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Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation of Immigrants in Greece Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Elias Besevegis University of Athens, Greece Paper presented at the IV Latin American Regional Congress of Cross-Cultural Psychology, July 6-9, 2007, Mexico City, Mexico. [email protected] [email protected]

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Page 1: Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation …old.psych.uoa.gr/~vpavlop/index.files/pdf/IACCP2007... · 2011-12-26 · Acculturation Strategies

Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological

Adaptation of Immigrants in Greece

Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Elias BesevegisUniversity of Athens, Greece

Paper presented at the IV Latin American Regional Congress of Cross-Cultural Psychology, July 6-9, 2007, Mexico City, Mexico.

[email protected]@psych.uoa.gr

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Acknowledgments

Research assistants for data collection:Marina

Dalla (PhD), Loukia

Demetriou, Elena Dimopoulou,

Marianna Krimizi, Chryssoula

Kostopoulou, Konstantina Mavrommati, Eleftheria

Mylona, Marina Nikolaidou,

Chryssanthi

Xanthopoulou, Konstantina

Saratsioti, Eugenia Tragopoulou, Marina Psoma (Graduate Course in School Psychology, University of Athens).

The Hellenic Immigration Policy Institute provided financial support and facilitated contact with immigrant associations in Greece.

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Presentation Outline

Definitions

Immigration in Greece

Acculturation framework

Research questions

Method

Results

Conclusions

Limitations and future directions

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Definitions

Acculturation: the phenomena related to intercultural contact. It is viewed as a bidimensional (rather than a unidimensional) process, as well as an intergroup (rather than an interpersonal) one.

Adaptation: the sociocultural and psychological (attitude and behavior) changes that result from acculturation.

The study of acculturative processes is necessary in order to better understand the findings from research on immigration, which are often contradictory (Baubock et al., 1996).

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Immigration: Greek Data

Immigration in Greece: transition from the emigration to the immigration experience.

The number of immigrants quintupled within 10 years, between 1991-2001.

Officially, the number of immigrants reaches 7% of the total population (GNSD, 2001)…

…while the proportion of undocumented immigrants is estimated to be of similar size (Fakiolas, 2003).

About 100.000 immigrant children and adolescents are enrolled in Greek schools (Γκότοβος & Μάρκου, 2004).

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Acculturation Framework (Berry, 1997)

Country of origin

Receiving country

Acculturation group

Psychological acculturation

Behavior changesAcculturative stressPsychopathology

AdaptationPsychologicalSocio-culturalEconomic

Moderator variablesDURING acculturation

Moderator variablesBEFORE acculturation

Group level Individual level

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Acculturation strategies

(Berry, 1997, 2005)

Ethnocultural

GroupsLarger Society

Is it important to maintain heritage culture and identity?

YES NO

Is it important to maintain contact

with larger society and/or

outgroups?

YES

NO

IntegrationMulticulturalism

AssimilationMelting Pot

SeparationSegregation

MarginalizationExclusion

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Research Questions

What strategies are adopted by immigrants in order to deal with the multiple challenges of acculturation?

What is the level of socio-economic and psychological adaptation of immigrants in Greece?

What is the relationship between acculturation strategies and immigrant adaptation?

Explore the effect of demographic variables (e.g., country of origin, length of stay in host country) on acculturation and adaptation.

Test for a structural equation model that specifies relations between acculturation with adaptation.

Page 9: Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation …old.psych.uoa.gr/~vpavlop/index.files/pdf/IACCP2007... · 2011-12-26 · Acculturation Strategies

Demographic Characteristics of Participants

Country of origin Ν Age(Mn)

Women(%)

Years in GR(Mn)

Education(Mn/7-point)

Albania 277 35.2 39.4 9.4 3.6

Balkan countries 89 38.0 69.7 6.2 3.8

Former USSR andEastern Europe 108 36.3 66.7 7.0 4.4

Arab/Muslim 50 36.5 14.0 10.4 3.8

African countries 46 24.5 2.2 1.7 2.6

Latin America 20 43.6 57.1 14.6 4.3Asian countries 7 30.1 10.0 5.0 4.1Western countries 4 33.5 50.0 14.0 5.8

TOTAL 601 35.0 43.1 7.9 3.8

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Greece in the world atlas

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Demographic Characteristics of Participants

Country of origin Ν Age(Mn)

Women(%)

Years in GR(Mn)

Education(Mn/7-point)

Albania 277 35.2 39.4 9.4 3.6

Balkan countries 89 38.0 69.7 6.2 3.8

Former USSR andEastern Europe 108 36.3 66.7 7.0 4.4

Arab/Muslim 50 36.5 14.0 10.4 3.8

African countries 46 24.5 2.2 1.7 2.6

Latin America 20 43.6 57.1 14.6 4.3Asian countries 7 30.1 10.0 5.0 4.1Western countries 4 33.5 50.0 14.0 5.8

TOTAL 601 35.0 43.1 7.9 3.8

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Measures

Ι: Variables Before and During Immigration

BEFOREimmigration

DURING immigration(acculturation)

Demographic EthnicityGenderEducation levelAge

Length of stay in GreeceResidence area

Psychosocial Motivation for immigrationVoluntary/forcedimmigration

Ethnic contactUse of ethnic languageHost-national contactUse of host language

Acculturation strategies

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Measures

ΙΙ: Adaptation Variables

Socio-economic adaptation indices

Psychologicaladaptation indices

Occupational statusSteady job at presentMonthly savingsEconomic benefitsProfessional developmentImprove financial statusImprove occupational status

Gained skillsLost skills (-)Provide family supportPersonal developmentMore opportunitiesIsolated from family (-)Lost social networks (-)Racism (-)Health problems (-)Fulfilled expectations

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Results

Question 1. Acculturation strategies of immigrants

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Clusters of Immigrants in Relation to Acculturation

-2,0

-1,5

-1,0

-0,5

0,0

0,5

1,0

Mean

(z sc

ores

)

Ethnic contact

Use of ethniclanguage

Host-nationalcontact

Use of Greeklanguage

Assimilation Integration Individualism/ Separation(21%) (46%) Diffusion (8%) (25%)

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-1,0

-0,8

-0,6

-0,4

-0,2

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

-2,0 -1,5 -1,0 -0,5 0,0 0,5 1,0

Position of Immigrant Groups on the Ethnic and Host-National Orientation Indices

Host-national orientation

Ethn

ic or

ienta

tion

INTEGRATION

ASSIMILATION

SEPARATION

Albania

Bulgaria

Russia

Arab/Muslim

Africa

Asia

Romania

Western

MARGINALIZATION

Latino

Serbia

Eastern Europe

Former USSR

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Acculturation Strategies as a function of Length of Stay in Greece

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1-5 years 6-10 years 11+ yearsLength of stay in Greece

f

Assimilation

Integration

Individualism/Diffusion

Separation

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Results

Question 2. Levels of socio-economic and psychological adaptation

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-1,4

-1,2

-1,0

-0,8

-0,6

-0,4

-0,2

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

-0,8 -0,6 -0,4 -0,2 0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6

Position of Immigrant Groups on the Socio- economic and Psychological Adaptation Indices

Psychological adaptation

Socio

-eco

nom

ic ad

apta

tion

Albania

Bulgaria

Russia

Arab/Muslim

Africa

Asia

RomaniaWesternLatino

Serbia

Eastern Europe

Former USSR

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Socio-economic and Psychological Adaptation as a function of Length of Stay in Greece

-0,4

-0,3

-0,2

-0,1

0,0

0,1

0,2

0,3

0,4

Mean

(z-sc

ores

)

Socio-economicadaptation

Psychologicaladaptation

1-5 years 6-10 years 11+ years

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Results

Question 3. Relationship between acculturation processes and immigrant adaptation

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Socio-economic and Psychological Adaptation as a function of Acculturation Strategies

-0,5

-0,4

-0,3

-0,2

-0,1

0,0

0,1

0,2

0,3

Mean

(z-sc

ores

)

Socio-economicadaptation

Psychologicaladaptation

Assimilation Integration Individualism/ SeparationDiffusion

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Structural Equation Model specifying Relations between Acculturation, Adaptation, and

Length of Stay in the Host Country

ACCULTEthnic -.27 Socio-

economic.56

Psychol- ogical

.58Host- national .82

.71

.55

χ2(4, N=601)=7.07, p=.132;

CFI=0,99; RMSEA=0,036

Length of stay in Greece

ADAPT

Page 24: Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation …old.psych.uoa.gr/~vpavlop/index.files/pdf/IACCP2007... · 2011-12-26 · Acculturation Strategies

Summary and Conclusions

The clusters that emerged from the study of acculturation strategies replicated the bidimensional model proposed by Berry (1997) with the exception of Individualism/Diffusion(?).

A direct effect of acculturation on adaptation was established.

Acculturation and adaptation appeared to vary across ethnic groups of immigrants in terms of their cultural similarity with/distance from the host country.

Length of stay in Greece was positively related to Integration and negatively to Separation; it also had an indirect effect on adaptation through the acculturation processes.

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Limitations and Future Directions

Limitations regarding the composition of the sample did not allow for study of acculturation strategies in relation to adaptation within each ethnic group, separately.

Inclusion of additional variables (e.g., identification to one’s ethnic group) might affect the size and conceptual meaning of acculturation clusters.

Caution is necessary when trying to generalize across various ethnic groups, cultural contexts, and time sections (Sam & Berry, 2006).

Page 26: Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation …old.psych.uoa.gr/~vpavlop/index.files/pdf/IACCP2007... · 2011-12-26 · Acculturation Strategies

Thank you for your attention!

And you, my lost distant countryYou'll be a wound and a caress

When the sun rises in another land

North Star, written by Nikos Gatsos

Page 27: Acculturation Strategies in relation to Economic and Psychological Adaptation …old.psych.uoa.gr/~vpavlop/index.files/pdf/IACCP2007... · 2011-12-26 · Acculturation Strategies

ReferencesBaubock, R., Heller, A., & Zolberg, A. (Eds.). (1996).

The challenge of diversity:

Integration and pluralism in societies of immigration. Aldershot: Avebury.Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Applied Psychology:

An International Review, 46, 5-68.Berry, J. W., Phinney, L. S., Sam, D. L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth:

Acculturation, Identity, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 303-332.

Bourhis, R. Y., Moïse, L. C., Perreault, S., & Sénécal, S. (1997). Towards an interactive acculturation model: A social psychological approach. International

Journal of Psychology, 32, 369-386. Γκότοβος, Α., & Μάρκου, Γ. (2004). Παλιννοστούντες και αλλοδαποί μαθητές στην

ελληνική εκπαίδευση. Αθήνα: ΙΠΟΔΕ. Εθνική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία της Ελλάδας (2001). Στατιστική

επετηρίδα

της

Ελλάδας

2001. Αθήνα: ΕΣΥΕ.

(available at

http://www.statistics.gr) Fakiolas, R. (2003). Regularising undocumented immigrants in Greece: Procedures

and Effects. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 29(3),

536-561.Sam, D.L., & Berry, J. W. (Eds.). (2006). Cambridge handbook of acculturation

psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.