I am AmeriBritSouthAfrican‐Zambian: Multidimensional remote acculturation and well‐being among urban Zambian adolescents

Abstract

One impact of globalisation is that adolescents today are frequently exposed to the values, attitudes and norms of other nations without leaving their own backyards. This may lead to remote acculturation-cultural and psychological changes experienced by non-migrant individuals having indirect and/or intermittent contact with a geographically separate culture. Using quantitative and qualitative data, we examined multidimensional remote acculturation among 83 urban Zambian adolescents who are routinely exposed to U.S., U.K. and South African cultures through traditional and social media and materials/goods. Cluster analyses showed 2 distinct groups of adolescents. "Traditional Zambians, TZs" (55.4%) were significantly more oriented towards Zambian culture and reported a higher level of obligation to their families and greater interdependent self-construal compared with "Westernised Multicultural Zambians, WMZs" (44.6%), who were more oriented towards U.S., U.K. and South African cultures. Furthermore, remote acculturation predicted somewhat lower life satisfaction among WMZs. These results demonstrate that individuals' behaviours, values and identity may be influenced by multiple geographically distant cultures simultaneously and may be associated with psychological costs.

Introducing Remote Enculturation: Learning Your Heritage Culture From Afar

“…However, heritage culture learning is qualitatively different from acquiring a second culture, even if both processes occur remotely. Young people's degree of remote ac culturation can be correlated with less satisfaction in life , more parent–child conflict , and poorer nutrition , likely because learning a new culture remotely can perturb cultural identity and family interactions. In contrast, remote en culturation into one's heritage culture is expected to connect an individual with family history and inform the development of core ethnic identity, both of which are positively correlated with psychological, academic, and health outcomes for youth of color .…”

Identity and acculturation: The case for Africa

“…They found that Americanisation was more prevalent in South African youth compared to Jamaican youth; notably, the exposure to American media, the relationship between Americanisation and well-being was mainly moderated by racial group membership . In another study by Ferguson and colleagues (Ferguson et al ., 2017) of 83 adolescents from Lusaka, they found that adolescents could be either classified as traditional Zambians (which meant that they were more oriented toward Zambian culture) or Westernised Multicultural Zambians (which meant that they were more oriented toward American, British, and South African contexts) . This latter group presented a lower sense of family obligation and were more independent .…”

“…Even in multidimensional considerations of acculturation, outcomes of acculturation seem to be somewhat associated with Western cultural values, norms, and attitudes (Adams & Abubakar, 2016) . Remarkably, this is also the case in studies of remote acculturation (cultural changes due to indirect contact); the emphasis is on the degree to which individuals adopt Western norms, values and practices, and identify with western cultures with which they have made little or no contact but which are remotely transferred through media, social media, and/or goods and services (Ferguson & Adams, 2016;Ferguson et al ., 2017) . Identity is diffused in some African contexts .…”

“…Polyculturalism is an instance of multi-acculturation in which individuals identify with several different cultural groups (Morris, Chui, & Liu, 2015;Van de Vijver, 2015) . Few studies have considered the internal and external aspects of plurality of acculturation in Africa (e .g ., Ferguson & Adams, 2016;Ferguson, Ferguson, & Ferguson, 2017) .…”

Behavioral and Academic Adjustment of Remotely Acculturating Adolescents in Urban Jamaica

“…Partiality communicates that individuals typically adopt some, but not all, elements of a given culture and plurality acknowledges that multiple simultaneous cultural affiliations are possible and even common. According to the partiality principle, RA can be “shallow” (primarily behavioral: Ferguson & Adams, ) or “deep” (observable in identity and values: Y. L. Ferguson, K. T. Ferguson, & G. F. Ferguson, ). And according to the plurality principle, RA can be multidimensional (“Westernized multicultural Malawian” youth in Malawi were strongly oriented toward U.S., U.K., and South African cultures in addition to their own Malawian culture: K. T. Ferguson et al., ).…”