Browsing by Subject "Acculturation"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The impact of acculturation and environmental change on dietary habits, weight gain, and cultural practices among Hmong adults and children in Minnesota.
    (2009-08) Franzen, Lisa
    This study assessed the impact of environmental change and acculturation on Hmong adults and children, who have lived in the United States (US) for varying amounts of time, by investigating changes in food system access, grocery purchasing influences, eating behavior, BMI, and health status. This research has shown how the combination of quantitative (Geographical Informational Systems software and census data, food store surveys, acculturation assessment, food frequency questionnaire, theory based survey) and qualitative (focus group discussions) methodologies has the potential to provide a more complete picture of how immigrants adapt to their new food environments. As more immigrants become introduced to food secure, obesogenic environments, such as the US, it will be important to examine how this transition impacts the health of current and future generations.
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    The Interplay of Leisure Travelers’ Stress, Coping, and Acculturation Strategies: A Study of Korean Immigrants
    (2020-12) Choi, Ami
    Given the projected diversity among the U.S. national population by 2065, immigrant leisure travelers will increase, are unique and understudied. In a three-article format, this dissertation examines immigrant leisure travelers’ stress, coping, revisit intention, and acculturation among Korean immigrants residing in the United States. The first article proposes an adapted framework that incorporates acculturation as a sociocultural factor underlying immigrants’ leisure travel stress experiences. The second article assesses the relationships within the stress and coping model including primary appraisal, secondary appraisal, coping, and revisit intention using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that leisure travelers experienced stress across travel phases, employed both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies to manage stress, and that coping positively related to revisit intentions. The utility and application of the transactional stress and coping model was demonstrated and supported. The third article identifies leisure travel stressors encountered in three select travel phases, and examines if and how acculturation strategies Korean immigrants use to adjust to the new culture differentiates them. Findings revealed perceived travel stress differed by acculturation strategies at all three travel phases and within select individual stressors. Overall, those seeking marginalization and separation perceived significantly higher stress levels than those seeking integration and assimilation. Implications for theory and management and future research are discussed for each chapter.
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    The relationships between internet usage and acculturation of the Horn of Africa immigrants in the United States
    (2013-02) Woldeab, Daniel
    The purpose of this study was to investigate Internet usage and its relationship with the acculturation of the Horn of Africa immigrants residing in urban Minnesota. Technology has and continues to be a cultural amplifier; in just two decades from its initial availability to the general public, the Internet has made geographical differences practically irrelevant, making the world a virtual small village. Social interactions that were once only possible face-to-face can now take place online. This innovation in communication plays a crucial role in the acculturation process of immigrants, allowing them access not only to social media platforms, but mapping tools, translation websites, online banking, video sharing sites and many other potentially empowering resources that affect how they encounter life in their new environments. This study utilizes Berry’s bi-dimensional theory of acculturation to investigate the relationship between Internet usage and acculturation. Berry’s four dimensions of acculturation provide a theoretical guideline for this study. Also employed here are communication theoretical perspectives in studying Internet usage and acculturation. The participants were 292 Horn of Africa immigrants attending English language classes in adult education programs in the upper Midwestern part of the U.S. A series of multiple regression analyses are used to determine the unique contribution of each variable in predicting acculturation. The study revealed statistically significant relationships among Internet social-networking usage and dimensions of acculturation. The most powerful predictor of Internet usage was level of education, often achieved prior to immigrating to the U.S. Internet usage did contribute to integration, the most successful strategy for acculturation of immigrants from this group. Perceived English language competency alone accounted for 15% of the variance in integration and 17% of the variance in assimilation. Based on these findings, path models for Internet usage and acculturation are proposed. Further, implications for both research and practice are discussed.
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    Self-referencing and advertising effectiveness: The influence of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level
    (2015-03) Liu, Xiaoyan
    This study investigated the effect of ad model ethnicity, cultural cues and acculturation level on the attitudes toward the advertising and brand among Asian minorities. Additionally, this study explored the self-referencing as a mediating role between the effects of the race of ad characters and cultural cues and the attitudes toward the advertising and brand. A 2 (Asian characters vs. white characters) by 2 (Asian cultural background scenario vs. American cultural background scenario) by 2 (low acculturated vs. high acculturated) between-subjects factorial design was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that the congruent advertising condition activated more self-referencing and were more favored by the Asian minorities than the incongruent advertising condition. In addition, high acculturation increases the degree of self-referencing when the ad features American cultural cues. Moreover, self-referencing mediated the effect of the model ethnicity and cultural cues on attitude to the advertising and brand.
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    Understand How Participants Become Champions and Succeed in Adopting Healthy Lifestyles: A storytelling of a community health and nutrition program at a land-grant University
    (2016-01) Keo, Phalla
    The purpose of this study was to investigate and understand the experiences of participants who become champions and succeed in adopting healthy lifestyles. The setting was a health and nutrition educational program at University of Minnesota Extension. The main research questions were: How do participants in the Community Health Education Program become champions of the program and succeed in adopting healthy lifestyles? What can we learn about their success? A storytelling, narrative analysis design was conducted, including interviews with program participants in 10-13 person settings. This study is important as the organization strategically supports the outreach mission of the university. Findings included emergent themes which were organized into domains. Personal characteristics included being outgoing and passionate about what they do. The program learner domain describes their participation and engagement. This included learners’ attitudes and facilitators’ mindfulness that changes occur in small steps for learners. The program content domain discusses the content, including its connection to key nutrition messages based on the program implementation guidelines, the need to adapt content to fit culturally diverse learners’ backgrounds, and learners’ immediate needs and interests. The program context domain suggests that context matters, including how low income families face barriers to change that are multi layered. These barriers include but are not limited to financial, health, and social exclusion; this affects the health and well being of participants. Based on these findings, there are practical and theoretical implications for Human Resource Development (HRD). iv