The psychological impact of cultural adaptation among Hispanics: Sociocultural and psychocultural factors

Acculturation and other sociocultural factors, considered effective indicators of the cultural adaptation process, have been widely studied in relation to psychological well-being among Hispanic populations. Psychocultural variables, such as general coping, or ability to negotiate life events, and intercultural competence, or proficiency in culturally-relevant areas, have been overlooked despite their potential as additional resources available to Hispanic immigrants when adjusting to the mainstream U.S. culture. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine these aspects of cultural adaptation as predictors of acculturative stress, depression, and self-esteem in a sample of 96 Hispanic adults. The results indicated that effective interactions in intra- and intercultural areas contributed significantly to the variance accounted for by general coping, acculturation, and demographic variables in predicting acculturative stress. It was also found that intercultural competence served to moderate the relationship between acculturation and depression while general coping significantly contributed to the amount of variance in predicting this outcome. In addition, active coping contributed significant variance to that already accounted for by other variables in predicting self-esteem. The findings are discussed within the context that the influence of cultural adaptation on mental health will be best understood under an integrated-specificity approach that targets socio- and psychocultural variables specific to particular outcomes