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Measuring Acculturation and Enculturation among Chinese Canadian Older Adults*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 December 2014

Yvonne Tieu  and
Candace Konnert
Yvonne Tieu
Affiliation:
Clinical Services Department, Kings Regional Rehabilitation Centre
Candace Konnert*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Candace Konnert, Ph.D. Department of Psychology University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, AB T2N 1N4 (konnert@ucalgary.ca)
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Abstract

Cultural adaptation is important to assess; however, most acculturation measures are unidimensional with little psychometric data for older immigrants. This study assessed a bidimensional measure, the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA; Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000), among 149 (mean age: 73.92 years) Chinese Canadians. Internal consistencies were .84 and .83 for the Mainstream and Heritage subscales respectively, and they were orthogonal. Convergent and discriminant validity were demonstrated by predicted correlations between the VIA subscales and age at immigration, years in Canada, English fluency, and the Belief in Chinese Culture and Values Scale (BCCV; Lai & Chau, 2007). The VIA accounted for significantly more variance in language ability than the BCCV, above and beyond acculturation proxies. Exploratory factor analysis replicated the two-factor structure reported by Ryder et al. (2000). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated poor fit. This study supports a bidimensional model of cultural adaptation among older Chinese Canadians.

Résumé

Il est important de déterminer l'adaptation culturelle; cependant, la plupart des mesures d'acculturation sont uni-dimensionnelles, avec peu de données psychométriques pour les immigrants plus âgés. Cette étude a évalué une mesure bi-dimensionnelle, l'indice d'acculturation Vancouver (IAV; Ryder, Alden, et Paulhus, 2000), parmi 149 patients (âge moyen = 73,92 années) Canadiens d'origine chinoise. Les cohérences internes étaient 0,84 et 0,83 pour les sous-échelles du grand public et du patrimoine, respectivement, et ils étaient orthogonal. La validité convergente et discriminante ont été démontrées par des corrélations entre les sous-échelles prévues IAV et l'âge à l'immigration, les années au Canada, la maîtrise de l'anglais, la croyance dans la culture chinoise et l'échelle de valeurs (CCCV; Lai et Chau, 2007). Le VIA a représenté beaucoup plus de la variance dans la capacité de la langue de la BCCV, au-dessus et au-delà des procurations d'acculturation. L'analyse factorielle exploratoire reproduit la structure à deux facteurs signalés par Ryder et al. (2000). Une analyse factorielle confirmatoire a indiqué un ajustement médiocre. Cette étude prend en charge un modèle bi-dimensionnel d'adaptation culturelle entre Canadiens chinois plus âgés.

Keywords

agingacculturationassessmentChinese older adultsenculturationimmigrantvieillissmentacculturationévaluationles aînés chinoisenculturationimmigrant
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 36 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2014 

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Footnotes

*

The authors thank Daisy Bai, Sue-Len Chow, Stephanie Low, and Panna Lu for their assistance with data collection.

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