{"id":{"repo_id":"essex","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.essex.ac.uk:29384"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/essex/oai:repository.essex.ac.uk:29384","repository":{"repo_id":"essex","name":"University of Essex","base_url":"https://repository.essex.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Acculturation Gaps and Adjustment of Migrant Children and Families","abstract":"Research presented in this thesis described a body of work focusing on the examination of acculturation gaps and adjustment of migrant families. This thesis was situated in the field of acculturation gap-distress model, which proposed a negative relationship between acculturation gaps and migrants’ adjustment. Although this acculturation gap-distress model has been studied extensively, findings are largely inconsistent. Therefore, to examine the validity of this gap-distress model and explore alternative models, this research examined the proposed gap-distress relationship in an overall sample of 493 children and 687 parents, through 3 empirical studies, in 4 dyads (i.e., parent-child; mother- and father-child; husbandwife) and across various children’s and families’ outcomes (e.g., children’s wellbeing, family closeness, husbands’ and wives’ relationship quality). In the examination of parent-child acculturation gaps and children well-being, individual acculturation, not parent-child acculturation gaps, was associated with children wellbeing, indicating that the parent-child acculturation gaps were inconsequential for children’s well-being. Instead, a cultural integration approach at the family level emerged. Turning to the examination of mother- and father-child acculturation gaps and children’s well-being and family closeness, children better well-being was associated with a smaller father-child settlement gap while family closeness was associated with a smaller mother-child heritage gap. These results indicate a potentially deleterious effect of the acculturation gap on children and family outcomes and also highlight differential roles of fathers and mothers in acculturation gap-distress research. Lastly, the proposed gap-distress relation was examined in migrant couples. Husbands’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife heritage gap while wives’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife settlement gap. This examination of the acculturation gap-distress model has moved beyond the typical parent-child dyads and highlights the importance to include migrant couples into the research of acculturation gap-distress. Together, the presented research represents an endeavour to advance the acculturation gapdistress research in migrant families.","abstract_html":"Research presented in this thesis described a body of work focusing on the examination of acculturation gaps and adjustment of migrant families. This thesis was situated in the field of acculturation gap-distress model, which proposed a negative relationship between acculturation gaps and migrants’ adjustment. Although this acculturation gap-distress model has been studied extensively, findings are largely inconsistent. Therefore, to examine the validity of this gap-distress model and explore alternative models, this research examined the proposed gap-distress relationship in an overall sample of 493 children and 687 parents, through 3 empirical studies, in 4 dyads (i.e., parent-child; mother- and father-child; husbandwife) and across various children’s and families’ outcomes (e.g., children’s wellbeing, family closeness, husbands’ and wives’ relationship quality). In the examination of parent-child acculturation gaps and children well-being, individual acculturation, not parent-child acculturation gaps, was associated with children wellbeing, indicating that the parent-child acculturation gaps were inconsequential for children’s well-being. Instead, a cultural integration approach at the family level emerged. Turning to the examination of mother- and father-child acculturation gaps and children’s well-being and family closeness, children better well-being was associated with a smaller father-child settlement gap while family closeness was associated with a smaller mother-child heritage gap. These results indicate a potentially deleterious effect of the acculturation gap on children and family outcomes and also highlight differential roles of fathers and mothers in acculturation gap-distress research. Lastly, the proposed gap-distress relation was examined in migrant couples. Husbands’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife heritage gap while wives’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife settlement gap. This examination of the acculturation gap-distress model has moved beyond the typical parent-child dyads and highlights the importance to include migrant couples into the research of acculturation gap-distress. Together, the presented research represents an endeavour to advance the acculturation gapdistress research in migrant families.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sun, Qian"],"institution":"University of Essex","degree_name":"phd","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-12","date_published":"2020-12","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:18:40Z","subjects":["BF Psychology"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sun, Qian"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2020-12-17"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020-12"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Essex"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://repository.essex.ac.uk/29384/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["phd"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["BF Psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://repository.essex.ac.uk/29384/1/PhD%20thesis-Qian%20Sun.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Research presented in this thesis described a body of work focusing on the examination of acculturation gaps and adjustment of migrant families. This thesis was situated in the field of acculturation gap-distress model, which proposed a negative relationship between acculturation gaps and migrants’ adjustment. Although this acculturation gap-distress model has been studied extensively, findings are largely inconsistent. Therefore, to examine the validity of this gap-distress model and explore alternative models, this research examined the proposed gap-distress relationship in an overall sample of 493 children and 687 parents, through 3 empirical studies, in 4 dyads (i.e., parent-child; mother- and father-child; husbandwife) and across various children’s and families’ outcomes (e.g., children’s wellbeing, family closeness, husbands’ and wives’ relationship quality). In the examination of parent-child acculturation gaps and children well-being, individual acculturation, not parent-child acculturation gaps, was associated with children wellbeing, indicating that the parent-child acculturation gaps were inconsequential for children’s well-being. Instead, a cultural integration approach at the family level emerged. Turning to the examination of mother- and father-child acculturation gaps and children’s well-being and family closeness, children better well-being was associated with a smaller father-child settlement gap while family closeness was associated with a smaller mother-child heritage gap. These results indicate a potentially deleterious effect of the acculturation gap on children and family outcomes and also highlight differential roles of fathers and mothers in acculturation gap-distress research. Lastly, the proposed gap-distress relation was examined in migrant couples. Husbands’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife heritage gap while wives’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife settlement gap. This examination of the acculturation gap-distress model has moved beyond the typical parent-child dyads and highlights the importance to include migrant couples into the research of acculturation gap-distress. Together, the presented research represents an endeavour to advance the acculturation gapdistress research in migrant families."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Acculturation Gaps and Adjustment of Migrant Children and Families"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Sun, Qian"],"dc:date":["2020-12-17"],"dc:date.issued":["2020-12"],"dc:description.abstract":["Research presented in this thesis described a body of work focusing on the examination of acculturation gaps and adjustment of migrant families. This thesis was situated in the field of acculturation gap-distress model, which proposed a negative relationship between acculturation gaps and migrants’ adjustment. Although this acculturation gap-distress model has been studied extensively, findings are largely inconsistent. Therefore, to examine the validity of this gap-distress model and explore alternative models, this research examined the proposed gap-distress relationship in an overall sample of 493 children and 687 parents, through 3 empirical studies, in 4 dyads (i.e., parent-child; mother- and father-child; husbandwife) and across various children’s and families’ outcomes (e.g., children’s wellbeing, family closeness, husbands’ and wives’ relationship quality). In the examination of parent-child acculturation gaps and children well-being, individual acculturation, not parent-child acculturation gaps, was associated with children wellbeing, indicating that the parent-child acculturation gaps were inconsequential for children’s well-being. Instead, a cultural integration approach at the family level emerged. Turning to the examination of mother- and father-child acculturation gaps and children’s well-being and family closeness, children better well-being was associated with a smaller father-child settlement gap while family closeness was associated with a smaller mother-child heritage gap. These results indicate a potentially deleterious effect of the acculturation gap on children and family outcomes and also highlight differential roles of fathers and mothers in acculturation gap-distress research. Lastly, the proposed gap-distress relation was examined in migrant couples. Husbands’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife heritage gap while wives’ well-being was negatively related to a husband-wife settlement gap. This examination of the acculturation gap-distress model has moved beyond the typical parent-child dyads and highlights the importance to include migrant couples into the research of acculturation gap-distress. Together, the presented research represents an endeavour to advance the acculturation gapdistress research in migrant families."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://repository.essex.ac.uk/29384/1/PhD%20thesis-Qian%20Sun.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Essex"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://repository.essex.ac.uk/29384/"],"dc:subject":["BF Psychology"],"dc:title":["Acculturation Gaps and Adjustment of Migrant Children and Families"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["phd"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:18:40Z"}