Acculturation of Migrant Latinos in a Positive Psychology Framework

Laura Dryjanska, Cheryl Zlotnick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article features a positive psychology perspective on migration, using hope theory as a conceptual framework to explain life satisfaction of Hispanic migrants in the United States. The cross-sectional study considers the association of acculturation and social support on wellbeing while accounting for the demographic and personal characteristics of Latino migrants (N = 169) in California and Florida. The final regression model (with the demographic variables of gender, health, realized expectations, the main effect of country, and the interaction variable of realized expectations by country), resulted in significant associations between life satisfaction and the variables of gender and health status. The study demonstrates that expectations (among other factors) significantly predict life satisfaction of Hispanic migrants, which implies that contextualizing migration experience in the positive light (rather than looking at stressors) may impact their quality of life.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-173
Number of pages19
JournalHispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences
Volume43
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The financial support for this research was provided by Biola University Faculty Research and Development Grant.

Funding Information:
The authors thank the Camino Immigration Services, as well as Joan Ewan and Alexandra Rojas for the help in data collection. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The financial support for this research was provided by Biola University Faculty Research and Development Grant.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

  • acculturation
  • expectations
  • life satisfaction
  • migration
  • positive psychology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Cultural Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Linguistics and Language

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