Exploring The Interrelationships Between Values, Acculturation Attitudes And Adaptation Outcomes

This paper, based on the frameworks of Shalom Schwartz’s individual value theory,John Berry’s bidimensional model of acculturation and Colleen Ward’s adaptation theory,aims to explore whether values are associated with individuals’ acculturation attitudes andadaptation outcomes.This research involves three steps: the pretest, study one and study two. Descriptiveanalyses, T-test and correlations are the methods used in quantitative data analysis.Qualitative interviews were also conducted in the pretest. In the pretest, questionnairesincluding demographic information, values, acculturation attitudes and adaptation, weredistributed to foreign teachers and international students in China and18valid sampleswere analyzed. In study one, some modifications in the demographic part and values weremade and a total of30valid responses from foreign teachers in China were analyzed. Instudy two, the same questionnaire was used and101samples from international students inShanghai were collected.The scales on acculturation attitudes and adaptation show consistent reliability in thepretest while the value scale turns out to be too long and too complicated. The data frominterviews show that the skin color affects the adaptation of sojourners in China. In studyone all the scales show good reliability and it is found that conservation is negativelycorrelated with cultural adoption and sociocultural adaptation, and cultural adoption isnegatively related with sociocultural adaptation, positively with psychological adaptation.In study two, the instruments show lower reliability and the scales of two values (opennessto change and conservation), and of acculturation attitudes (cultural maintenance andcultural adoption) were not orthogonal.This is the first study to have applied Schwartz’s individual value theory inacculturation. It provides a new perspective for acculturation research and extends theapplication of Schwartz’s value theory.