How The Acculturation Process Differs Across Individuals

Acculturation occurs when a member of a certain cultural group adjusts to interactions with another culture, psychologically changing those involved in the process. It is experienced by study abroad students, expats, and all other types of people who are living among a culture or country different from their own. 

Many psychologists propose that acculturation can be assessed along two dimensions:

 1) How an individual retains and values their original culture and

 2) How an individual adopts and forms relationships with their host culture.

When combining assessments of someone’s prior cultural retention and new culture adaptation, we begin to see the four acculturation strategies commonly observed among individuals: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Because these four categories simplify the complex process in which individuals come to feel at home in new surroundings, they can sometimes help therapists and acculturating individuals identify culture-related problems hindering their well-being.

Though some studies suggest that integration is the psychologically favorable outcome or that marginalization is the least desirable, researchers also acknowledge that individual differences of the acculturating person and their surroundings could be the true determinants of success in this process.

So now that we have discussed the general understanding of acculturation, we can explore what factors affect our ability to acculturate into new surroundings.

Daily Stressors: Exploring a new country or a culture can be fun when we first begin to do so. As we begin to be required to assume the same responsibilities we have always had, but in an entirely different setting, suddenly this amazement with a host culture becomes confusion and frustration. Studies have found that an increase in daily stressors correlates with an immigrant’s increased orientation towards their home country. 

Social Support: Depending on where it comes from, and how people choose to acculturate, social support can either help or hinder their goals. Studies find that social support from culturally similar units, like family, can actually produce more negative attitudes in acculturation situations. This is likely because such support helps people retain their already existing culture and is thus not necessarily an overall harmful phenomena. In comparison, a perceived sense of support from a host culture can actually be correlated with an individual's increased willingness to interact with host members. 

Language: Acculturative stress increases as fluency in the host language decreases. Similarly, children may experience a more positive acculturation process because their language acquisition process tends to be smoother. Lack of language proficiency can also prevent people from seeking the resources they need. 

The benefits of understanding these individual nuances include increasing cultural sensitivity and awareness between interacting groups, opening more pathways for cooperation, and a tendency to be easier on those around you and yourself as you acculturate. For ways to cope with the various challenges we described in the acculturation process, check out this linked article!