Measuring Acculturation and Enculturation among Chinese Canadian Older Adults

Abstract

Cultural adaptation is important to assess; however, most acculturation measures are unidimensional with little psychometric data for older immigrants. This study assessed a bidimensional measure, the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA; Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000), among 149 (mean age: 73.92 years) Chinese Canadians. Internal consistencies were .84 and .83 for the Mainstream and Heritage subscales respectively, and they were orthogonal. Convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated by predicted correlations between the VIA subscales and age at immigration, years in Canada, English fluency, and the Belief in Chinese Culture and Values Scale (BCCV; Lai & Chau, 2007). The VIA accounted for significantly more variance in language ability than the BCCV, above and beyond acculturation proxies. Exploratory factor analysis replicated the two-factor structure reported by Ryder et al. (2000). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated poor fit. This study supports a bidimensional model of cultural adaptation among older Chinese Canadians.

The relationship of history of psychiatric and substance use disorders on risk of dementia among racial and ethnic groups in the United States

“…Frontiers in Psychiatry 10 frontiersin.org many older Asian adults still maintain traditional Asian values and lifestyles, such as emphasizing family, healthy diet, and regular physical activities. They also adopt bilingualism in their daily lives (72), which similar to Hispanics, may be protective. Notably, older African Americans had twice the risk of AD and VaD if they had a history of other psychiatric disorders.…”

“…Similarly, many older Asian adults still maintain traditional Asian values and lifestyles, such as emphasizing family, healthy diet, and regular physical activities. They also adopt bilingualism in their daily lives ( 72 ), which similar to Hispanics, may be protective.…”

Adaptation and Validation of a Short Acculturation Scale in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population

“…This scale was developed for Asian Americans and has been widely used to measure acculturation among Asian immigrants such as Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Japanese Americans [42][43][44][45]. The VIA, which was initially developed for ethnic Chinese Canadian [46], provides a bidimensional measure of acculturation, and has 20 items including three domains: adherence to traditions, social relationships, and values. Few studies have assessed acculturation in Asia countries.…”

What Matters Most to Older Chinese Adults

“…Statistics Canada (2018b) reports 12% of British Columbia residents and 5% of Alberta residents speak Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese). As health care providers, we strive to promote physical, mental, and social healthy outcomes for immigrants living in the community ( Chow, 2010 ; Koehn et al, 2018 ; Tieu & Konnert, 2015 ; Zhu & Zhang, 2019 ). In a review of immigrants’ access to health care, Wang et al (2019) cited minimal focus specifically on older adults, the most vulnerable among the immigrant population.…”

“…In a review of immigrants’ access to health care, Wang et al (2019) cited minimal focus specifically on older adults, the most vulnerable among the immigrant population. The process of shifting customs, values, and behaviors to another culture due to relocation is broadly defined as acculturation ( Abraido-Lanza et al, 2006 ; S. Liu et al, 2020 ; Mao et al, 2020 ; Serafica et al, 2019 ; Tieu & Konnert, 2015 ). In addition to a steep learning curve about Canadian cultural norms, Chinese older adults’ traditional values from their country of origin were disrupted, causing identity conflict because of a constant need to navigate between two cultures while adapting to new environments ( J. Li et al, 2018 ; S. Liu et al, 2020 ; Teh et al, 2020 ; Ward, 2013 ).…”