A Escala de Aculturação Integral: Um olhar Integral em aculturação e satisfação com a vida em imigrantes

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the relationship between satisfaction with life and acculturation, and the factors that influence the process of acculturation in immigrants. The proposed hypothesis is that immigration status moderates the relationship between life satisfaction and acculturation, so that the closer the immigrant´s status is to citizenship in the new country, the greater the positive correlation between life satisfaction and acculturation. In the three studies that compose this research, the dominant characteristics of acculturation were identified at the personal, biological, systemic, and sociocultural levels, with the objective of creating the Integral Acculturation Scale (EAI), the first acculturation assessment based on the AQAL (All Quadrants, All Lines) model, from the American philosopher Ken Wilber´s Integral Theory. To achieve the proposed objectives and to test the hypothesis, it was necessary to develop an integral measure of acculturation, and demonstrate its predictive power. The research was carried out using qualitative-quantitative methodology, and consisted of three studies: Study 1, the formulation and fulfillment of the quali-quantitative questionnaire, the “Integral Acculturation Intake”; Study 2, the elaboration of the Integral Acculturation Scale in the pilot test, and then the application and validation of the proposed scale with an international sample of 282 participants; and Study 3, the statistical analysis using structural equation modeling that confirms the hypothesis that the demographic variable “type of immigration” is a moderator of the relationship between satisfaction with life and level of acculturation. The intention is for this measure to be a reference to be used internationally as it continues to be validated with immigrants from cultures not yet explored.