International Journal of Intercultural Relations

30 (2006) 195211
Sociocultural adjustment of immigrants:
Universal and group-specic predictors
Anna Zlobina
a,
, Nekane Basabe
a,
, Dario Paez
a
,
Adrian Furnham
b
a
Social Psychology Department, University of the Basque Country, Avenida de Tolosa, 70, 20018,
San Sebastian, Spain
b
Department of Psychology, University College of London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
Received 1 February 2004; received in revised form 18 June 2005; accepted 20 July 2005
Abstract
The study examined the sociocultural dimension of acculturation of 518 rst-generation
immigrants in the Basque Country, Spain. Members of ve ethnocultural groups (88
Brazilians, 98 Colombians, 139 Ecuadorians, 105 North and 85 Sub-Saharan Africans)
answered a self-report questionnaire. The study aimed rst to replicate the ndings of previous
investigations regarding the predictors of sociocultural adaptation at the whole sample level.
The results showed that length of residence in the new culture, immigration status (having
resident permits or being illegal), and perceived discrimination were the most powerful
predictors of sociocultural adjustment of immigrants. Education, relationships with host
nationals and perceived cultural distance were other factors signicantly associated with social
difculty in the receiving society. The second purpose of the study was to test the universality
of these predictors taking into account the possibility of culture-context interaction. Length of
residence, immigration status and perceived discrimination were found to be independent or
semi-independent of the context and culture. On the other hand, other variables contributed
ARTICLE IN PRESS
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel
0147-1767/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.07.005

Corresponding author. Departamento de Psicolog a Social, Facultad Psicolog a Social, Universidad

del Pa s Vasco, Avda. de Tolosa 70, San Sebastia n 20009 Spain, Tel.: +34 943 015738; fax:
+34 943 311055.

Corresponding author. Departamento de Psicolog a Social, Facultad Farmacia, Universidad del Pa s

Vasco, Paseo de la Universidad 7, 01006 Vitoria, Spain. Tel.: +34 945 013051.
E-mail addresses: anyazlobina@hotmail.com (A. Zlobina), pspbaban@vf.ehu.es (N. Basabe),
pspparod@ss.ehu.es (D. Paez), ucjtsaf@ucl.ac.uk (A. Furnham).
the explanation of outcomes of adjustment of the ethnocultural groups in their specic
context. As predicted, the groups varied in their degree of social difculty: the Colombians and
the immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest degree of self-reported difculty, the
Ecuadorians had a medium degree, and the Brazilians and the North Africans had the lowest.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Sociocultural adjustment; Immigration; Cultural distance; Social difculty
1. Introduction
Sociocultural adaptation along with psychological adaptation has been con-
ceptualized as a major dimension of intercultural adjustment (Searle & Ward, 1990;
Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001; Ward & Kennedy, 1992). While psychological
adaptation refers mainly to affective well-being and mental health in general,
sociocultural adaptation consists predominantly of behavioural and cognitive
components of cultural learning for performing effectively in a new milieu (Ward
et al., 2001). The results of empirical studies conducted primarily by Colleen Ward
and her associates, have shown that sociocultural adjustment is conceptually distinct
from psychological well-being during cross-cultural transition, as it is predicted by
different set of variables.
An examination of the literature shows that certain variables emerge as robust
predictors of sociocultural adjustment, despite the type of the group of sojourners, its
origin or its destination (Ward, 1996; Ward et al., 2001; Ward & Kennedy, 1993).
Thus, length of residence in a new culture is one of the most important factors of
successful sociocultural adjustment: adaptation is especially low at the beginning
then improves in the earliest stages until it reaches a plateau (Ward & Kennedy,
1996; Ward, Okura, Kennedy, & Kojima, 1998). Other important variables are
resources such as higher education and income (Ataca, 1996 cited in Ataca & Berry,
2002). Gender was also found to be associated with the greater social difculty. For
instance, Turkish females living in Canada and especially those with lower
socioeconomic status were found to have poorer sociocultural adjustment than
males (Ataca & Berry, 2002). The explanation of these ndings was that women have
fewer opportunities to learn a new culture, being more isolated from it, and due to
the traditional role distribution in which they are expected to stay at home more and
to be responsible for maintaining the home culture.
Other factors are quantity and quality of relations with hosts (Ward & Kennedy,
1993; Ward & Rana-Deuba, 2000). Host national contact provides opportunities for
cultural learning and culture-specic skills acquisition (Ataca & Berry, 2002; Searle
& Ward, 1990; Ward & Kennedy, 1992, 1993). The quality of contact was also
shown to be important. Thus, it was found that satisfaction with host national
relationships predicted better adjustment of New Zealand students living abroad
(Ward & Kennedy, 1993).
Research carried out mostly on international students and sojourner adaptation
has demonstrated that social difculty is related to cultural distance between the
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 196
home and the host culture and is also associated with perceived cultural differences.
Thus, the acquisition of new skills and cultural knowledge depends on the similarity
between the home culture and the new culture: the greater the cultural distance, the
more cultural learning is required to t in (Furnham & Bochner, 1982; Ward &
Kennedy, 1993; Ward & Searle, 1991). Similarly, it was demonstrated that those who
perceive greater cultural distance between two cultures are likely to experience more
social difculty during the transition process (Searle & Ward, 1990; Ward &
Kennedy, 1992, 1993).
The role of discrimination as antecedent of social difculty was less investigated.
Nevertheless, this factor is probably one of the most serious handicaps for
immigrants. Furthermore, the damaging inuence of perceived negative attitudes on
the success of the immigrants and sojourners efforts to adjust to a new culture was
found (Ward, 1996). For instance, among Turkish male immigrants in Canada the
degree of perceived discrimination was a signicant predictor of problems of
sociocultural adaptation (Ataca & Berry, 2002).
However, it is worth mentioning that, as Ataca and Berry (2002) have pointed out,
the empirical ndings on predictors of sociocultural adaptation have some
limitations. Thus, most of them have been based on sojourners, so the
conclusions can not be extended automatically to the immigrants group.
For instance, sojourners are short-term visitors while most immigrants
intend to establish themselves in the receiving country. Another consideration
may be that sojourners, probably, have better status in eyes of the host
nationals and experience less discrimination. Hence the relative importance
of the predictor variables in immigrants adaptation may differ from that of
sojourners.
2. Overview of the study
The aim of this study was, rst, to replicate the ndings of previous investigations
regarding the predictors of sociocultural adaptation among different groups of
sojourners and to examine which factors best predict successful acculturation of
immigrants.
To measure sociocultural adaptation, a scale was developed composed of those
aspects that represented the most signicant difculties for immigrants in Spain.
Following other researchers, we conceptualized immigrants sociocultural adjust-
ment as a broader phenomenon which includes not only problems of intercultural
communication such as cultural knowledge or coping with the language, but also the
successful resolving of practical problems that imply interaction with hosts (Brislin,
Cushner, Cherrie, & Yong, 1986; Hawes & Kealey, 1981). We assumed that renting a
house, arranging an appointment in a surgery, and other similar everyday tasks
require culture-specic information and skills. For example, we supposed that the
knowledge of how public institutions and social services (e.g., job agencies, hospitals,
the police, etc.) work and how to get assistance from them was a substantial part of
cultural learning.
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 197
Variables more frequently mentioned as predictors of sociocultural adjustment
were selected to test their importance in our study (Ward, 1996; Ward et al., 2001).
First, personal and demographic information was gathered including age, gender,
education, length of residence in Spain, and also immigration status (having
residence permits). We considered this last variable to be one of the key-aspects of
adjustment that makes a sharp distinction between immigrants. Thus, the likelihood
of obtaining residence permits depends strongly on the contextual factors such as
length of residence or group of belonging. For instance, recent immigrants in Spain
now nd it much harder to obtain permits because of a recent toughening up of
legislation. Moreover, there are more exible agreements between Spain and some
Latin American countries regarding admission of immigrants compared to those
from the rest of the world.
Second, individual variables were introduced. The role of expectations and how
they matched with the actual situation were analysed. The overly optimistic
expectations of streets paved with gold in the country of arrival are quite common
among immigrants (Moghaddam, Taylor & Wright, 1993). The negative contrast
between the previous view of immigration and the reality was expected to frustrate
successful culture learning (Furnham & Bochner, 1986; Taft, 1977; Weissman &
Furnham, 1987). We also investigated the plan of immigration variable, that is, the
intention to reside permanently in Spain. Bochner (1982) considered time span as
one of the basic dimensions of intercultural relations and introduced short termlong
term classication to predict outcomes and nature of the interaction with hosts.
Interpersonal variables were also introduced as potential predictors of adaptation.
As was pointed out above, the importance of relationships with host nationals has
been consistently demonstrated in previous studies. Nevertheless, we considered the
role of conationals as a source of practical and cultural information. We assumed
that immigrants who had been living for a longer time in the new country can act as
experienced anthropologists of the receiving culture, providing advice and
information about norms, conditions and available resources. Perception of the
degree of cultural distance between home and host cultures was another variable.
Finally, perceived discrimination was introduced as a possible predictor of
sociocultural adaptation of immigrants, one that takes into account the intergroup
nature of cross-cultural transition.
The other goal of the present research was to test the universality of the predictors
of sociocultural adaptation among different ethnocultural groups. We put forward a
set of hypotheses regarding the cross-cultural stability of the predictor variables.
First, we hypothesized that greater length of residence, higher education level,
legal immigration status, lower perceived cultural distance, and lower self-reported
discrimination would be universal predictors of successful sociocultural adjustment,
as was found in the previous extensive research and as is consistent with social
learning perspective (H1).
On the other hand, as Ward and her collegues pointed out, the process and
outcomes of cross-cultural transition are inuenced by both culture-general and
culture-specic phenomena (Ward & Kennedy, 1993; Ward & Rana-Deuba, 2000).
In this regard, we hypothesized that somewhat different patterns of acculturative
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 198
experience would be found for different groups (H2). For instance, we
expected gender to be a signicant variable only for some ethnocultural groups
due to the fact that different cultures do not mark gender role differentiation to the
same degree. We hypothesized that North-African women would experience more
difculties in adjustment than men (H2.1), as was found in the previous research
with Muslim immigrants (Ataca & Berry, 2002). Moreover, we expected the contact
with host nationals be important only for groups with low self-reported
discrimination (H2.2). We assumed that positive or at least neutral character of
the intercultural interaction is a necessary condition of culture learning (Ward &
Kennedy, 1993).
Our third hypothesis (H3) was regarding the degree of social difculty among
different groups. We hypothesized that groups which are more culturally and
historically similar to Spain (Colombians and Ecuadorians) would experience fewer
problems of sociocultural adaptation compared to more culturally distant
(Brazilians) or visible groups (North and Sub-Saharan Africans).
2.1. Context of the study
The study was conducted in the Basque Country, Spain. Immigration on a large
scale is a relatively recent phenomenon in Spain. A decade ago, in the early 1990s,
about 400,000 foreigners resided in Spain, 1% of the total population (Blanco, 2002).
Now the total ofcial number of foreign people is 3,034,326, that is, 7% of the total
population (INE, 2005). This percentage could still increase if we also consider the
people who have obtained Spanish citizenship and those who do not have any
residence permit. Regarding the countries of origin most represented in Spain, the
largest groups are those from Morocco, Ecuador, Romania, Colombia, and Great
Britain.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
Five hundred and eighteen (518) adult rst-generation immigrants participated in
the study. The sample consisted of 284 male (55%) and 234 female immigrants, aged
between 16 and 57 (M 32:8, SD 8.8), who had been living in Spain from 3
months to 32 years (M 4:6 years, SD 5.5) and who came from Latin America,
North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Latin-American group was the biggest one (63% of the total sample) and,
therefore, was divided into three subsamples according to the country of origin: 88
Brazilians (17% of the total sample), 98 Colombians (19%) and 139 Ecuadorians
(27%). The North-African subsample consisted of 105 immigrants (20% of the total
sample), mostly from Morocco (77.2%). Other countries of origin were Algeria
(4.4%), Syria (8%), Egypt (2.6%), Palestine (3%) and Jordan (2.6%). The Sub-
Saharan-African subsample was rather heterogeneous and consisted of 85 subjects
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(16% of the total sample). Most of them came from Senegal (44%) and another large
part was from Cameroon (15%). Other countries of origin were Angola (5.4%),
Burkina Faso (6.5%), Rwanda (3.2%), and Nigeria (6.5%).
In terms of education, 31% reported having achieved a university degree,
47.5% had completed secondary education, 17.8% had completed primary
school and 3.6% had no formal education. Regarding their immigration
status in Spain, 20.9% reported not having any type of residence permit and
78.1% had some legal documentation or had obtained Spanish nationality, and
1.1% did not answer.
One-way ANOVAs and w
2
-tests revealed that ethnocultural groups differed in
relation to gender distribution, length of residence in Spain, educational level and
immigration status. Thus, there were more men among North and Sub-Saharan
immigrants (66% and 68%, respectively), and more women among the Brazilians
and the Colombians (62% and 57%, respectively) (w
2
28:65, po:001). The
Ecuadorians were the group with nearly equal distribution of genders (52% were
men). Between-group analyses (Scheffe -tests) indicated that Ecuadorian immigrants
had been living in Spain for a shorter period of time than the other groups, while the
North-Africans were the most long-standing group in Spain (F(4; 511) 46.17,
po:001). The North Africans had the lowest educational level, while the other
groups did not differ signicantly from each other (F(4; 510) 12.62, po:001). The
percentage of people without any type of permit was the highest among the
Colombians (47.7%), lower among immigrants from Brazil, Ecuador and Sub-
Saharan Africa (13.4%, 20.7% and 18.5%, respectively), and the lowest among the
North Africans (4.4%) (w
2
59:34, po:001).
3.2. Procedure
This study forms part of a wider research project on the acculturation in
immigrants from different countries living in Spain.
Previous qualitative interviews were conducted with approximately 30 immigrants
from different ethnocultural groups before selecting and developing measures for
this study. Some scales were adopted from the earlier research conducted by Paez,
Gonzalez and Aguilera (2000) with Chilean refugees living in the north of Spain.
Studies by Ward and associates on the topic were consulted, and reference was made
to the Social Situations Questionnaire developed by Furnham and Bochner (1982)
and to its modied version proposed by Searle and Ward (1990).
The resulting questionnaire was administered during a personal interview.
Participants were recruited through social and cultural associations and in public
places frequented by immigrants (telephone centres, social services ofces, churches,
bars, etc.).
Linguistic adaptation: The back-translation procedure was used to translate all
scales into Portuguese and Arabic. In addition, in the questionnaire administrated
among Spanish-speaking Latin Americans, several experts from these countries were
consulted to revise the survey in order to avoid unfamiliar or unpleasant forms of
speaking.
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 200
3.3. Measures
Sociocultural adjustment: Sociocultural adjustment was assessed by 18 items
asking about the degree of difculty in dealing with practical, social and
interpersonal communication problems during the previous year. For example,
Have you had problems getting medical or social assistance?/understanding the
local people (their way of life, their intentions)?. Response options ranged from 1
(not at all) to 5 (very much). The whole scale was highly consistent and its reability
measured by Cronbachs alpha, was .90.
Expectations: Participants were asked to evaluate their actual situation compared
to their previous expectations as 1 (worse), 2 (same) or 3 (better).
Plan of residence: Participants were asked about their expected period of residence
in Spain, answering 1 (uncertain), 2 (temporal) or 3 (permanent).
Contact: The quantity of contact was assessed with two items. One asked about
contact with conationals living in Spain and the other about contact with host
culture members. Answers ranged from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). The quality of
interactions was measured by the following two items: Do you feel supported (in
your problems, troubles) by your fellow compatriots who live here?, and Do you
feel supported (in your problems, troubles) by the local people? with the same
response options. Factor analysis (principal component analysis, varimax rotation
with Kaiser normalization) of these four items demonstrated the existence of two
independent factors that accounted for 69.39% of the variance. The rst factor
referred to the relationships (amount and quality of contact) with host nationals,
accounting for 34.16% of the variance. The second factor referred to the
relationships with conationals (33.23% of the variance). The reliability of these
two factors was .62 and .58, respectively. Resulting factor scores were assigned to
each participant and used in all subsequent analysis as indicators of relationships
with conationals and hosts.
Perceived cultural distance: The differences perceived between the culture of origin
and the hosts culture in different areas (such as family life, gender relationships,
work habits, punctuality, competitiveness, etc.) were ascertained by the 36-item scale
developed for the study. The total mean score of the perceived cultural distance was
calculated for each participant: responses indicating the perception of difference
between two cultures were codied as 1, while the absence of difference was codied
as 0. Thus, the resulting score ranged from 0 to 1 estimated the magnitude, but not
the direction, of the perceived cultural differences.
Perceived discrimination: The scale consisted of 6 items assessing the frequency of
being treated negatively due to ethnic background (e.g., Have you been
victim of the hostile actions that Spaniards would never use with other Spanish
people?), and ranged from 1 (never) to 4 (almost always). Its reliability
corresponded to .87.
Demographics: Participants reported their age in years, their gender, and
their length of residence in Spain in years and months. They were also asked
about their immigration status in Spain and their educational level as described
above.
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4. Results
4.1. Predictors of sociocultural adjustment on the whole sample level
We rst carried out bivariate correlations among sociocultural difculty and the
predictor variables, and consequently, a multiple regression (stepwise method) was
performed (see Table 1).
Better sociocultural adjustment correlated signicantly with having longer length
of residence, being female, having residence permits, evaluating the actual situation
as better than expected, planning to live permanently in Spain, having more contact
with hosts, having fewer relationships with conationals, and perceiving smaller
cultural distance and less discrimination.
In the regression model, length of residence, education, immigration status,
relationships with conationals and with hosts, perceived cultural distance and
discrimination (displayed in bold) each made a unique contribution to the prediction
of sociocultural adaptation. Gender, expectations and plan of residence were no
longer signicant. As in the correlations, age showed no signicant relationship to
sociocultural adjustment, and was therefore dropped from the subsequent analysis.
4.2. Predictors of adjustment on the ethnocultural groups level
In order to test our hypothesis regarding the universality of the predictors of
sociocultural adjustment among different ethnocultural groups, the multiple
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Table 1
Results of multiple regression analysis of predictor variables on sociocultural difculty at the whole sample
level
Predictor variables Sociocultural difculty
r b
Length of residence .27** .19**
Age .10* .02
Gender .08 .05
Education .02 .10**
Immigration status .30** .23**
Expectations .12** .04
Plan of residence .11** .01
Relationships with hosts .27** .10**
Relationships with conationals .09* .06*
Perceived cultural distance .25** .09**
Perceived discrimination .58** .53**
F (DF) 41.16** (11,508)
R
2
(AR
2
) .50 (.49)
Note: Pearson product-moment coefcients and standardized beta coefcients; Method enter. F test,
and R (AR
2
) Squared R (Adjusted Squared R).
*pp:05, **pp:01 (two-tailed).
A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 202
regressions were conducted separately for each subsample (see Table 2). Beta weights
and zero-order correlations provide some indication of the relative magnitude and
signicance of contribution of each variable.
The results of the multiple regression for the Brazilian subsample showed that four
variables from the general modelhigher level of education, legal immigration
status, greater degree of relationships with the members of the host society, and
lower perceived discriminationwere signicant predictors of successful adjustment.
For the Colombians, three variables were signicant and were the same as in the
general model: legal immigration status, greater contact with conationals and lower
perceived discrimination. The regression made for the Ecuadorian group showed
that there were ve signicant variables predicting their adjustment to the new
culture. Of them, three were the same as in the whole sample model, namely, longer
length of residence, attainment of legal immigration status, and low perceived
discrimination. Additionally, satised expectations and the perception of their
residence as temporal were important for predicting successful adjustment of this
group. In the regression model for North African immigrants four variables from the
whole sample regression model were signicant showing that greater length of
residence, greater contact with hosts, perception of smaller cultural distance and
lower discrimination predicted better adjustment for this group. Additionally, two
more variables showed themselves to be signicant. Thus, gender (being female) and
expectations (evaluating the situation as worse than expected) were related to fewer
sociocultural difculties among North Africans. For Sub-Saharan Africans, four
variables from the general modelgreater length of residence and higher education
level, legal immigration status, and lower perceived discrimination, and also two
more variables, fullled expectations and the intention to reside permanently in
Spain, were signicantly associated with better sociocultural adjustment.
4.3. Degree of sociocultural adaptation among ethnocultural groups
Finally, we carried out an analysis of variance (ANOVA) assessing the mean
scores of the ve subsamples on their degree of sociocultural difculty as well as on
the predictor variables. The results are shown in Table 3.
The groups differed signicantly in their degree of sociocultural adjustment to
Spanish society, and also on most of the predictors. Between-group post-hoc
analyses (Scheffe -test) showed that the Colombians and immigrants from Sub-
Saharan Africa had more self-reported difculties in adjusting to the new culture, the
Brazilians and the North Africans had the lowest degree of problems, and the
Ecuadorians were in between.
Regarding expectations, the immigrants from Brazil, Colombia and Sub-Saharan
Africa reported signicantly more t between their expectation and the reality
compared to the immigrants from Ecuador and North Africa. Comparing groups
with respect to their plan of residence, it was shown that the North Africans had
signicantly more intention to live in Spain for ever than the rest. The Colombians
and the immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa had signicantly less contact with host
nationals than other groups. On the in-group contact variable the Colombians
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 205
showed higher scores than the rest of immigrants. Finally, Colombians and Sub-
Saharan Africans perceived signicantly greater cultural distance and discrimination
compared to the rest of participants.
5. Discussion
5.1. Replication of the previous results
At the general level, we tested the importance of the variables that in previous
research were found to be predictors of sociocultural adaptation.
Regarding immigrants demographic characteristics, the results for the whole
sample level conrmed that social difculty decreased over time. This is consistent
with the theory and research on social skill acquisition (Ward et al., 2001; Ward &
Kennedy, 1999). Additionally, it was found that gender was not related to
sociocultural adaptation but, as will be discussed below, was a signicant predictor
at the culture-specic level. Age was unrelated to sociocultural adaptation. Probably,
the curvilinear pattern of relationship between them is the explanation (Ward et al.,
2001). Education was a signicant predictor of sociocultural adaptation, controlling
for other sociocultural predictors.
As predicted, having attained legal immigration status was one of the most
important predictors of sociocultural adaptation. A few studies considered this
factor but our results indicate that having ofcial residence permits not only
facilitates access to services and assistance but also to the specic cultural knowledge
shared by the members of the host culture. One possible explanation is greater
vulnerability and social exclusion of those who do not possess any legal status in the
host country. The participants of the previously conducted focus groups told us that
the illegal immigrants frequently have to avoid going out on the street because of
the threat of being repatriated, and in general, do not perceive themselves as equal
members of society but rather as invisible shadows. This can lead to feelings of
defencelessness and fear and, therefore withdrawal from the society. For instance,
the bivariate correlations demonstrated that illegal immigrants had less contact
with hosts (r :14, po:01).
Regarding interpersonal and intergroup variables considered in the study, contact
with members of the country of origin did not seem to be consistently important to
sociocultural competence acquisition at the general level. Meanwhile, our results
showed that closer supportive relationships with members of the receiving society
lessened the amount of difculty in the new culture. Similarly, perceived
discrimination was a powerful predictor of the degree of difculty of sociocultural
adaptation, as in other similar studies (Ataca & Berry, 2002; Ward, 1996). Thus, the
overall results seem to indicate that being accepted at both the juridical and at the
interpersonal level increases the sociocultural adjustment of immigrants to the host
culture.
Another consistent nding was that lower perceived cultural distance was an
important predictor of acquisition of culture-relevant knowledge and skills, similarly
ARTICLE IN PRESS
A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 206
to that found in previous research (Searle & Ward, 1990; Ward & Kennedy, 1992,
1993). One might conjecture that when the experience of culture shock is not overly
strong, the individual feels himself able and motivated to learn more about a new
culture. In contrast, when intercultural misunderstandings and faults are frequently
experienced, this leads to the perception of impossibility of dealing with the new
environment. If so, self-esteem and the feeling of self-efcacy could be considered as
moderators in the relationship between perceived cultural distance (culture shock)
and sociocultural adaptation.
Most of our results are consistent with the broader literature on sociocultural
adaptation replicating successfully ndings of other investigations. However, a more
rigorous analysis at the ethnocultural group level provided a substantial insight into
the universality of these conclusions.
5.2. Universal versus group-specic predictors of sociocultural adjustment
First, length of residence, immigration status and perceived discrimination
demonstrated their signicance for the most part of the sample and therefore, this
variables can be considered a potential universal (culture- or context-free) predictors
of sociocultural adaptation of immigrants, that conrms our Hypothesis 1.
Second, other variables were signicant predictors of sociocultural adaptation
only for some ethnocultural groups. Education and perceived cultural distance
indicators, contrary to what was predicted by the Hypothesis 1, were signicant only
in a few cases. Additional data is essential to explain the role of these factors. As a
speculation, we can suppose that education would be more important for those
immigrants who seek to make progress in their professional status and not merely
improvement of their economic situation. Similarly, perceived cultural distance
could be more signicant for the sociocultural adjustment of those immigrants who
are motivated to settle down permanently in the receiving society and establish close
relations with hosts. For instance, the data showed that the North Africans had the
highest self-reported degree of relationships with members of the larger society and
were more determined to live in Spain for ever. On the other hand, this group is one
of the most rejected by the Spanish society (Diez Nicolas & Ramirez, 2001).
Third, gender was an important predictor of social difculty only among North
Africans, as was predicted by the Hypothesis 2.1. However, contrary to our
prediction, being male rather than female was related to a greater degree of
adjustment problems. Nevertheless, the gender role distribution can still be used as a
base of explanation of this difference. It was shown that men in this ethnocultural
group are more responsible for the relationships with the host society, going to work
and to public institutions, while women stay more at home (Martinez Garcia, Garcia
Ramirez, & Maya Jariego, 2002). It is possible then, that the higher degree of
sociocultural difculty reported by men can be explained by their wider exposure to
the host culture with more culture-specic skills required.
The role of expectations was shown to be ambiguous. Thus, evaluating the actual
situation as being better than expected was related to having better adjustment
among Ecuadorian and Sub-Saharan African immigrants, but was associated with
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 207
having more difculties in the case of the North Africans. However, the impact of
expectations was stronger (higher beta weights) and in the predicted direction in the
regression models for the Ecuadorians and the Sub-Saharans, thus supporting
previous ndings. Nevertheless, the results seem to be inconclusive and more
elaborate measurements are necessary to test the role of the expectations in the
adjustment process. As Furnham and Bochner (1986) have asserted, migrants have a
set of expectations related to different aspects of their life in their new country. The
important question here may be which expectations about what aspects of life in the
host culture are more important for adjustment.
The plan of immigration made a particular, group-specic contribution to explain
sociocultural adaptation of Ecuadorian and Sub-Saharan immigrants but in the
opposite direction. Future research is needed to verify its role for sojourners and in
particular, for immigrants adaptation.
The varying signicance of relationships with host nationals among ethnocultural
groups showed that the contribution of this variable can be modulated by group-
specic context as was predicted by the Hypothesis 2.2. Specically, contact with
hosts had signicant positive impact on adjustment only for the Brazilians and the
North-Africans, groups that had the lowest degree of perceived discrimination.
These groups were also shown to be more oriented towards Spanish society than the
other groups (Basabe, Zlobina & Paez, 2004).
Regarding the role of the contact with compatriots for sociocultural adjustment,
this variable appears group-specic as it was only signicant in the case of
Colombians. Our previous ndings indicated that most of this group preferred
separation as their way of acculturation (Basabe et al., 2004). So, it could be possible
that when immigrants have an almost exclusive relationship with their own in-group,
its members become a unique source of information and support.
Perceived discrimination was demonstrated to be a universal predictor of social
difculty and the impact of this variable was the highest among all the groups
studied. However, the enormous magnitude of its effect for the Colombian sub-
sample is noteworthy. This group is one of the closest to Spain in terms of language
and historical bonds. At the same time, the Colombians reported practically the
same degree of discrimination as the immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa. In this
regards, as Ward et al. (2001) pointed out, a migrant group which is linguistically
and culturally similar to the members of the host society may feel more socially
disadvantaged. So far, the experience of discrimination may be especially harmful
for the adaptation of this group.
5.3. Levels of social difculty and cultural distance hypothesis
The results of the study showed differences between the groups in their level of
adjustment to the new culture (Hypothesis 3). Specically, we found that
Colombians and Sub-Saharan Africans had the highest degree of self-reported
difculties, Ecuadorians had a medium degree, and Brazilians and North Africans
had the lowest. However, the scores of the groups involved in the study did not
follow the pattern which we predicted and which was based on the previous ndings
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 208
regarding cultural distance (Furnham & Bochner, 1986; Ward & Searle, 1991; Ward
& Kennedy, 1993). This indicates clearly that the mere degree of cultural
dissimilarity is not enough to explain a level of social difculty. Yet, the combination
of contextual and intergroup variables predicts more accurately the outcomes of
acculturation.
5.4. Limitations
The results should be interpreted while keeping the limitations of the study in
mind. Firstly, biases of measurement should be considered. Only self-reported
measures were used to obtain dependent and independent indicators. Possible cause
and effect relationships are suggested, yet it is impossible to make denitive
statements. Secondly, response biases represent another disadvantage. Among many
biases associated with self-reported instruments, social desirability and acquiescence
are the most relevant ones when studying immigrants adaptation (Ataca & Berry,
2002). As all participants of our study are from collectivistic cultures, the tendencies
to represent themselves in a socially desirable way and to agree with any statement
are likely to appear (Triandis, 1989). Another limitation of the study is a potential
lack of stability and validity of single measures. Additionally, our sample was of a
medium size and was carried out in a non-random order. Because of these
characteristics of the sample, any generalization of the results should be made with
caution.
In summary, the current study has reiterated the contention of Ward and her
associates (Ward & Kennedy, 1993; Ward, 1996; Ward & Rana-Deuba, 2000) that
both culture-general and culture-specic factors play a role in the adjustment
process. It has also identied both cross-cultural similarities and differences in
variables that predict successful adaptation of immigrants to their new cultural
environment. Variables such as length of residence, immigration status and perceived
discrimination were found to be independent of the context and culture. These
factors can be used to predict the development of sociocultural adjustment at the
general level. On the other hand, our study has demonstrated that other variables
should be considered in order to explain the outcomes of adjustment of
ethnocultural groups in their specic context. Finally, only the limited impact of
the perceived cultural distance on adaptation was demonstrated. It raises doubts
concerning the idea of culturally suited and impossible-to-integrate immigrants
showing that other, non-essentialist variables determine this process more
strongly.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the following Research Grants: MCYT BSO2001-
1236-CO-7-01 and 9/UPV00109.231-13645/2001, from the University of the Basque
Country and by the PhD grant from the Basque Country Government for the rst
author.
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A. Zlobina et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30 (2006) 195211 209
We thank Dr B. Martin and Dr T. Chamorro-Oremuzic for their help in the
preparation of this paper.
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