Acculturation and risky health behaviors in immigrant adolescent girls from the former Soviet Union.
Item
-
Title
-
Acculturation and risky health behaviors in immigrant adolescent girls from the former Soviet Union.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3063840
-
identifier
-
3063840
-
Creator
-
Jeltova, Ida.
-
Contributor
-
Advisers: Marian C. Fish | Tracey A. Revenson
-
Date
-
2002
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Social | Psychology, Developmental
-
Abstract
-
This study examined acculturation processes among adolescent girls who are recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and how acculturation affects their practices of risky health behavior (i.e., risky sexual behavior, smoking, and alcohol consumption). The study adopted a social ecological perspective to understand how families and peers play a role in these processes, and looked at the perceived "fit" or match between the family and peer environment as one of the predictors of risky behavior.;One hundred and three immigrant adolescent girls from the FSU completed a survey that measured their levels of acculturation to American and Russian culture, their attitudes toward women, and their risky health behaviors, and acculturation levels and attitudes toward women in their parents and peers as they perceived them. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses of the study.;Overall level of American acculturation was positively related to risky health behaviors, and overall level of Russian acculturation was negatively related to risky health behaviors. Parental and peer levels of acculturation were significantly related to the girl's risky health behaviors. The intergenerational discrepancies in levels of acculturation to host and natal cultures between adolescent girls and their parents were predictive of risky health behaviors. The results highlighted the protective role of natal culture for risky health behaviors for this group of recent immigrants. Thus, the study results challenge the notion that biculturalism is always advantageous and suggest that the context and the nature of relationships between the natal and host cultures (e.g., conflict or convergence) determine which acculturation strategy is optimal. The practical implications for practice of school professionals are discussed. The focus is placed on prevention and capitalizing on protective characteristics of natal culture of these immigrants.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
