Multidimensional effects of acculturation on English-language neuropsychological test performance among HIV+ Caribbean Latinas/os

摘要

Acculturation has been linked to neuropsychological performance in several ethnic groups. However, research among Latina/o samples has examined primarily Mexican/Mexican Americans, and has not examined Latina/o clinical populations of Caribbean descent. This study examined associations between a multidimensional acculturation measure and neuropsychological performance among 82 HIV+ Caribbean Latina/o adults. Multivariate results showed that U.S. acculturation significantly predicted 11–14% of the variance in Global Neuropsychological functioning, Verbal Fluency, and Processing Speed, whereas Latina/o acculturation predicted 8% of the variance in Executive Function and 6% in Motor Function (trend level associations). Both linguistic and non-linguistic cultural factors had distinct effects on neuropsychological performance.