Acculturative Family Distancing, Religious Support, and Psychological Well-Being Among Young Adult Eastern European Immigrants in Western Washington

Date of Award

Spring 6-5-2015

Document Type

Honors Project

University Scholars Director

Dr. Jeff Keuss

First Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. Paul Kim

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. David Diekema

Keywords

acculturative gap distress, religious support, well-being, immigrant children

Abstract

Acculturation theorists have long debated which acculturation orientations result in the most positive psychological outcomes for immigrants. Researchers have also begun to explore how other factors such as familial acculturation gaps and religious support affect various immigrant groups and generations, but the body of research on these topics remain underdeveloped. This study investigated the relations between Acculturative Family Distancing (AFD), religious support, and well-being in a sample (N = 200) of Eastern European immigrant young adults. I predicted that AFD and religious support would both be positively related to well-being. I also predicted that religious support would moderate the relation between AFD and well-being, such that religious support would protect against the detrimental influence of AFD on well-being. Participants completed an online survey containing demographic questions and measures assessing AFD, religious support, and well-being. Both AFD and religious support positively predicted well-being. Additionally, religious support moderated the relations between AFD and well-being, such that at higher levels of religious support, the association between AFD and well-being was weakened. Future research should focus on developing acculturative gap distress prevention and intervention methods.

Comments

A project submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements of the University Scholars Program.

The PDF of this project has been temporarily removed at the request of the author.

Copyright Status

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Additional Rights Information

Copyright held by author.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Copyright Status