Introduction
Acculturation exists and actively influences minority groups all across the world. Acculturation is a complex process of assimilation of individuals or groups of individuals to the dominant culture. It consists of four major dimensions: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. These individuals and groups are acculturated into the dominant culture through these dimensions. This phenomenon can be clearly observed in the examples of the minority groups in the US, including African, Asian, and Latin Americans. Thus, for this essay, these groups will be considered. These groups continue to undergo the pressures of assimilation and its consequences on their health and well-being. The argument about the ethical considerations and necessity of acculturation can be made, as people still debate the balance between dominant and minority cultures. However, beyond this debate lies the lives of human beings who experience all the hardships and complications of this process. Thus, multiple support programs attempt to combat these negative effects on people with various levels of efficiency. Even though these programs are aimed at the groups to persevere through the issues, a more detailed approach is necessary for them to be effective.
The Core Issues of Acculturation
The essence of the debate about the balance between dominant and minority cultures shows a glimpse of the issues the minority groups are experiencing. On the one hand, individuals must assimilate to become functioning members of society, as culture is an integral aspect of every community. On the other hand, it leads to the erasure of minority cultures and their practices, causing numerous ethical problems. From this contradiction, it is easy to imagine the mental stress that minority groups undergo in this process. It is also possible to hypothesize about the generational divide in the families of immigrants, as children assimilate more easily than their parents (Zhang et al., 2020). This fact can cause distress in parents who also want their children to remember their original culture (Yan et al., 2022). In other cases, children might be embarrassed by their parents’ lack of assimilation (Wang-Schweig & Miller, 2021). Moreover, the need to get acculturated may sometimes have racist undertones in the debates and pressures exerted on immigrants. This phenomenon can lead not only to more stress but also to real discrimination and mistreatment of the communities and individuals.
All of these factors are universal to each case of every minority group across the globe. However, the difference lies in the degree of each of these factors and the variation of each community’s unique circumstances and history. Thus, it is important to explore the complicated nuances of each case. For example, according to Ahmmad and Adkins (2021), the diversity of Asian Americans is usually ignored by experts and scholars, which leads to an increase in the risk in those communities. In other words, when the programs and solutions view Asian Americans as one block, they fail to address the specific needs of some groups within this community. This failure causes a high risk of substance abuse and other negative outcomes of unsuccessful acculturation. Therefore, going forward in this essay, it is important to consider that some existing generalizations may not be true for every subgroup in the minority groups. Even more, diversity is present across the “racial lines,” which must be considered.
These problems are reflected in three major categories in adolescence: the language barrier, education, and overall support. The youth of immigrant families struggle with the language barrier in all the cases of African, Asian, and Latin Americans (Khawaja & Carr, 2020). Moreover, the switch to the new education system only exacerbates the issue, as there are various standards and paces of learning worldwide. Some materials, techniques, and overall teaching methodology can be drastically different. These factors also cause strain in connecting with peers and lead to mental health issues. Furthermore, the families may struggle financially, as parents also undergo acculturation (Kim et al., 2020). These struggles can lead to negative outcomes, including substance abuse and other consequences.
Ethnic Minority Groups
Asian Americans
One of the unique challenges for each minority group in this analysis is the presence and links to the existing parts of the dominant culture. As mentioned before, Asian Americans suffer from the generalization of their culture and socioeconomic backgrounds. Generally, they are stereotyped as smart, highly skilled, and well-off descendants of East Asians. Thus, the financially challenged immigrants from Central Asia might be overlooked compared to them. Similarly, African immigrants’ cultures are sometimes lumped into the existing Black culture in the US, ignoring their unique circumstances and traditions. However, the same rarely happens to Latin Americans, who are often viewed as recent immigrants (Santos, 2019). This phenomenon does not guarantee easy assimilation for Asian or African immigrants, as they are usually denied opportunities to help them in their struggles. Moreover, more misunderstanding and pressure are asserted on these groups to conform to the established pockets of culture when they might have little to do with it in the first place. In other words, they came from cultures of their own countries and had no or little contribution to the cultural processes of the US before the immigration.
African Americans
The major specific problem in the acculturation process of African immigrants is the tendency of institutions and society to lump them together with Black Americans. Black culture was formed by Black Americans for centuries, reflecting their heritage and unique socioeconomic circumstances during each period of time. Thus, this misguided generalization forces immigrants to assimilate seamlessly into this culture without any consideration of their background, while disrespecting the long history of Black culture (Chiromo, 2019). In other words, it sends the wrong message that any person with African roots can fit the mold of Black Americans, undermining the richness of both cultures. Moreover, this tendency overlooks the specific socioeconomic condition or need for language and assimilation courses, failing to tailor the approach to supporting them.
Latin Americans
The history of Latin immigration is long and infused with multiple complex issues of racism and discrimination. Latin immigrants experience the same treatment of lumping them together with the already present Latin American community. However, compared to African Americans, it does not deny them some socioeconomic benefits. These benefits are often denied on the grounds of permeating discriminatory practices in society and institutions (Santos, 2019). Latin Americans mostly suffer from racial bias in the form of “Latin immigrant” misguided images. Some politicians are quick to weaponize this image to oppress this group, limiting the assimilation support programs for them.
Support Programs
The phenomenon of overlooking the diversity of minority groups also contributes to the lack of adequate programs for adolescents. For these programs to be effective, they need to address these three categories. As African immigrants are lumped into the Black culture mold, they might be denied language programs. The lack of support leads to increased substance abuse in some subgroups of Asian communities, as their issues are overlooked. According to Ahmmad and Adkins (2021), there is a huge gap in substance abuse, levels of assimilation, and socioeconomic conditions between Japanese Americans and the rest of the Asian American cluster. However, some programs do a successful and useful job in this direction. Therefore, an adequate support program is personalized to the community’s needs based on these three dimensions.
Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO
One example of such a program is Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO, aimed at Latin American communities. According to López‐Zerón et al. (2020), this program targets not only adolescents but the whole family, providing support in three categories mentioned above. The organization aims at preventing youth’s problematic behavior and teaching positive parenting techniques. It accomplishes these goals through positive interventions, skill building, monitoring, and family counseling. This targeting allows this program to receive a better outcome, tackling the complicated issues within the family. Thus, parents and children get on the same page in acculturation, limiting the effects of the above-mentioned generational divide. However, according to López‐Zerón et al. (2020), there are some limits to this program’s effectiveness, as there is a need for a more personalized approach.
Specifically, the program lacks adequate mental health services, which are crucial for Latin families going through the stress of acculturation. Even though the organization provides general courses and sessions on identifying the issues in the parenting of immigrant families, more personal mental health issues remain unaddressed. This drawback leads to the continuation of the issues in Latin families, which often return to the program even after completing all the sessions. Moreover, due to the lack of personal sessions, the program failed to identify the specific factors in Latin families’ issues with assimilation. In other words, according to López‐Zerón et al. (2020), the program needs to conduct a more precise and personalized assessment of the acculturation situation in Latin communities. The organization also must start either providing personal mental health services or referring the families to appropriate specialists. Thus, Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO shows the importance of a personal approach in helping immigrant communities in the acculturation process.
Maryland Office of New Americans
Another example is the programs and research conducted by the Maryland Office of New Americans. Chiromo (2019) describes how it provides a variety of services based again on the three categories model on the example of East African immigrants. The office provides extensive support to immigrant and refugee communities, from basic economic accommodation to assimilation courses and mental support. Moreover, this office conducts surveys and research on the issues of minorities and methods to improve the support to eliminate the negative impacts of assimilation. After researching these communities, the office tailors its approach to support, opening new programs, and addressing a broader scope of issues. Thus, it manages to mitigate the problem of Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO in personalization.
Youth Outcomes
On the other hand, the Youth Outcomes organization conducts many adolescent programs, including specialized programs for minority groups. In the aftermath of one of these programs, substance abuse as a consequence of acculturation stress among Korean Americans decreased (Choi et al., 2018). Compared to Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO, this organization primarily targets children and youth. Its general goal is to ensure the proper and healthy development of these children by offering a wide range of courses, sessions, and programs to a broad community. The organization specifically addresses three categories mentioned above, focusing heavily on the education and mental health of youth. This approach contrasts that of Culturally Adapted Generation PMTO, which failed to provide sufficient mental health services to the families. Moreover, the organization’s success was the result of research among the community members that it serves, lowering the substance abuse numbers among Korean Americans. Thus, this information further demonstrates the value of researching targeted groups and a personalized approach to the issue.
Conclusion
Overall, minority groups face enormous acculturation pressure, leading to numerous issues. It includes complicated family dynamics, external racial bias and discrimination, mental health issues, substance abuse, and other negative consequences. Moreover, minority groups are often seen as a monolith, lacking a diverse perspective in their analysis and research. Immigrants are often further mixed up with the already existing communities and cultures, as in the example of African immigrants and Black culture. In the case of Asian Americans, the highly diverse group is usually seen from the perspective of a particular stereotype of an affluent East Asian person. Thus, support programs must be more detailed in their approach to account for these variations. The examples of programs in this essay show the need for support programs to be based on three categories: language, education, and support. Furthermore, the programs will benefit from more personalized strategies for the community in question. This could be achieved by research and extended communication with individuals in this group, as the examples from the Maryland Office of New Americans and Youth Outcomes show.
References
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