Acculturation, personality, and adjustment: A study of Asian Indians in the United States

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between personality variables and acculturation, and level of acculturation and psychosocial adjustment among Asian Indians living in the U.S. Asian Indians (N = 101) from universities and communities around southern California participated as subjects for the present study. The assumptions underlying this study were: (1) that the five personality variables of Intellect, Ambition, Likeability, Sociability, and Prudence would be significantly and positively correlated with acculturation, (2) that Asian Indians at the bicultural level of acculturation would be better adjusted than those who are monocultural, and (3) that first-generation Asian Indians would be significantly less acculturated than second-generation Asian Indians. The following measures were utilized in this study: The Majority-Minority Relations Survey (Sodowsky, Lai, & Plake, 1991), the Hogan Personality Inventory (Hogan & Hogan, 1992), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960). The statistical analyses involved multiple regression.; The results of this study revealed no significant relationship between personality variables and acculturation. Hypothesis 2 however was partially supported in that, Asian Indians who scored close to the middle level (bilingual) on the Language Usage subscale, of the acculturation measure, showed the best adjustment. Last, first-generation Asian Indians were significantly less acculturated than second-generation Asian Indians, as expected.; The results and their implications were discussed in the context of the literature on acculturation and personality theory.