Intergenerational Conflict Among Asian Immigrant Families and Psychological Well-Being: Results from PIETY Study

Research suggests that stress from migration and cultural adjustment may lead to intergenerational conflict (IC) within Asian immigrant families. Current research reports management of IC but fails to acknowledge the consequences it may have on offspring. The PIETY study, a longitudinal study of Chinese adult children (n = 547) in the greater Chicago area, aims to examine the relationship between IC and psychological wellbeing in children of Asian immigrant families. IC is assessed by the sum of items on conflicting opinions with parents based on finances, health, parenting, and lifestyle. Psychological wellbeing was measured by the Perceived Stress Scale with a cutoff value greater than or equal to 14, R-UCLA Loneliness Instrument scored on a binary scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Anxiety Subscale with a cutoff value greater than or equal to 8. Logistic regression was conducted and controlled for age, gender, education, income, marital status, and household composition. Every one-point higher conflict with parents was associated with being 2.31 times more likely to experience stress for the adult child (OR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.49-3.57, p<.001) and being 4.56 times more likely to experience loneliness (OR: 4.56, 95% CI: 2.79-7.43, p<.001). IC, however, had a nonsignificant positive association with anxiety in adult children. The association between IC and psychological wellbeing suggests that conflict is a result of complex factors, for which interventions could be developed to improve psychological wellbeing and resiliency in families who continue to navigate cultural changes in a foreign land.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) education for the health workforce: An expert survey of approaches and needs (Preprint)

BACKGROUND How to prepare the current and future health workforce for with the possibilities of using artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is a growing concern, as AI applications emerge in various care settings and specialisations. At present, there is no obvious consensus among educators about what needs to be learned, or how this learning may be supported or assessed. OBJECTIVE Our study aimed to explore healthcare educational experts’ ideas and plans for preparing the health workforce to work with AI, and identify critical gaps in curriculum and educational resources, across a national healthcare system. METHODS A survey canvassed expert views on AI education for the health workforce, in terms of educational strategies, subject matter priorities, meaningful learning activities, desired attitudes and skills. 39 senior people from different health workforce subgroups across Australia provided ratings and free-text responses, in late 2020. RESULTS Responses highlighted the importance of education about ethical implications, suitability of large datasets for use in AI clinical applications, principles of machine learning, specific diagnosis and treatment applications of AI, as well as alterations to cognitive load during clinical work and the interaction between human and machine in clinical settings. Respondents also outlined barriers to implementation, such as lack of governance structures and processes, resource constraints and cultural adjustment. CONCLUSIONS Further work, around the world, of the kind reported in this survey can assist educators and education authorities who are responsible for preparing the health workforce to minimise the risks and realise benefits from implementing AI in healthcare.

The effects of perceived organisational support on expatriate adjustment, assignment completion and job satisfaction

This study examines the influence of perceived organisational support (POS) on expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment, assignment completion and job satisfaction in the sub-Saharan African context. While multinationals depend on expatriates to manage their foreign subsidiaries, successful expatriation is influenced by expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment to their host country’s environment. Survey responses from 229 expatriates were analysed using partial least squares path modelling. The results reveal that support from their organisations relates positively to expatriate adjustment, assignment completion and job satisfaction. The empirical results also demonstrate that expatriate adjustment partially mediates the relationship between POS and assignment completion and job satisfaction. Furthermore, findings suggest that assignment completion positively influences job satisfaction and partially mediates the association between POS and job satisfaction. The findings of this research have important theoretical and practical implications for multinational companies operating in sub-Saharan Africa.

Domains of Cross-Cultural Adjustment

This study examines the dimensionality of a new measure of international students’ adjustment using a sample of 189 international students from a public European University. Drawing on earlier conceptualizations of cross-cultural adjustment as a person-environment fit and a previous scale measuring adjustment from the expatriate literature, this study shows that this scale can be meaningfully adapted to the higher education context. Confirmatory factor analyses identified a stable 8-factor structure with adequate psychometric properties. Descriptive analysis confirms that international students are fairly adjusted in a number of distinct domains. The findings provide criterion-related validity by showing positive associations between host social interaction and host connectedness and students’ adjustment. This study contributes offers a theoretically based scale that assesses international students’ adjustment on a wide range of dimensions. It puts forward a useful tool for higher education counsellors and support services to monitor international students’ adjustment and avoid adjustment difficulties.

Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Competency Research: The Revision and Expansion of the Sociocultural Adaptation Construct

<p>International migration trends have heralded a marked increase in intercultural contact, creating a greater need for effective cultural competency in both inter- and intra-cultural situations. The current research programme, positioned within the field of acculturation psychology, examined a specific behavioural aspect of cultural competency known as sociocultural adaptation. Defined as an individual’s acquisition and expression of culturally appropriate behavioural skills used to negotiate interactive aspects of a new cultural setting, an in-depth examination of the sociocultural adaptation construct was provided. Three studies addressed issues concerning the review, revision, and expansion of work on the topic of cross-cultural behavioural competency. Study 1 offered a meta-analytic review of the correlates or antecedents of sociocultural adaptation. Results emphasised the importance of individual differences, such as personality characteristics and motivation, in relation to adaptation difficulties. Suggestions were also provided for future theoretical and applied research regarding how demographic (e.g, age, gender), situational (e.g., language proficiency), and individual differences (e.g., cross-cultural empathy) components relate to and influence an individual’s successful cross-cultural adjustment. Study 2 examined the operationalisation of behavioural competency through revision of an existing measure of sociocultural adaptation (the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale or SCAS) and investigated five adjustment domains: Ecological, interpersonal, personal interests and community involvement, language, and professional/work adjustment. The final study sought to corroborate the factor structure of the revised SCAS and explored the effects of migration motivation and perceived discrimination—two underrepresented variables in the acculturation literature—in relation to cross-cultural adjustment using path analysis techniques. Direct linkages were found between migration motivation and positive psychological outcomes, and behavioural competency and discrimination were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between these two variables. The limitations and contributions of these studies are discussed in relation to the existing acculturation psychology literature, and new avenues for theoretical and applied applications of the findings are suggested.</p>

Chinese Youth in Wellington: A Study in Social and Cultural Adjustment of Chinese Youth and the Chinese Community, 1970-1972

<p>The theme of this dissertation is that Wellington Chinese youth between the ages of 16-29 have rapidly moved away from traditional New Zealand Chinese ways of thinking and adopted many of the host society attitudes and patterns of behaviour, and yet, Chinese youth tend to be a homogenous group. After over 120 years of settlement in New Zealand this is surprising, and as a result the shape and content of the research has changed considerably from its inception. At first the writer believed that the Chinese youth were being assimilated very rapidly into the New Zealand society and the purpose of the study would be to document this movement by statistical, sociological, and anthropological methods. During the interviewing of Chinese youths it became increasingly evident that total assimilation was not progressing rapidly, and that there was a noticeable social reaction to the process by Chinese youth. This was confirmed by the results of the social survey. The problem of this thesis is to account for this social resistance to the process of assimilation. Basically, there are two major reasons: 1. The resilient and adaptive nature of the Chinese institutions including family and social organisations in Wellington and the rest of New Zealand with the Chinese family as the most powerful unifying factor. 2. The attitudes of the predominantly white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP) New Zealand society to Chinese people have been notable for hostility, antipathy prior to the 1930's and since then to race avoidance and tolerance. The former antipathy was reflected most spectacularly in the successive racist immigration legislation directed against Chinese and other Asians from 1881, and since 1921, when all references to ethnic origin were omitted, to colour discriminatory administration of the Immigration Acts. As a result of these two basic factors the total number of Chinese living in New Zealand in 1966 was only 10,283 compared to a total European population of about 2.4 million (2.426,352) and only 59% (6065) Chinese in New Zealand were born in New Zealand whereas 85% (2,279,994) of New Zealand's total population were New Zealand born, despite the 120 years or so of history in New Zealand of both groups. This dissertation analyses both of the factors of the Chinese family, and host society with the emphasis on the social and cultural adjustment of the Chinese youth in Wellington with the sincere trust that harmonious race relations enjoyed today in 1973 may continue and that this study will promote better understanding between Chinese and the host society. On the one hand, Chinese can better understand the historical forces which have profoundly affected their adjustment, and the nature of the attitudes held today by most New Zealanders to Chinese people (and other coloured New Zealand citizens). On the other hand, it is also hoped that non-Chinese may better appreciate the nature of the Chinese people, the pervasive Confucian ethical code which governs their behaviour, the character of the Chinese community, and the problems the Chinese people especially youth, experience as they seek to adapt to the New Zealand society.</p>

Chinese Youth in Wellington: A Study in Social and Cultural Adjustment of Chinese Youth and the Chinese Community, 1970-1972

<p>The theme of this dissertation is that Wellington Chinese youth between the ages of 16-29 have rapidly moved away from traditional New Zealand Chinese ways of thinking and adopted many of the host society attitudes and patterns of behaviour, and yet, Chinese youth tend to be a homogenous group. After over 120 years of settlement in New Zealand this is surprising, and as a result the shape and content of the research has changed considerably from its inception. At first the writer believed that the Chinese youth were being assimilated very rapidly into the New Zealand society and the purpose of the study would be to document this movement by statistical, sociological, and anthropological methods. During the interviewing of Chinese youths it became increasingly evident that total assimilation was not progressing rapidly, and that there was a noticeable social reaction to the process by Chinese youth. This was confirmed by the results of the social survey. The problem of this thesis is to account for this social resistance to the process of assimilation. Basically, there are two major reasons: 1. The resilient and adaptive nature of the Chinese institutions including family and social organisations in Wellington and the rest of New Zealand with the Chinese family as the most powerful unifying factor. 2. The attitudes of the predominantly white Anglo-Saxon protestant (WASP) New Zealand society to Chinese people have been notable for hostility, antipathy prior to the 1930's and since then to race avoidance and tolerance. The former antipathy was reflected most spectacularly in the successive racist immigration legislation directed against Chinese and other Asians from 1881, and since 1921, when all references to ethnic origin were omitted, to colour discriminatory administration of the Immigration Acts. As a result of these two basic factors the total number of Chinese living in New Zealand in 1966 was only 10,283 compared to a total European population of about 2.4 million (2.426,352) and only 59% (6065) Chinese in New Zealand were born in New Zealand whereas 85% (2,279,994) of New Zealand's total population were New Zealand born, despite the 120 years or so of history in New Zealand of both groups. This dissertation analyses both of the factors of the Chinese family, and host society with the emphasis on the social and cultural adjustment of the Chinese youth in Wellington with the sincere trust that harmonious race relations enjoyed today in 1973 may continue and that this study will promote better understanding between Chinese and the host society. On the one hand, Chinese can better understand the historical forces which have profoundly affected their adjustment, and the nature of the attitudes held today by most New Zealanders to Chinese people (and other coloured New Zealand citizens). On the other hand, it is also hoped that non-Chinese may better appreciate the nature of the Chinese people, the pervasive Confucian ethical code which governs their behaviour, the character of the Chinese community, and the problems the Chinese people especially youth, experience as they seek to adapt to the New Zealand society.</p>

Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of Cultural Competency Research: The Revision and Expansion of the Sociocultural Adaptation Construct

<p>International migration trends have heralded a marked increase in intercultural contact, creating a greater need for effective cultural competency in both inter- and intra-cultural situations. The current research programme, positioned within the field of acculturation psychology, examined a specific behavioural aspect of cultural competency known as sociocultural adaptation. Defined as an individual’s acquisition and expression of culturally appropriate behavioural skills used to negotiate interactive aspects of a new cultural setting, an in-depth examination of the sociocultural adaptation construct was provided. Three studies addressed issues concerning the review, revision, and expansion of work on the topic of cross-cultural behavioural competency. Study 1 offered a meta-analytic review of the correlates or antecedents of sociocultural adaptation. Results emphasised the importance of individual differences, such as personality characteristics and motivation, in relation to adaptation difficulties. Suggestions were also provided for future theoretical and applied research regarding how demographic (e.g, age, gender), situational (e.g., language proficiency), and individual differences (e.g., cross-cultural empathy) components relate to and influence an individual’s successful cross-cultural adjustment. Study 2 examined the operationalisation of behavioural competency through revision of an existing measure of sociocultural adaptation (the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale or SCAS) and investigated five adjustment domains: Ecological, interpersonal, personal interests and community involvement, language, and professional/work adjustment. The final study sought to corroborate the factor structure of the revised SCAS and explored the effects of migration motivation and perceived discrimination—two underrepresented variables in the acculturation literature—in relation to cross-cultural adjustment using path analysis techniques. Direct linkages were found between migration motivation and positive psychological outcomes, and behavioural competency and discrimination were found to have significant mediating effects on the relationship between these two variables. The limitations and contributions of these studies are discussed in relation to the existing acculturation psychology literature, and new avenues for theoretical and applied applications of the findings are suggested.</p>