Neighbourhood Sociocultural Context and Acculturation Across the Life Course: Consequences for Physiological Dysregulation and Psychological Health

For my research I will focus on how neighbourhood and interpersonal social contexts influence physiological dysregulation and psychological health in migrants Worldwide, approximately 250,000,000 people live outside their country of birth (Connor, 2016) so it is important to understand how migration and cultural adaptation contribute to the social conditions that influence health throughout the life course. Cross-cultural psychologists have considered how many layers of social context influence migrants' adaptation, but these effects still need to be considered in relation to biological functioning across the life course (Ward & Geeraert, 2016).

Acculturation is the process of engaging with multiple cultural groups and adapting to their behaviours, attitudes, and identities (Geeraert & Demoulin, 2013). First-generation migrants often acculturate to the mainstream culture of the country they settle in, which is their settlement culture. However, it can also be important for them to maintain and develop the cultural characteristics of the country they or their ancestors grew up in, which is their heritage culture (Sun et al., 2020; Ward & Geeraert, 2016). First-generation migrants are individuals who have moved to another country and second-generation migrants are their children. In this proposal, 'migrants' shall refer to first- and second-generation migrants, and 'immigrants' shall refer to first-generation migrants who live in their settlement country for a reason other than formally seeking asylum.

Acculturative stressors are stressors that migrants and minority groups experience as a result of being at the intersection between two cultural groups. Some acculturative stressors occur more frequently for individuals with low acculturation when they have not developed culturally appropriate automatic responses for particular social situations. However, other acculturative stressors, such as family stressors, result from differences in the acculturation amongst one's social group (Sun et al., 2020). Acculturative stressors can also involve experiences of discrimination and can lead to psychological distress (Sirin et al., 2013).