Behavioral Acculturation Among Vietnamese Refugees in the United States

Abstract

The Behavioral Acculturation Scale (BAS; Szapocznik, Scopetta, Kurtines, & Aranalde, 1978) was used in 1986 to study the pattern of behavioral acculturation among a sample of Vietnamese refugees. Subjects were 64 refugees from Viet Nam who had resided in the United States from 1 to 24 months. In contrast to Szapocznik et al.'s findings of a positive relationship between behavioral acculturation and length of residence for a Cuban-American sample, behavioral acculturation of these Vietnamese refugees was found to be significantly and negatively related to length of residence when the effect of employment status was statistically controlled. Regression analyses found that behavioral acculturation was predicted by current employment status, socioeconomic status in Viet Nam, length of residence in the United States, and education. Implications of the findings for conceptualizing and measuring the process of acculturation are discussed.