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Tuning in emotionally: Associations of cultural exposure with distal and proximal emotional fit in acculturating youth
Author(s) -
Jasini Alba,
De Leersnyder Jozefien,
Phalet Karen,
Mesquita Batja
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2516
Subject(s) - acculturation , psychology , residence , immigration , social psychology , emotional well being , developmental psychology , demography , sociology , archaeology , history
The more immigrant minorities are exposed to the majority culture, the more their emotional pattern fits that of majority culture members—a phenomenon termed emotional acculturation . To assess emotional fit, earlier studies compared minorities’ emotional experience with that of separate samples of “distant” majority members in their country of residence. We added “proximal” fit with the emotional experience of majority members in their social environment. Drawing on large random samples of immigrant minority and majority youth in Belgian high schools ( N = 2,543), our study aimed (i) to test majority culture exposure and contact as predictors of emotional fit and (ii) to distinguish emotional fit with distal and proximal variants of majority culture. Minorities’ majority culture exposure predicted both distal and proximal emotional fit. In addition, contact with majority peers better predicted proximal fit. Our findings suggest that emotional acculturation is socially grounded in interactions with proximal majority members.