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Behavioral and Academic Adjustment of Remotely Acculturating Adolescents in Urban Jamaica
Author(s) -
Ferguson Gail M.,
Dimitrova Radosveta
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20278
Subject(s) - acculturation , psychological resilience , context (archaeology) , psychology , future orientation , developmental psychology , demography , social psychology , geography , immigration , sociology , archaeology
Remote acculturation (RA) is a modern form of non‐migrant acculturation toward distant cultures prompted by indirect/intermittent globalization‐related cultural exposure. RA theory holds that not only are global cultures now pouring into local neighborhoods, but many youth are also internalizing these remote cultures. How well do they fare? Prior studies in Jamaica and elsewhere have reported that U.S./Western‐oriented adolescents exhibit poorer health habits. However, no studies have yet investigated adolescents’ behavioral or academic adjustment in the context of RA, whether in Jamaica or elsewhere. Therefore, 245 adolescents and their mothers from high schools in Kingston, Jamaica (M adolescent_age = 13.3; M mother_age = 40.2) completed questionnaires assessing their RA in terms of behaviors and values, as well as the adolescents’ behavioral resilience and grades. SEM analyses revealed that RA was, indeed, linked to adolescent behavioral and academic adjustment in Jamaica. Overall, Jamaican orientation was associated with better adaptation whereas European American orientation was associated with worse.