Explaining acculturation in a communication framework: An empirical test

Abstract

A much speculated about, but not fully validated, role of communication in acculturation was tested in this study. The relationships between three sociological variables—occupational status, ethnic network, and family—and acculturation level are explained in a communication framework. The validity of the theoretical framework was tested in the form of a path model. The results generally indicated that significant portions of the effects of the three exogenous variables on an immigrant's acculturation level are mediated by intercultural and ethnic communication activities. Facilitating effect of intercultural communication and damaging effect of ethnic communication were more noticeable in the advanced stage of immigration. The study also tested a procedure for assessing acculturation level based on the cultural distance between an immigrant's original culture and the culture being assimilated. The procedure uses two cultural criterion groups and discriminant analysis.