Acculturation and mental health--empirical verification of J.W. Berry's model of acculturative stress.

Udgivelsesdato: 2004-null OBJECTIVES: Many studies concerning mental health among ethnic minorities have used the concept of acculturation as a model of explanation, in particular J.W. Berry's model of acculturative stress. But Berry's theory has only been empirically verified few times. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Circumpolar Health
Main Authors: Koch, M W, Bjerregaard, P, Curtis, C
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2004
Subjects:
Acculturation
Denmark
Empirical Research
Greenland
Humans
Logistic Models
Mental Health
Models
Psychological
Stress
Circumpolar Health
greenlander*
greenlandic
International Journal of Circumpolar Health
Online Access:https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/9acba9a0-c6bd-11dd-a428-000ea68e967b
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v63i0.17939
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Summary:Udgivelsesdato: 2004-null OBJECTIVES: Many studies concerning mental health among ethnic minorities have used the concept of acculturation as a model of explanation, in particular J.W. Berry's model of acculturative stress. But Berry's theory has only been empirically verified few times. The aims of the study were to examine whether Berry's hypothesis about the connection between acculturation and mental health can be empirically verified for Greenlanders living in Denmark and to analyse whether acculturation plays a significant role for mental health among Greenlanders living in Denmark. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The study used data from the 1999 Health Profile for Greenlanders in Denmark. As measure of mental health we applied the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Acculturation was assessed from answers to questions about how the respondents value the fact that children maintain their traditional cultural identity as Greenlander and how well the respondents speak Greenlandic and Danish. The statistical methods included binary logistic regression. RESULTS: We found no connection between Berry's definition of acculturation and mental health among Greenlanders in Denmark. On the other hand, our findings showed a significant relation between mental health and gender, age, marital position, occupation and long-term illness. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that acculturation in the way Berry defines it plays a lesser role for mental health among Greenlanders in Denmark than socio-demographic and socio-economic factors. Therefore we cannot empirically verify Berry's hypothesis.

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