Sociocultural adjustment of immigrants: Universal and group-specific predictors

The study examined the sociocultural dimension of acculturation of 518 first-generation immigrants in the Basque Country, Spain. Members of five ethnocultural groups (88 Brazilians, 98 Colombians, 139 Ecuadorians, 105 North and 85 Sub-Saharan Africans) answered a self-report questionnaire. The study aimed first to replicate the findings of previous investigations regarding the predictors of sociocultural adaptation at the whole sample level. The results showed that length of residence in the new culture, immigration status (having resident permits or being “illegal”), and perceived discrimination were the most powerful predictors of sociocultural adjustment of immigrants. Education, relationships with host nationals and perceived cultural distance were other factors significantly associated with social difficulty in the receiving society. The second purpose of the study was to test the universality of these predictors taking into account the possibility of culture-context interaction. Length of residence, immigration status and perceived discrimination were found to be independent or semi-independent of the context and culture. On the other hand, other variables contributed the explanation of outcomes of adjustment of the ethnocultural groups in their specific context. As predicted, the groups varied in their degree of social difficulty: the Colombians and the immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest degree of self-reported difficulty, the Ecuadorians had a medium degree, and the Brazilians and the North Africans had the lowest.