Faculty Articles
Acculturation Styles and Their Associations with Psychiatric Symptoms and Quality of Life in Ethnic Minorities with Schizophrenia
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Psychiatry research
ISSN
1872-7123
Publication Date
9-1-2017
Abstract
This study examined whether Berry's model of acculturative stress would predict psychiatric symptom severity and quality of life (QoL) in ethnic minorities with schizophrenia. Tested extensively in non-psychiatric populations, Berry's framework generally suggests that integration, or engagement with both the host and minority culture, is most adaptive. Using the Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS), we tested the hypothesis that individuals with schizophrenia who employed an integrative acculturation strategy would have the highest QoL and lowest symptom severity, followed by the assimilation and enculturation groups, then the marginalized group. Psychiatric symptoms and QoL were regressed on AMAS assimilation scores, enculturation scores, and the interaction term in a sample of 128 Hispanic and Blacks with schizophrenia (M age = 41.28; 70% male). Acculturation strategy was not found to relate to psychiatric symptoms (measured from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale). However, acculturation strategy did predict QoL (measured from the Quality of Life Inventory), and results were in line with Berry's model. Marginalization may exacerbate issues surrounding social identity in schizophrenia, including low self-concept clarity and internalized stigma. Encouraging bicultural individuals with schizophrenia to interact with the host culture while also practicing traditions from their minority culture may help improve their quality of life.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.06.074
Volume
255
First Page
418
Last Page
423
PubMed ID
28672225
NSUWorks Citation
Weisman de Mamani, A.,
Weintraub, M.,
Maura, J.,
Martinez de Andino, A.,
Brown, C.,
Thayer, K. K.
(2017). Acculturation Styles and Their Associations with Psychiatric Symptoms and Quality of Life in Ethnic Minorities with Schizophrenia. Psychiatry research, 255, 418-423.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1751
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