Acculturation and education of Chinese-Americans

Abstract

This study examined the acculturation level of 88 Chinese-American students at UCLA, and whether there was any relationship between their acculturation level and academic performance of the same persons. The Cultural Life Style Inventory developed by Mendoza for Mexican-Americans was adapted as the primary measurement for this research. The difference of cultural shift score between the U.S. born group and the immigrant group was not significant. However, a repeated measures t test on the difference between cultural resistance and cultural shift in the U.S. born group showed significance. In addition, a t test on two sample independent groups showed the differences between cultural resistance and cultural shift were not the same in the U.S. born group and the immigrant group. No dominant cultural life style tendency was found in these subjects. The differences of acculturation level between being in the U.S. for 6-10 year group and 16-20 year group, between 11-15 year group and 16-20 year group were significant. This indicated that acculturation takes a considerable amount of time. There were no significant differences between acculturation level and college grade point average among these subjects. Nor did neighborhood or work environment affect their acculturation level. Since the versions of the Cultural Life Style Inventory are now available in English, Spanish, and Chinese, cross-cultural comparisons between the Hispanic and the Asian could be designed in a single study in the future.