some statistical controls and different analytical methods, these findings were generally supported. In sum, this study has shown that immigrant youth do vary in their preferred ways of acculturating, and that these different acculturation strategies impact their psychological and sociocultural adaptation.…”

Basic values as a motivational framework relating individual values with acculturation strategies among Arab immigrants and refugees across different settlement contexts

“…The findings would also potentially contribute to a refined framework of acculturation-adaptation and values-adaptation interfaces in the context of immigration. To elucidate, acculturation research has established, for instance, that the integration strategy contributes to immigrants’ wellbeing (e.g., Berry et al, 2022 ; Abu-Rayya et al, 2023 ) and intergroup harmony ( Berry et al, 2022 ; Abu-Rayya and Brown, 2023 ). A separate line of research indicates that values contribute to wellbeing, generally (e.g., Grosz et al, 2021 ) and explain outgroup attitudes (e.g., See et al, 2020 ; Lepshokova, 2021 ).…”

“…The Cronbach alpha was 0.84 for the heritage culture dimension and 0.78 for host society dimension of the acculturation measure. We followed the steps of research that applied the two-dimensional space Euclidian distance formula to calculate participants’ scores on the acculturation strategies ( Arends-Tóth and van de Vijver, 2006 ; Möllering et al, 2014 ; Abu-Rayya et al, 2023 ). Scores on both the two acculturation dimensions were used in the calculations.…”

“…For instance, immigrants who are doubly engaged in both their heritage culture and in the larger national society (i.e., who use the integration strategy) have better adaptation than those who adopt another strategy. This assertion has received considerable empirical research support across receiving countries and acculturating groups (e.g., Nguyen and Benet-Martínez, 2013 ; Safa and Umaña-Taylor, 2021 ; Stogianni et al, 2021 ; Berry et al, 2022 ; Abu-Rayya et al, 2023 ).…”

“…This method calculates the distance between respondents’ scores on each of the two acculturation dimensions from the optimal score that each of the four acculturation strategies can achieve. Current acculturation research has started to make use of this new method (e.g., Möllering et al, 2014 ; Abu-Rayya et al, 2023 ).…”