A dual-process motivational model of acculturation behaviors and adaptation outcomes

Abstract

There is a lack of acculturation research on the motivations underpinning the behaviors of immigrants, which influence how they adapt in their new country of residence. The authors suggest that Motivation for Cultural Maintenance (MCM) and Motivation for Cultural Exploration (MCE) influence acculturation behaviors of immigrants and that these acculturation behaviors, in turn, impact psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The present research investigates a dual-process model based on the relationships between these novel motivations, acculturation behavior of connections with ethnic/national peers, and psychological and sociocultural adaptation in a New Zealand immigrant sample (N = 280, 64.6% female, M age = 39 years). Results from structural equation modeling largely support the proposed dual-process model and demonstrate that the novel motivations have predictive power. MCM predicted psychological adaptation through ethnic peer connections, whereas MCE and national peer connections predicted sociocultural adaptation directly. Implications of the findings and how the proposed dual-process model can contribute to the acculturation literature are discussed.