Critical Thinking Essay 4: Critical Thinking about Acculturative Stress Dec 4 ht

Question

Critical Thinking Essay 4: Critical Thinking about Acculturative Stress Dec 4 http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20020917/ethnicity-affects-teens-self-esteem Guidelines: After reading the above article and the information regarding acculturative stress in your text (p. 506), answer the following questions in a 2 page paper: Briefly describe in your own words the four types of acculturative stress noted in your text. Explain the degree of stress associated with each of the patterns If possible, apply one of the patterns to someone you know of who has immigrated to this country- it could be an acquaintance, a friend or classmate, a grandparent or other family member, or even yourself. What are your thoughts about possible reasons why researchers may have chosen this particular age group in this study? You may feel free to integrate what you have learned from developmental psychology here. Using what you have learned about this topic, discuss your reaction to this article including how this information might be applied to reduce the effects of acculturative stress 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. Also, this response is basically a skeleton. It has all the important bits addressed in the questions. I recommend that you bridge the content and fill it with excerpts from your textbook and what was discussed in your class.

(Answer) (1) Acculturation: Acculturation was first identified as a cultural level phenomenon by anthropologists (e.g., Redfield et al., 1936) who defined it as culture change resulting from contact between two autonomous and independent cultural groups. In principle, change occurs in both groups. In practice, however, more change occurs in the non-dominant than in the dominant group.

Integration: This is the stage where a teen’s main cause of stress is acceptance. A teen would most want to feel accepted in their peer group.

Assimilation: In this stage, the main cause of concern is to be absorbed well into a group. This goes beyond a mere introduction. A teen is generally stressed out about establishing a friendship in the peer group.

Separation: This is what I’d call the “devil may care” stage. In this, the individual doesn’t really care about being part of the group but rather about maintaining their own identity.

Marginalization: This is where the individual is mostly separate from students of the new culture as well as their own. The teen will almost be a loner and not indulge in extraneous social activities in either group.

(2) Integration and Assimilation are stresses that an extrovert would mostly face. Since an extrovert likes social interactions and having many friends, they actually do get stressed out in the initial stages of making friends. They may not want any special treatment in these stages, but all they are looking for perhaps is to be treated nicely. Once they feel that they are treated nicely and a well integrated, they aim for making better friends. This is the social stress that affects them in the initial stages.

Separation and marginalisation are the more relaxed stages. This is something that introverts usually face. They are not interested in establishing social relationships and prefer being alone or with close friends in their free time. Since this is the attitude they maintain, it is not much of a stressor to them. However, separation and marginalisation can be forced stages if the immigrant has tried to make friends and failed. In such a case, separation and marginalisation can be the most stressful modes of acculturation.

(3) It is always difficult for an immigrant to be away from their home. There is the stress that comes from worry about their family who is away. Also, there is the stress of finding a decent new home, paying student fees, paperwork and a cohort of small and big worries. Making friends and building a comfortable and above all, a supportive environment for themselves is another challenge.

(Personal Response part: This is based on my observations; feel free to change it if you like)

When I studied with students from different nations and cultures, I found that in the beginning of class, everyone was quiet. But as days passed, towards the end of every class, every student would doddle around talking to each other for a few minutes. Some students would even walk to their dorm together while some would take the bus together. Even introverts would stick around and chat for a few minutes before leaving.

However, there was another class where the majority were from home soil. It was very difficult for the minority to make friends. It so happened that people in that class only talked when there were class exercises that called for interaction between students.

A situation like that may bother some students and may not affect others, either way, the first illustration was a happier environment compared to the later. It was stress-free and opened up the class to learn better.

(4) Researchers have chosen this particular group for the simple reason of – interaction. Immigrants and nationals from every other age group are not forced to interact with each other. However, with the trope of a university, students have to interact socially or for group projects at some stage. Teenagers make for good specimens and a university makes a good Petri dish for this study.

(5) The article talks about how a teenager’s ethnicity is a big part of who they are and how they are perceived in social situations. Everybody wants to fit in, to at least a certain degree. Stress levels are directly proportionate to how much they want to fit in. If a student just wants to be cordial with classmates who will perhaps text him to announce when a class is cancelled, it isn’t a big cause for stress. Perhaps a simple greeting and a smile are enough to get there. But there can be situations where an immigrant is truly feeling lonely in a strange new land and wants to make good friends in order to make a new place feel like home. At a time like this, they could be constantly stressing about making new friends. To reduce this acculturative stress, it would help if dominant peer groups are less judgemental and more open to establishing cordial relations with each other. It is important to be inclusive and keep stereotypes aside. If one looks beyond a person’s stereotype, what one usually finds is an individual of the same species from the same planet as themselves. Saying hello and talking about adjusting to different weather isn’t too difficult. The conversation may not be a big deal for the dominant group. But, it can truly help de-stress the immigrant.

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