Attachment styles, acculturation attitudes/behaviors, and stress among Chinese Indonesian immigrants in the United States.

摘要

This survey study explores the associations between adult attachment style, acculturation attitudes and behaviors, and levels of stress experienced by Chinese Indonesian immigrants to the United States. A sample of 297 first generation immigrants was obtained, who were presented with Bartholomew's Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ), the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and the Indonesian Acculturation Rating Scales (IARS), an Indonesian adaptation of the scales used by Cuellar and colleagues to research the acculturation patterns of Mexican-Americans.;As hypothesized, secure persons generally demonstrated higher levels of adjustment as indicated by scores on the SCL-90 and the SWLS. Specifically, compared to persons whose attachment style categorizes them as secure, fearful and preoccupied persons reported higher indications of hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, anxiety, depression, and psychosomaticism, and lower levels of satisfaction with life. Compared to dismissive-avoidant persons, fearful and preoccupied persons reported only higher hostility and interpersonal sensitivity. No significant differences were found between secure and dismissive persons or between preoccupied and fearful persons.;In exploratory analyses, the results show that the acculturative behavior pattern of immigrants parallels prototypical adult or even infant attachment relationships. In the context of cultural change, compared to those with other styles, persons with secure attachment are the most successful at adapting to acculturative stressors and integrating their own culture with another. Preoccupied persons generally fell between the two extremes of dismissively and securely attached people, with secure persons being more acculturated and oriented toward American culture. Unexpectedly, no significant differences were found between fearful and all styles combined. In terms of marginality, the acculturation attitude patterns follow Bartholomew's four-category typology. Securely attached persons have less difficulty relating to both their own and other cultures. Preoccupied persons tend to have less difficulty relating to their own culture, but are marginalized toward other culture. Dismissively attached people tend to have difficulty relating to own culture but not to other cultures. Fearfully attached persons reported difficulties relating to all cultures. Stress and satisfaction with life both mediated significantly the relationship between preoccupied and marginality, but not with other attachment styles. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models, and implications for future research and ministry to this immigrant population are explored.