Portuguese immigrant families: the impact of acculturation.

Publisher: Family Process Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0400666 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0014-7370 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00147370 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Fam Process Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: New York, NY : Family Process
Original Publication: Baltimore [etc.]

Acculturation* ; Emigrants and Immigrants*; Adult ; Aged ; Azores/ethnology ; Canada ; Family Relations/ethnology ; Family Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Portugal/ethnology ; Young Adult

Portuguese immigrants to North America represent a large ethnic group with unique family therapy needs. The present study investigates acculturation and the family lives of Portuguese (Azorean) immigrants in Canada. Methods of analytic induction and constant comparison from grounded theory were used to examine transcripts of interviews with 21 Azorean immigrant women and 28 Azorean immigrant men. A model emerged wherein (a) immigration and acculturation act as stressors on the family unit, as described by the categories Process of Change and Family Relationships; (b) family members adopt generation- and gender-specific acculturative strategies, as illustrated by the categories Duas Culturas (Two Cultures) and Falando Portuges (Speaking Portuguese); and (c) as family members acculturate, discords arise and are resolved according to the cultural traits different members have adopted. The categories Discord Resolution and Preocupação (Preoccupations) illustrate this last dynamic. Implications for family therapy with immigrant families include an indication for community-level interventions, emphasis on confidentiality, awareness of acculturation stress and different acculturative strategies within the family, and aiding the family in the negotiation and integration of a new bicultural reality.

Date Created: 20090422 Date Completed: 20090526 Latest Revision: 20190923

20221213

10.1111/j.1545-5300.2009.01273.x

19378651