Acculturative and marital stress: The moderating roles of spousal support, linguistic self-confidence, and self-esteem.

When two culturally different groups come in contact, changes occur which may entail a degree of discomfort for those involved. Such acculturative stress may be compounded by dyadic adjustment in couples living through an intercultural contact experience. Acculturating individuals may experience marital problems resulting from incongruent changes in their spouse. The goal of this thesis is threefold. First, the effects of different acculturation profiles on psychological and marital adjustment were examined. Second, the congruency of the acculturation profiles between spouses from the same ethnic background and their effects on adjustment were explored. Third, the effects of incongruent acculturation profiles in married couples from the same ethnic background and potential moderators of these effects were examined. The moderators included spousal support, linguistic self-confidence in the host and native languages, and self-esteem. Eighty-six married couples from the Ismaili Muslim community were recruited from two metropolitan cities, Ottawa and Calgary, in order to participate in this project. Questionnaires were distributed that included measures of situated identity, depression, stress, marital adjustment, spousal support, linguistic self-confidence in both the host and native languages, self-esteem, and various demographic items. Analyses of variance were computed for the different hypotheses. With respect to the first goal, results indicated that those with integrated profiles reported better psychological and marital adjustment. With respect to the second goal, results indicated that spouses with incongruent acculturation profiles did not experience more depression, more stress, or less marital adjustment than spouses with congruent acculturation profiles. Last, with respect to the third goal, results show that linguistic self-confidence in English moderated the effects of acculturative stress for couples with incongruent acculturation profiles, particularly for the wives. The last goal was re-examined using identification in specific situations, namely public and private domains. Results show that self-esteem moderated stress for couples with incongruent acculturation profiles in private situations. These results are interpreted in the context of both theoretical and applied multicultural issues. The theoretical implications include the recognition that immigrant people, and particularly immigrant women, are at risk for problems of adjustment. It is also important for researchers to recognise that couples from the same ethnic background may have incongruent acculturation profiles that can contribute to problems of adjustment, and that potential moderators can alleviate these problems. The applied implications include adjustments in immigration policy that recognise the importance of valuing both the native and host cultures, as well as disseminating knowledge about the benefits of participating in both cultural activities and with national institutions. Another implication is that marital therapists should be aware that couples from the same ethnic background may be adjusting differently to the intercultural contact, that immigrant women are particularly at risk for problems in adjustment, and that various factors, such as language self-confidence, can moderate these effects