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Context: International medical graduates (IMGs) are forming an ever-increasing proportion of the medical workforce. Much of the discourse around IMGs is about their performance at work and interventions to improve it. This discourse, however, is rarely situated in the wider context of the experiences of IMGs as migrants despite the wider context of migration and acculturation being likely to have a significant impact on IMGs' well-being and, ultimately, performance at work., Objectives: The objectives of this article were to (1) raise awareness of the inextricable broader context within which IMGs are situated as migrants; (2) outline the impact this context might have on IMGs' performance; (3) discuss literature from the social sciences related to acculturation that could better inform the way we view IMG transition and performance; (4) highlight how acculturation theory can help inform the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to facilitate the transition of IMGs into the host country and the workplace; (5) list some interventions that can provide support; and (6) suggest theory driven lines of enquiry to study acculturation in IMGs and the impact related issues might have on performance., Methods: This is a cross-cutting edge review drawing on selected theory and literature from the social sciences to explore its relevance to IMGs., Conclusion: The broader context of migration and acculturation should not be ignored when discussing IMG performance in the workplace or when instigating interventions to improve it. There is an urgent need to further evaluate the impact this broader context has on IMGs' well-being and performance., (© 2023 The Author. Medical Education published by Association for the Study of Medical Education and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The State of Israel can be characterized as having two integration policies: an assimilationist one towards "valued" Jewish immigrants and a somewhat ethnist one towards its "devalued" national minority, namely Israeli Arabs. Using the Host Community Acculturation Scale (HCAS), this study explored Jewish undergraduate ( N =153) acculturation orientations towards "valued" Jewish immigrants of Russian and Ethiopian background and towards "devalued" Israeli Arabs. Results showed that Jewish undergraduates mainly endorsed the integrationism and individualism acculturation orientations towards Jewish immigrants. However, they were more segregationist and exclusionist towards Israeli Arabs than towards Jewish immigrants of Russian and Ethiopian background. Assimilation was weakly endorsed towards both Jewish immigrants and Israeli Arabs. Based on an extensive questionnaire, multiple regression analyses showed that each acculturation orientation had a distinct psychological profile. The integrationism and individualism orientations were endorsed by undergraduates who were tolerant towards ethnic diversity, felt secure personally, culturally, and militarily, and did not endorse the social dominance orientation (SDO). In addition to not feeling threatened by the presence of Israeli Arabs, integrationists and individualists were identified as secular Israelis and Labour Party sympathizers rather than as religious Jews. In contrast, the assimilationism, segregationism, and exclusionism orientations were endorsed by undergraduates who felt insecure personally, religiously, culturally, and militarily, who tended to be less tolerant towards ethnic diversity, and who were more prone to endorse the SDO. In addition to feeling threatened by Israeli Arabs, they avoided close relations with Russian and Ethiopian immigrants. Segregationists and exclusionists were identified mainly as Jewish nationals, Orthodox Jews, and as Likud Party sympathizers. Exclusionists were distinctive in also feeling threatened by the presence Jewish immigrants of Russian and Ethiopian background. While taking into consideration the context of intergroup relations in Israel, results are discussed using the Interactive Acculturation Model ( Bourhis, Moïse, Perreault, & Senecal, 1997 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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., (© 2023 The British Psychological Society.)

Resilient adaptation among immigrant youth provides the foundation for healthy and productive adult lives. Great diversity is observed in their adaptation. This diversity has been studied during the past decade from different angles and intellectual traditions. However, the results are disconnected. In this paper, first, we present a resilience conceptual model for understanding immigrant youth adaptation. We argue that its concepts and principles allow us to best pull together what is known and discover what is still unknown. Together with narrower topic‐specific conceptual models, it can guide the formulation of hypotheses regarding immigrant youth resilience. Second, we examine comparatively, through the lens of this conceptual model, results of a content analysis on the abstracts of studies on individual differences in immigrant youth adaptation, conducted during the past decade in North American and European countries. Finally, we discuss the meaning of acculturation‐related terms which are often used in an inconsistent way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of cultural integration on business cooperation in the Republican Era. We collect the composition of bank boards and directors' biographical details of 28 principal banks in China, compiling a panel dataset from 1921 to 1936. The data allows us to classify directors' merchant groups, a typical cultural reflection, thereby calculating the cultural difference at the bank‐pair level. Using the boards' cultural traits, we find cultural difference among bank boards is negatively related to their director‐sharing decisions, an indicator of inter‐bank cooperation. Also, cultural identity on boards facilitates banks to participate in loan syndicates with the yield and risk shared. Further composition tests show that cultural attitude towards clan orientation, trust and open spirit embedded in the business culture is the root of inter‐banking cooperation. The finding reveals the importance of informal institutions in financial development and contributes to the debate on cultural and institutional bifurcation between China and Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Argentina some branches of Islam have their own ziyāra circuits, building a local diasporic shrine culture. This paper examines sacred geographies created by 'Alawis descendants of Syrian immigrants, who arrived in the early decades of the twentieth century, and Naqshbandi‐Haqqani sufis, Muslims who have converted from a Christian background. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Sufi and 'Alawi communities, in Shaykh Ahmed Merhej's shrine and in the Naqshbandiyya‐Haqqaniyya dergāhs where there are maqāms ‐ cenotaphs erected in honor of Shaykh 'Abdullah Daghestani‐ this article analyzes the configuration of two shrine cultures and their recent contact, showing the local rooting of a global practice among Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settler colonialism continues in Australia today. One way this occurs is through processes of assimilation such as targeting First Nations subjectivities with behavioural conditions on their social security payments. In this paper, I draw on a 13‐month study examining one such programme; the Cashless Debit Card trial in the East Kimberley region in North West Australia. Through restricting cash and purchases to curb alcohol consumption, illegal drug use, and gambling, card aims to instil "responsible behaviour" such as getting a job in the capitalist economy, accumulating private property, and succeeding in English education. Through drawing on critical discourse analysis, I ask, what does the Cashless Debit Card tell us about the settler state's attempts of continued assimilation? The paper explores specific ways the state legitimising assimilation through provoking narratives of First Nations dysfunction, depoliticising poverty and colonisation, constructing evidence around success of policy, and constructing ideas of "community" in order to regulate who speaks and who is overlooked. Although assimilation attempts are made, there is resistance and pushback in the trial site. Attempts of assimilation, not actual assimilation, can only be observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tropical Medicine & International Health is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the beginning of Christian mission, adaptation to local cultures (later called acculturation or inculturation) has been the main factor in mission failure or success. Placide Tempels is considered a pioneer of adaptation in modern times. He was a Flemish Franciscan missionary in Congo from 1933 to 1962 (with two breaks) and is well known for his adaptation to the Bantu worldview. Referring to spiritual and intellectual adaptation, the paper will answer the following questions: Was the adaptation of Placide Tempels successful? If it was or was not, why and in what way? The analysis will be linked to William Biernatzki's theory of root paradigms and meanings. To conclude, a connection will be made to the process of adaptation in international mission organizations today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used cross‐lagged panel models to test the longitudinal interplay between maternal cultural socialization, peer ethnic‐racial discrimination, and ethnic‐racial pride across 5th to 11th grade among Mexican American youth (N = 674, Mage = 10.86; 72% born in the United States; 50% girls; Wave 1 collected 2006–2008). Maternal cultural socialization predicted increases in subsequent youth ethnic‐racial pride, and youth ethnic‐racial pride prompted greater maternal cultural socialization. However, peer ethnic‐racial discrimination was associated with subsequent decreases in ethnic‐racial pride. The magnitude of these associations was consistent across 5th to 11th grades suggesting that maternal cultural socialization messages are necessary to maintain ethnic‐racial pride across adolescence, thus families must continually support the development of ethnic‐racial pride in their youth to counter the effects of discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a large‐scale survey conducted with parents from Japanese language schools in Sydney in 2015, this paper aims to review multiple dimensions of social cohesion in the Japanese ethnic community in Australia. Looking at several indices such as economic, political, and cultural integration, the paper describes the social profile of the Japanese ethnic community, questioning the generic perception of the community as a coherent body of middle‐class migrants in Australia. This was achieved through a comparative analysis with outcomes of a national survey of the Australian population on social cohesion and draws attention to the ways in which a particular sense of social cohesion with Australian society is constructed by Japanese migrants. The study found a differentiated sense of belonging to the local community, country of residence (Australia), and nation of origin (Japan). It found communal diversity in the Japanese community resulting from there being a majority of women migrants who were part of cross‐border marriages and their children living in multicultural family circumstances. It was concluded that this configuration within the community leads to advocacy related to a re‐identification as a possible ethnic group of migrants that should be recognized in an inclusive migration settlement policy in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we go to press in a COVID‐19 world, the topic of anxiety is foremost on our minds. While each situation has to be considered in its own context, how to manage different anxieties has common denominators. There is currently a sharp increase in forced migration around the globe so mental health professionals must develop effective skills, like the ability to adapt services to different contexts and cultures, to manage the needs of immigrant people. Problem‐Solving Brief Therapy, as developed at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, is a systemic model of therapy, which aims at promoting change in the complaint the presenting client (the 'talker') cares about. The model's roots in Constructivism foster integrating the clients' beliefs and values into therapy to allow the therapists to adapt to the clients' particular needs. This paper is the analysis of a single case where the therapist worked with an immigrant family because their child suffered from severe anxiety related to the parents' threatened deportation. The paper focuses on premises and strategies that allowed minimising cultural barriers between therapists and family members, thus facilitating a strong therapeutic alliance conducive to improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the census data published by the government in 2016, 92% of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region population is ethnic Chinese, while the number of ethnic minorities increased significantly by around 70% over the past decade. Enhancing the youth's intercultural sensitivity is becoming critical. Although many of the schools start to provide intercultural sensitivity training as extra‐curriculum activities, students often find them unattractive while teachers question their effectiveness. In this paper, we present a virtual reality enabled approach for enhancing the youth's intercultural sensitivity. The objective is to design and develop an approach that can benefit from using virtual reality to deliver the instructional materials, making the learning more effective. A total number of three different virtual reality learning scenarios have been created, covering topics such as views of marriage and family, religious beliefs, and language barrier. The empirical study found significantly increase of intercultural sensitivity among the 67 qualified participants after joining the session. The calculated linear regression model also suggested that the participants' perceived motivation from the virtual reality learning content positively contributed to the intercultural sensitivity increase, while interestingly the perceived enjoyment during the virtual reality exposure may negatively affected the learning outcomes. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic: Although enhancing youth's intercultural sensitivity is necessary, the available learning materials are very limited in Hong Kong.Previous studies suggest learners are better motivated and perceive more enjoyment during virtual reality enabled learning when being compared to traditional ways of learning, but this might not always result better learning outcomes.Virtual reality has been used in cultural education in settings such as museums and galleries, but not in the classroom setting due to the accessibility to virtual reality devices. What the paper adds to this: Virtual reality learning contents can be designed and produced for effectively enhancing youth's intercultural sensitivity.The relation among instructional material motivation to learners, learners' perceived enjoyment during learning and the learning outcomes, in this case, the enhancement of learners' intercultural sensitivity, can be analyzed using a linear regression model.The latest generation of virtual reality headsets can be used in classroom settings for delivery virtual reality enabled learning experience. Implications of the study findings: Significantly increase of intercultural sensitivity among the 67 qualified participants demonstrated the effectiveness of using virtual reality for enhancing youth's intercultural sensitivity in the classroom setting.The virtual reality learning contents can be designed to better motivate learners, resulting better learning outcomes.Distractions resulted from over enjoyment during the virtual reality enabled learning activities should be reduced to minimize the negative effects to learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There remains an obvious gap in the acculturation literature, which relates to cultural change associated with the majority/dominant group. This paper explores how majority members react to a perceived expectation from minority members that majority members should undergo cultural change. A study was conducted exploring how majority members' perceptions of a demand by minority members that the majority should adopt the minority culture affects the majority members' preferences for minority acculturation, and whether effects are mediated by perceptions of symbolic threat. Two hundred sixty‐six participants who self‐reported being white British completed an online survey. A model was hypothesized whereby a perception that minority members demand that the majority takes on the minority culture predicted perceived symbolic threat, which was in turn negatively associated with a desire that minority members should maintain the minority culture, and positively with a desire that minority members should adopt the majority culture. Results supported the hypothesized model, with all individual paths and indirect effects significant in the hypothesized directions. Symbolic threat mediated the effect of perceived demand for minority culture adoption on majority preferences for minority acculturation. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for intergroup relations in culturally plural societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living together in culturally plural societies poses numerous challenges for members of ethnocultural groups and for the larger society. An important goal of these societies is to achieve positive intercultural relations among all their peoples. Successful management of these relations depends on many factors including a research‐based understanding of the historical, political, economic, religious and psychological features of the groups that are in contact. The core question is 'how we shall we all live together?' In the project reported in this paper (Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies; MIRIPS), we seek to provide such research by reviewing three core psychological hypotheses of intercultural relations (multiculturalism, contact and integration) in 21 culturally plural societies. The main goal of the project is to evaluate these hypotheses across societies within the MIRIPS project in order to identify if there are some basic psychological principles that underlie intercultural relations panculturally. If there are, the eventual goal is to employ the findings to propose some policies and programmes that may improve the quality of intercultural relationship globally. An internal meta‐analysis using the MIRIPS project data showed that the empirical findings from these societies generally support the validity of the three hypotheses. Implications for the development of policies and programmes to enhance the quality of intercultural relations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural relations benefit from the social psychological study of arguments made by different groups about joint projects of mutual concern. This focus allows researchers to map representations of the project in question, among communities in different cultural milieus. This paper presents a study looking at Arabs' views on the project of integration. Arabs' perspectives revolved around six argumentative themes: cultural, economic, psychological, religio‐cultural, socio‐political or stigma‐related. After comparing all claims on integration across the communities involved (the Arab minority and the Maltese majority), we describe Arabs' positive, negative and mixed/ambivalent socio‐political claims in detail, complementing a previous study on majority views. This enables a discussion of Arabs' perspectives in view of the semiotic resources relevant to localised intercultural relations. Arabs' argumentative themes clearly reflect three key patterns: (a) social representation of integration as difficult but necessary, (b) minority representation of the majority group as being resistant to integration and (c) de‐essentialism of ingroup and outgroup. These patterns contrast with the majority members' arguments in significant ways. Findings are discussed theoretically in view of how minority arguments re‐present social processes to advance or resist intercultural projects, and substantively in terms of the application of these findings for ameliorating intercultural relations in local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public debates on linguistic integration as a socially desired outcome often share a prevailing sentiment that newcomers ought to "learn the language." But the intensity of that sentiment is rarely accompanied by an equally robust understanding of what, precisely, it means in practice. This results in a notion of linguistic integration with an inbuilt tension between a seemingly pragmatic and commonsensical appearance, on the one hand, and a minimal action‐guidance capacity, on the other hand. This paper explores this intriguing tension, and it identifies three moral and practical challenges that this challenge presents to the normative theorizing of the practical ethics of linguistic integration: (1) a predicament of arbitrary treatment; (2) the interpersonal structure of social and linguistic learning; and (3) the affective dimension of linguistic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on recent discourses and practices of listening to young children, in order to highlight listening as an ethical practice in early childhood education and care settings. The paper asks how discourses of listening should be viewed in theoretical terms and explores the work of a diverse range of authors who define autonomy and rights issues as relational. Central to the paper is a consideration of feminist critique of Foucault's ethics of care argument. To contextualise this, the paper discusses examples of recent research in the field of listening to young children and highlights issues facing the status of the early years workforce. In summary, the paper contends that an ethical view of listening can bring adults and children together in democratic care practices which challenge conceptions of childhood and reconnect ideas of care and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the mediating effect of problem-solving ability and information support on the relationship between acculturative stress and marriage satisfaction of married migrant women. To this end, the research model was established on the basis of the stress-coping theories and resource model, and existing relevant research, and the mediating effect was verified through a structural equation. The subjects were married migrant women living in Busan and Gyeongsangnam-do. The data from 307 respondents to questionnaires was used for analysis. In accordance with the analysis, the goodness-of-fit of the measurement model and structure model was significant. Moreover, problem-solving ability had a mediating effect on the relationship between acculturative stress and marriage satisfaction. However, information support had no mediated effect on the relationship between acculturative stress and marriage satisfaction. This paper suggests practical implications of improving marriage satisfaction of migrant women on the basis of the analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research into the practices of speech-language therapists in clinical sessions is beginning to identify the way communication in clinical interactions both facilitates and potentially impedes the achievement of therapy goals. Aims: This target article aims to raise the issues that arise from critical reflections on the communication of speech-language therapists for both clinical practice and clinical education of future speech-language therapists. Methods & Procedures: The paper reviews the past and current literature into the communication of speech-language therapists with their clients and provide examples drawn from the authors' own empirical research. Outcomes & Results: It is argued that one cannot assume that the current rhetoric regarding collaborative practice matches what is currently done in clinical work. Conclusions: This paper calls attention to the need to evaluate critically the processes and nature of acculturation that occurs during the first stages of professional development as a student speech-language therapist through to the ongoing development of professional practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2000 onwards, Dutch local governments have established transnational partnerships with local governments in Morocco and Turkey, two main migrant source countries to the Netherlands. These municipal partnerships aim at strengthening and transforming local governance on both sides of the partnerships. This is particularly relevant as roles of local governments in Morocco and Turkey are changing because of decentralisation and democratisation processes, whereas Dutch municipalities face challenges related to ethnic and cultural diversity. This paper seeks to answer two questions: first, what roles migrants play within these partnerships, and second, how the involvement of migrants influences the process of knowledge exchange and mutual learning leading to changes in local governance. The paper is based on a case study approach including five municipal partnerships and contributes both to the scarce body of knowledge about the roles of migrants in transnational cooperation at the local level and to the limited research on mutual learning in municipal partnerships. The research shows migrants fulfil several roles; they act as initiators, key actors, facilitators, and contributors of specialised and cultural knowledge. Their role as facilitators in the exchanges focusing at the interfaces between local governments and citizens is particularly relevant as introducing youth participation is new in the involved municipalities in Morocco and dealing with cultural diversity is a continuing challenge in the Dutch municipalities. There still is a large untapped potential as limited use is made of involving larger groups of migrants and on drawing on their networks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Argentina some branches of Islam have their own ziyāra circuits, building a local diasporic shrine culture. This paper examines sacred geographies created by 'Alawis descendants of Syrian immigrants, who arrived in the early decades of the twentieth century, and Naqshbandi‐Haqqani sufis, Muslims who have converted from a Christian background. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Sufi and 'Alawi communities, in Shaykh Ahmed Merhej's shrine and in the Naqshbandiyya‐Haqqaniyya dergāhs where there are maqāms ‐ cenotaphs erected in honor of Shaykh 'Abdullah Daghestani‐ this article analyzes the configuration of two shrine cultures and their recent contact, showing the local rooting of a global practice among Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To highlight the experiences and challenges of international medical graduates (IMGs) living and working in rural and remote Tasmania, and how this informs their acculturation and retention in the state. Design: This paper reports the findings from the Tasmanian IMG questionnaire, which was administered both in hardcopy and online format to all known IMGs within the state. A total of 105 questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 30.0%. Results: IMGs were from the 30 countries and the majority were under 49 years of age, had migrated in the past 10 years, with over half having worked in the state for less than 2 years. Many IMGs indicated that they were satisfied with their current employment, the medical facilities, the friendliness of their patients and the friendliness of the community where they lived, and would like to stay much longer in Tasmania. Conclusions: Many IMGs have previously lived and worked in rural areas and are reasonably satisfied with their current employment and lifestyle in Tasmania. However, the following factors play an important part in their views and attitudes: employment satisfaction, access to schools, employment for spouse or partner and access to cultural or religious foods and goods. Nevertheless, beyond employment satisfaction, employment itself, coupled with career pathway and training opportunities, were highlighted as contributory factors for leaving Tasmania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the self‐perceived integration of Swedes permanently residing in Portugal. The knowledge of how EU citizens, particularly Swedes, live and integrate into Portuguese society is limited. The conceptual framework on self‐perceived integration takes its points of departure from the concepts of a sense of belonging to society and place, feelings of discomfort and coping tactics. Using a semi‐structured interview guide, 36 in‐depth interviews with Swedes permanently residing in Portugal were conducted. Whereas some of the permanently residing Swedes have no ambition of integrating into Portuguese society, others display a strong self‐perceived feeling of being integrated within the community where they live. The added value of this paper is that it shows the complexity behind the construction of the feeling of self‐perceived integration of Swedes in Portugal. Building a feeling of self‐perceived integration depends on many factors and is not a linear process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article reviews contemporary intercultural scholarship by examining published papers in 16 communication journals (5 of them were dedicated intercultural journals) between 2007 and 2018. The analysis found that the number of manuscripts published in 12 years (n = 191, or approximately 2.5% of 7452 published papers) on South Asian issues and populations is meager. Based on the reading of the intercultural manuscripts, this article identified eight key areas of scholarly attention, including acculturation and cultural adaptation, intercultural transitions, language and verbal communication, communication for social change, negotiation of identities, technology‐based communication, media and mediated communication, and new dynamics in the contemporary era. Later, this article talked about "silent zones" of contemporary intercultural scholarship—topics or areas that are under‐researched and then described potential pathways of future scholarship in imagining a more tolerant, just and equal South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two cross‐sectional survey studies, both conducted in Britain, which focus on how different cultural identities are managed in multicultural settings. Specifically, the studies explored the extent to which essentialism moderates the perceived compatibility of acculturation orientations, heritage culture maintenance and majority culture adoption. In study 1, participants (N = 198) were Somali minority members living in the UK. It was found when minority members essentialized Britishness themselves, and when they perceived that British people essentialized Britishness, they saw a desire to maintain the culture of origin and a desire adopt the majority culture as conflicting with each other. In study 2, participants (N = 200) were white British majority members living in the UK. Findings showed that when white British majority members essentialized Britishness, they too perceived the two acculturation preferences as being incompatible with each other. Taken together, these studies show that essentializing British identity can lead to a view that the majority and minority cultures are mutually exclusive. Implications for intergroup relations and integration into British society are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant integration is usually studied in four dimensions: economic, political, social and cultural. The cultural sphere seems to be the most ambiguous, but also the one that induces various interpretations as it touches upon core norms and values held both by migrants and by the receiving society. This paper aims to reconstruct research approaches to cultural integration and integration policy. Beside the receiving country's language, that is the obvious differentiating factor of cultural integration, other aspects have been defined: migrants' religion, knowledge of the receiving country's symbolic culture, maintenance and transmission of cultural patterns, cultural identity. Furthermore, indicators which appear to adequately measure the effectiveness of integration activities have been assigned to the predefined aspects of cultural integration. They have been confronted with indicators used within integration policies of selected EU states and with expert statements (collected within the Delphi method‐based survey) on given aspects of policies aimed at cultural integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses worldwide challenges, perhaps most in coastal areas. Governments on different scales respond with planning and policy measures, many with drastic impact. In this paper we assess the role of cultural heritage in planning for climate change on the former island Goeree‐Overflakkee in the Netherlands. We do so by exploring the theoretical discourse on the nexus of climate change and heritage discourses and relating these to an analysis of mitigation and adaptation measures on the island of Goeree‐Overflakkee in the Dutch river delta. It appears that the scale and political urgency of climate change induces involvement of many different governments, resulting in an inconsistent integration of cultural heritage in these plans and policies. These outcomes demonstrate that in order to integrate heritage in climate adaptation and mitigation planning, governments cannot rely on established planning traditions for other spatial challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the subject of acculturation in host communities, including papers on immigrants in Spain and Canada and one about the provision of social services for immigrants. The author, a psychologist, examines various factors related to acculturation. The impact of immigration on host communities, ethnographic studies, the creation of the Parent Information Center at the school in Lowell, Massachusetts, Chinese immigrants to Canada, and the introduction of resettlement programs in Canada are discussed.

As international migration increases, the Australian socio‐cultural and political context in which sub‐Saharan African migrant families are settling is causing tension between traditional sub‐Saharan African migrant definitions of child and childhood experiences and host nation definitions particularly when compared with the child protection system. This paper seeks to explore and highlight the fundamental values and differences that determine perceptions and treatment of children within traditional sub‐Saharan African communities. Using a qualitative design, this study was influenced by acculturation theory. Four major themes emerged from the analysis: (a) culture and the sub‐Saharan African child, (b) moulding good children, (c) family functioning and relationships, and (d) host context: perceptions of Australian mainstream parenting. The study found that in order to successfully make decisions that are in the best interest of sub‐Saharan African migrant children that come to the attention of the child protection system, discussions about children rights can only yield good outcomes when the child's socio‐cultural environment is considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative study (32 in-depth interviews) with Salvadorian mothers and their daughters. In particular this paper focuses on the strategies that mothers and daughters utilized to resist prejudice and racism in their settlement country, Canada. Findings contribute to the literature specifically by drawing attention to the importance of ethnic pride in helping mothers and their daughters bridge significant strains that arise in their acculturation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the linkage between migration and development has attracted much academic and policy attention, a key aspect of the linkage, namely those left behind in the community of origin, remains under-researched. As one of the first academic attempts to provide a systematic overview of this group in China, this paper describes the basic problems faced by it, discusses the institutional causes of the problems, and explores long-term and short-term solutions. The paper first establishes the fact that, while it seems that individuals decide who migrates and who stays back, there are fundamental institutional constraints on such decisions. The paper then shows that the three main left-behind groups, namely wives, the elderly and children, encounter various problems, but in general their situation is not much worse than that of those living with all family members. Their problems cannot just be attributed to being left-behind individuals; instead, the fundamental cause is that many rural communities as a whole have been left behind economically and socially. Although migration exacerbates the hardship, preventing migration is certainly not a solution. The paper instead calls for measures to redress the urban-rural divide and to improve the provision of public goods in rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laos is one of the poorest and most ‘rural’ countries in the world. Yet there is evidence of heightened levels of mobility as the country is drawn into the wider mainland southeast Asian region. Mobility is becoming increasingly important in supporting and defining livelihoods for some households and villages. The paper reviews the evidence for growing levels of mobility in Laos and, drawing on the experience of the wider region, reflects upon the implications of this for source communities in terms of economy and society. The paper highlights the shifting nature of the meaning of mobility for migrants and, therefore, for villages of origin and those ‘left behind’. The paper proposes that rather than searching out hard-and-fast views of migration and its impacts, the focus should be on 14 identified questions or lines of influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions a dominant view of culture as being relatively bounded and hermetic by questioning the concept of an intercultural domain that is brought into existence as a necessary consequence of this view. The paper suggests that recognition of cultural processes does not lead to the need to posit 'a culture' which is constituted by them. The view that 'a culture' is a relatively autonomous, relatively hermetic and relatively homeostatic entity arises, this paper argues, in the birth of nationalism and the founding years of anthropology, which are intimately linked. This approach, characterised here as modernist, is criticised for failing to deal well with complex cultural relationships. It results in the need to theorise an intercultural space, or a realm of cultural change, between cultures theorised as entities. Here the later work of Malinowski is used as an exemplar. The paper argues for alternative conceptualisations, such as Gluckman's suggestion that intercultural relations occur within social fields which are the proper subject of anthropology, and Strathern's contention that 'society' is a redundant concept, yet not denying 'sociality'. The case of the Aboriginal people of Broome in their struggle with the state over the terms in which their prior rights to land will be recognised is used to illustrate this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses the issue on how ethnic groups can co-exist and thrive successfully in multicultural societies. Other topics include the factors that could create refugees and cause immigration like war, violence, structural racism, and poverty in indigenous communities, and how multicultural relation issues could be addressed by the principles and methods of cross-cultural psychology.

This paper identifies the extent to which cultural diversity induced by internal migration affects urban innovation in China. We measure cultural diversity by an index of "plurality" of provinces of origin. Using the 2000 and 2005 population census data, we find that innovative activities are higher in cities with a higher degree of cultural diversity. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that cultural diversity, not only of the highly skilled, but also of the low skilled, has a positive effect on innovation. Our study contributes to the scarce evidence on the effect of cultural diversity on innovation in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the United States, with Chinese Americans accounting for the largest percentage. In response to this growth, mental health examiners should be culturally competent of the Asian culture, including Chinese culture, as to ensure ethically appropriate and accurate assessment of these individuals. In the current paper, we discussed several critical components of Chinese American clients' social experience, including their language and education attainment, and their stress related to discrimination, racism, and acculturation. We also provided descriptions of specific cultural concerns that should be taken into consideration when assessing Chinese American clients, such as the stigma associated with seeking mental health services, parenting styles and parental involvement in education. In addition, we attempted to bring several practical issues to practitioners' attention; for example, the importance of assessing language proficiency and level of acculturation, the limited availability to appropriately normed psychoeducational assessments, and the different communication style of Chinese American clients. To address these issues, various recommendations were provided, though additional research is needed to create better opportunities and ethical practice for the assessment of Chinese American clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present research seeks to show that culture‐specific variables can moderate the impact of general determinants of intergroup discrimination, usually assumed to operate identically across cultures. The present paper reports the results of two studies testing the hypothesis that, in France, the cultural norm of new laïcité (a French‐specific ideology of secularism) can moderate the impact of the perceived host culture adoption and national identification on discrimination against immigrants. We conducted a correlational study (Study 1, N = 249) and an experiment (Study 2, N = 143) using two distinct and previously validated measures of intergroup discrimination. Results showed that the higher the perception of a norm of new laïcité, the stronger the link between host culture adoption and national identification. More specifically, among native French people, the perception of a weak host culture adoption and a weak national identification on the part of immigrants produced higher levels of discriminatory behavior especially when the intergroup norm of new laïcité was high. These studies highlight the fundamental importance of taking into account culture‐specific variables in the study of discrimination and point to the fact that, by changing the normative context, one may change intergroup behaviors. Reducing intergroup discrimination in applied settings may require targeting culture‐specific intergroup norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationship between minority belief youth's acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter-relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals' motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt-out provision as stipulated by human rights law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological tests have become essential tools for implementing social change. Evidence is strong to support the merit of tests for monitoring children in the educational system, providing policy makers with information for decision making, aiding psychologists in the individual screening and diagnostic process, credentialing and licensing candidates in thousands of professions and specialties, and providing organizations with data for employee selection, promotion, and the evaluation of training. The purpose of the special issue, April 2004 issue of the journal "Applied Psychology," is to acquaint readers with a broad set of advances, issues, and research in testing and testing practices. These include personality testing in Asia, international comparative studies of achievement in Latin America, the influence of acculturation on testing, and testing in organizations. Readers of the periodical will find these research papers informative and interesting, and the sharing of information of the kind presented in them will stimulate more research and lead to improved testing practices around the world.

Life experience appears to be transforming in contemporary societies, with changes taking place in Asia being particularly substantial. There is strong public interest in understanding how these changes affect individual psyches. Scientific understanding of this issue, however, has not kept pace with change. Research findings from Western societies, the USA in particular, provide a model for understanding and predicting patterns of cultural change in Asia. However, the applicability of the model in this region requires critical examination. This article presents an overview of the available evidence in this research field, reviewing available psychological research that examines cultural change in the USA, China, Japan, and Australia. This paper's aim is to stimulate interest in this research area within the community of Asian social psychologists as our Asia-based insights have much to contribute to the fundamental research question at stake, and the nature of the interplay between a changing social ecology, cultural environment, and participating psyches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Structural changes are commonly undertaken to achieve gains, such as enhanced efficiency and performance. In this paper, we explore the cultural issues associated with a structural change in the Australian Public Service. We argue that cultural differences across merged functions were disruptive and challenging to overcome. We posit, however, that these challenges were exacerbated by the lack of systemic effort to integrate cultures, thus impeding synergy realization. Our findings are consistent with the private sector literature that warns mergers and acquisitions undertaken with too much haste and without adequate planning can lead to cultural issues when not managed appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary highlights some of the strengths of the papers in this special issue focusing on how they advance acculturation research; how they link immigrant youth research with positive youth development and how they provide some insights into understanding how immigrant youth thrive in their adoptive societies. The commentary takes as its point of departure the prototypical research question for immigrant youth research within the perspective of positive youth development and the ultimate goals of acculturation research, i.e., to (i) promote positive psychological acculturation and the well-being of individuals and (ii) the attainment of harmonious intercultural relations among all groups in contact, and argues that the four papers fall short in addressing the second goal. The second goal is subsequently linked to multiculturalism and suggest that to do full justice to the prototypical research question, more attention should be directed to incorporating indicators of multiculturalism in acculturation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrant youth are and will continue to be a diverse and important part of Western nations. In this context, the study of immigrant youth adaptation has burgeoned. The papers of this special section represent a shift from a deficit-based to a strength-based approach to immigrant youth. They focus on unpacking the immigrant paradox, often based on longitudinal, multilevel data. In this commentary, we discuss how the research findings and themes that emerge from these papers contribute to our understanding of the processes of development and acculturation, of the importance of individual differences and the role of context for immigrant youth adaptation. These studies show that we have come a long way … but that we still have a long way to go. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugee resettlement policy in the United States prioritizes family reunification, meaning, resettling families that may have been separated for years are reuniting and reestablishing connections while integrating into a new culture. Scholarship on the impact of resettlement and integration has focused primarily on the individual level, despite evidence that strong family relationships are a documented protective factor for refugee families. This paper aims to explore the impact of resettlement on Karen refugee families' relationships. Data from 6 focus groups with 36 Karen refugee community members and interviews with 8 key stakeholders suggests that refugee families are at risk of a constellation of relational issues that are exacerbated by the stress of resettlement. Data also indicates that families have indigenous strategies for solving problems that could be harnessed to develop culturally relevant family support services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Australian Government aims to increase the number of individuals on humanitarian resettlement visas allocated to regional locations to 50% by the year 2022. A significant issue with this, given the substantive body of research identifying that refugee populations face chronic mental health concerns during resettlement, is the lack of health‐related research focusing on the resettlement of individuals of refugee background to rural and regional locations in Australia, especially in the area of mental health. Objective: To provide a foundation for rectifying this omission, this review is the first to synthesise mental health research focusing on individuals of refugee background specifically resettled to rural and regional locations in Australia. Design: The review was conducted in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. Findings were synthesised using thematic analytic techniques. Findings: 14 relevant studies (3 quantitative, one mixed‐method, 10 qualitative) were identified. Findings indicated that individuals of refugee background resettled in rural and regional Australia not only experienced higher levels of psychological distress than the general population but also had significant difficulty and limited options when accessing mental health services. Furthermore, resettlement in rural and regional locations increased the risk of experiencing many interrelated factors associated with adverse mental health outcomes and distress, including very limited access to support services, with the latter being identified as vital for well‐being. Conclusion: This review highlights the disparity between the Australian Government's policies and plans regarding regional resettlement, what is happening on the ground, and identifies key gaps in research and practice which must be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including migration reseach methodologies, internal migration, and spatialities of migration in Asia.

Development education is an under-theorised aspect of international volunteering, yet it is implicit in the mission statements of many sending organisations when they promise a transformative experience. What does international volunteering offer, and can it make returned volunteers 'think global'? This paper suggests a tentative definition of development education, outlining key pedagogical concepts that can be applied to analysis of international volunteering projects. Case study research about Platform2, a pilot 'Global Learning' scheme funded by the UK government, explores components and challenges of delivery. Discussion highlights the importance of formal structuring of educational opportunities, how international volunteering can both perpetuate and disrupt stereotypes of the global South, the role of proximity in expanding volunteers' capacity to think critically about development, as well as the drawbacks of jumping scale to learn about citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]