of Acculturation: The Problem

In few places do intercultural contact and exchange become as apparent as they do in the Americas. Intercultural exchanges have literally shaped the development of most nations on the American continents (Akers, 2004; Beebe & Senkewicz, 2001). Cultural exchanges have been of interest to researchers across a wide range of disciplines. However, quantifying a person’s thoughts about contact with another culture presents researchers with conceptual and methodological difficulties. This difficulty in measuring and understanding intercul-tural contact can be seen in differing results in research regarding acculturation and health outcomes. For Latinos liv-ing in the United States, acculturation to the host culture, that is, Anglo acculturation, sometimes negatively correlates wit