Being Russian, becoming American: The role of value -behavior discrepancies in the cultural adaptation of Russian immigrants in the United States

The study explores the relationship between values and social behavior during the acculturation of immigrants. When immigrants settle in a new country, they discover that the rules of social interaction differ from the rules in their own culture of origin. They need to change their way of thinking, speaking and behaving in order to accomplish even simple, everyday tasks. The study investigates: (1) whether or not behavior changes correspond to value changes during the adaptation of Russian immigrants, (2) when there are discrepancies between the adaptation of values and the adaptation of behaviors, how do immigrants cope with them and (3) what is the impact of discrepancies on individual immigrants. The study explores adaptation in three discrete areas of social interaction: in friendship interaction, workplace interaction and male-female interaction. This differentiated approach allows for a more precise description of the adaptation process and generates data that can be used for effective counseling of immigrants in transition.;The findings reveal that the behavior changes and the value changes of Russians do not always correspond to each other. Immigrants experience a significant number of discrepancies between what they believe and how they are expected to behave in the United States. The largest number of discrepancies occur in friendship, the second largest in workplace interaction, the fewest in male-female interaction. Women describe more discrepancies than men. 84% of the discrepancies occur when Russians communicate with Americans, 16% when they communicate with other Russians in the U.S. Cultural differences in values associated with individualism-collectivism account for over eighty percent of the discrepancies. Discrepancies cause immigrants to experience negative emotional responses such as stress, anger, frustration and disappointment, which they manage using both emotion focused and problem focused coping strategies.;The adaptation of Russians varies across different areas of social interaction. Immigrants use more active coping strategies and conform to American norms of social interaction more in public settings (work interaction, public male-female interaction). In private settings (friendship; male-female interaction at home), they practice more culture maintenance and use more avoiding coping strategies.