Acculturative Stress Among People of Mexican Descent: The Role of Acculturation, Social Capital, and Family Role Expectations

Abstract

Stressful acculturative experiences alter familial relationships and mental health functioning among Hispanics. However, risk and protective factors for acculturative stress remain unclear. This study examines acculturation, social capital, marital, and parental role expectations, and acculturative stress among people of Mexican descent (N = 313). The hierarchical regression model explained 15% (R ² = .15) of the variance in acculturative stress. The use of an interaction term revealed that marital reward value was positively related to acculturative stress for individuals reporting high linguistic acculturation while bonding social capital was negatively related. Therefore, relationships between acculturation and value oriented variables may evoke stressful experiences only under conditional circumstances.

Keywords:

• acculturation
• acculturative stress
• family role expectations
• Hispanics/Latinos
• social capital