Tridimensional Acculturation in Black Caribbean Immigrants

Dissertation Summary Submitted by Shirnelle Wilks

Across the world millions of people make the decision to leave their country of birth to settle in a foreign nation. This process of immigration continues to impact relations across nations. The United States (U.S.) is a unique cultural context because the nation was founded on both voluntary and involuntary migration, creating a diverse nation with a complex history. Despite the complex historical context, people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds continue to migrate to the U.S and have been for decades. For example, one in ten Black people are foreign born (Tamir & Anderson, 2022). This number has increased by 3% since 1980 and is projected to double by 2060 (Pew Research Center, 2022). In addition, one in five Black people in the U.S. are immigrants or children of immigrants (Pew Research Center 2022). While much of the Black immigrant population is from the African continent, Jamaica and Haiti remain the top countries of origin for Black immigrants with the Caribbean region being the largest origin source for Black immigrants.

Acculturation is the process of adapting to a new cultural context for immigrants (Gordon 1964, Berry 1988). Acculturation theory began with the idea of adaption of immigrants to the new or host culture, that is, acculturation meant that immigrants would adopt the cultural norms of the host country and gradually lose their heritage culture (Gordon, 1964). More recently, Berry (1988) showed that acculturation occurred on two dimensions, meaning one could retain their heritage culture and adopt the host culture. This became known as the bidimensional acculturation framework. Berry (1988) noted four strategies that immigrants could utilize when adapting the host culture norms including integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Even more recently, acculturation has been conceptualized as having three dimensions. The tridimensional model was proposed by Ferguson (2012) to account for immigrants, specifically Black Caribbean immigrants, who adapt to more than one host culture (e.g., European American and African American), as well as holding their distinctly Caribbean culture.

The impact of acculturation on health has been widely studied in samples of immigrants. This began with the discovery of the Hispanic Paradox, or the pattern that the health of recent Hispanic immigrants were comparable to White populations in the U.S. and better than African American populations, despite their low socioeconomic standing (e.g., Bostean, 2013, 2013; Markides & Coreil, 1986; Palloni & Arias, 2004). However, as length of stay in the U.S increased, health worsened (Brown et al., 2015; Cho et al., 2004; J. Jackson et al., 2007; John et al., 2012). After much research and development of this theory, researchers proposed a structural approach to immigration and health outcomes (Alegría et al., 2017; Castañeda et al., 2015). Some of these ideas have begun to be reflected in health research on Black immigrants (Marquez-Velarde et al., 2022; Read & Emerson, 2005). This includes the Racial Context Hypothesis that implicates ethnic/racial hierarchies as a factor in mental health outcomes.

Consistent with these theories, there is data that suggests the rates of psychological distress for Black Caribbean immigrants are increasing with longer stays in the U.S. (Earl et al., 2011). The most current national data on mental health for Black Caribbean immigrants to the U.S. come from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL;(J. S. Jackson et al., 2004). The NSAL is the most comprehensive study that captures the mental health of ethnic and racial minorities. Although the overall population Black Caribbean immigrants have comparable rates of lifetime mental disorders to African Americans (27% to 31%, respectively), foreign-born Black Caribbean immigrants have lower rates of mental disorders (19%) than either U.S.-born African Americans (31%) or U.S.-born Black Caribbean immigrants (43%). The purpose of this study is to add to the scant literature on the acculturation patterns of Black Caribbean Immigrants specifically and analyze the relationship between their acculturation patterns and psychological health. This will allow psychologists to better understand how to treat ethnically diverse Black individuals and take their potential acculturation pattern into account when treating their health. Currently, Black immigrants may be receiving care that is not sensitive to their cultural practices. Literature shows that cultural practices are an important determinate of health for immigrants. This study will help to understand whether this is also important in the health for Black immigrants. Health care professionals will be able to provide more targeted care overall for this population by being equipped with the knowledge gleaned from this study. 

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