Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Acculturation Australia'

Refugees arriving in Australia undergo a number of settlement processes including adaptation and acculturation, social support and network development, and an exploration of their ethnic identity. This research examines the settlement processes of mixed marriage refugees from what was Yugoslavia who arrived in Perth, Western Australia in the early to mid 1990's. A mixed marriage is one where the couple are from different ethnic backgrounds. This research has two main aims. The first aim is to examine the processes of acculturation and adaptation, the development of social support networks, and ethnic identity, within the refugees. These processes provide a framework from which to understand the settlement process. The second aim is to investigate the initial settlement programs and supports provided by Australia's government and community groups, and to provide recommendations for future service provision. Throughout the research, the experiences of the refugees are located within the sociopolitical context of the conflict in what was Yugoslavia and their migration. The impact of the refugees' ethnicity and ethnic identity is also considered. The research was comprised of a study in two stages. The first stage involved scoping interviews with critical participants and refugees to identify key conceptual domains for the purpose of guiding subsequent interviews. The second stage consisted of multiple-case, conversational interviews with 12 mixed marriage refugees from what was Yugoslavia. Data was analysed thematically and the results indicated that the participants were moving towards an acculturation outcome of bi-culturalism. The majority have taken out Australian citizenship, were proud of and grateful for it and saw it as a security for the future. The results also indicated that ethnicity impacts on the development of social networks. The participants generally socialised with other mixed marriage refugees as they felt comfortable and emotionally supported by them. Mainstream Australians provided more instrumental support. The participants referred to a feeling of belonging to Australia increasing with participation in the community and have made substantial efforts to understand the Australian way of life. Feeling part of the Australian community was a process that was taking time. The participants described their ethnic identity as either Yugoslav or Bosnian, regardless of their ethnicity. Whilst maintaining this identity, being Australian was also important and did not conflict with feeling Yugoslav or Bosnian. The links between the various settlement processes are discussed as well as the validity of the research process and recommendations for future research and for settlement programs. The results illustrated the diversity of experiences of the participants as well as a commonality resulting from their being in a mixed marriage. With respect to the second aim, the initial settlement experience is characterised by stress, due in part to the nature of the refugee experience and exacerbated by a lack of English, receiving confusing and untimely information, difficulties in finding work and difficulties in meeting mainstream Australians. The refugees who went through the On-Arrival Accommodation program felt less supported than those who went through the Community Resettlement Support Scheme, which offered a chance to meet Australians and provided better material assistance.

This thesis is an empirical study of the post-migration adjustment of married South Korean migrants with children in Australia. It examines the adjustment challenges and the adjustment process of this sub-population. The outcome suggests that pre-migration expectations and marital relationships can play an important role in the adaptation process. Further,marital communication can be a key protective factor. The findings have important implications for the psychological literature and clinical practice.

Doctor of Philosophy
This thesis has tried to construct a comprehensive analysis of a clearly defined community of Egyptian Jews in Australia and France, based on the oral history of Egyptian born migrants. Built around the conceptual framework of forced emigration, integration and acculturation, it looks at the successful experience of this particular migrant group within both Australian and French societies. Like the other Jewish communities of Arab lands, the Egyptian Jewish community no longer exists, as it was either expelled or forced into exile in the aftermath of the three Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967). This thesis argues that the rise of an exclusively Arab-Islamic type of nationalism, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism and the escalating Arab-Israeli conflict constituted the fundamental causes for the demise of Egyptian Jewry. As a consequence, almost half of the Jewish population of Egypt went to Israel. The rest dispersed throughout the Western world, mainly in France, North and South America. In Australia, a small group of around 2,000 found a new home. Apart from those who migrated to Israel, the majority of Egyptian Jews experienced a waiting period in Europe before they were accepted by any of the countries of immigration, a period facilitated by international and local Jewish welfare agencies. My interviewees chose Australia mostly to be reunited with family members. They first had to overcome the racial discrimination of the ‘White Australia’ Immigration policy towards Jews of Middle Eastern origin, a hurdle surmounted thanks to the tireless efforts of some leaders of the Australian Jewish community. With their multiple language skills, multi-layered identity and innate ability to interact with a variety of ethnic groups, they succeeded in establishing themselves in an unfamiliar country that initially welcomed them reluctantly. As such, they can be said to have successfully acculturated and integrated into Australian society, whilst retaining their own cultural diversity. The more numerous Egyptian Jews living in France also successfully acculturated. As a larger group, they were better equipped to assert themselves within the older Jewish/French community and retain their distinctive Sephardi culture. Studies such as the present one provide insight into the process of integration and identity reconstruction, as well as the diverse strategies used to ensure a successful acculturation, and the value of a multi-layered identity.

In recent years, increasing numbers of Chinese migrants have come to Australia to study or to live. In doing so, they have entered a new cultural space. They are faced with many challenges, not only to do with study experience, workplace experience and life-style practices, but also to do with language, communication, culture and identity. Such new challenges can feel dangerous, unstable and uncomfortable as they require moves out of the safety zone of primary cultural experience. This qualitative research study investigates the perceptions and narratives of three Taiwanese-Australian migrants in terms of their experience of this process of acculturation and social identity construction as migrant tertiary students in the new Australian context and of their subsequent experience professionally. Their accounts of where they see themselves to have 'landed' in terms of their acculturation process and identity construction might provide relevant insights to the experience of hybridity which is intercultural Australia.

This study investigated the influence of cultural change and acculturation on health-related help seeking behaviour of Vietnamese-Australians. Using convenience sampling, 94 Vietnamese-Australians, 106 Anglo-Australians, and 49 Vietnamese in Vietnam participated in the study. Beliefs about health and health-related help-seeking behaviours were assessed through measures of common mental health symptoms, illness expression (somatisation, psychologisation), symptom causal attributions (environmental, psychological, biological), and choice of help seeking (self-help, family/friends, spiritual, mental health, Western medicine, Eastern medicine).Vietnamese-Australian data was compared with that of the Anglo-Australian and Vietnamese-in Vietnam. Results revealed that the help seeking behaviours and health related cognitions of Vietnamese-Australians, while significantly different from those of Anglo-Australians, were similar to those of Vietnamese in Vietnam. Specifically, both Vietnamese groups were less likely than Anglo-Australians to somatise and psychologise or attribute the cause of symptoms to environmental, psychological or biological causes. However, the two Vietnamese groups were not different from each other in their style of illness expression or in their symptom causal attributions. The Vietnamese-Australians reported experiencing more mental health symptoms than the Vietnamese in Vietnam but fewer than the Anglo-Australians. In relation to help seeking, the Anglo-Australians chose self-help more than the Vietnamese, but there were few other differences between the cultural groups. To investigate the influence of acculturation on health-related beliefs and help seeking behaviour, Vietnamese-Australians were compared according to their modes of acculturation (integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalisation). Generally, results showed a distinct pattern of response. Those with high levels of acculturation towards the Australian culture (the integration and the assimilation) were found to be most similar (in that they scored the highest in most areas measured) to the Anglo-Australians, while few differences were found between the separated and the marginalised groups. Further, cultural orientation was a powerful predictor of help seeking. In that, original cultural orientation predicted selection of help seeking from Western and Eastern medicine, whereas, the host cultural orientation was a more robust predictor of the other variables. However, neither cultural orientation predicted preference for mental health help. Finally, the study found that, although the combination of symptom score, modes of illness expression, and symptom causal attribution were strong predictors of choice of help seeking of Vietnamese-Australians, acculturation scores further improved predictive power. The results were discussed in terms of the various limitations and constraints on interpretation of this complex data set.

The centrality of the thesis is the impact upon the individual Greek migrant who chose to leave his place of birth by emigrating, repatriating, and subsequently re-emigrating, and how the surreptitious nature of acculturation alters perceptions and thoughts. The causes of such migratory translocations will be analyzed within the sociocultural and historicoeconomic conditions that appertained at the time the decisions were taken to deracinate oneself. The study will provide an analysis of diachronic Hellenic migration and Australian immigration policies (since its inception as a federated state). There will also be an analysis of Australia�s diachronic and dedicated immigration control mechanisms since federation, its various post-immigration integration policies of immigrants, the mass immigration program activated in the post-WWII period, and the adoption and incorporation of multiculturalism as the guiding force in migrant selection and integration. Australia�s history, its cultural inheritance, its socioeconomic development, and its attraction as a receiving country of immigrants are analyzed, as are Australia�s xenophobia and racism at its inception, and how these twin social factors influenced its immigration program. The study examines limitations placed upon social intercourse, employment opportunities, and other hindrances to Greek (and other non-British migrants) immigrants because of Australia�s adoption of restrictive, racially-based immigration policies. The study focuses upon the under-development of Hellas in the first half of the twentieth century, its high unemployment and under-employment rates, and the multiple other reasons, aside form unemployment, which forced thousands of Hellenes to seek an alternative (for a better life) through internal or external migration. Particular emphasis will be placed upon historic occasions in Greece�s history and the influence of foreign powers upon internal Greek politics. The motivations for each distinct stage of translocation, in the lives of the respondents, will be examined within the ambit of social, cultural, economic, and historical context, which will place emphasis on the socioeconomic development of Hellas, the development of Hellenic Diaspora, Australia�s development as a receiving immigrant country, and the effects of acculturation and nostalgia upon first-generation Greek-Australians. Given that the thesis is based upon personal recollections and detailed information that span decades of the respondents� lives, the thesis is divided into four parts for greater clarity and comprehension: the first examines respondents� lives in region of birth, their families� economic, educational, and social environment, scholastic achievements by respondents, employment status, future prospects, religiosity, hopes and aspirations, and reasons for seeking to migrate. The second part examines respondents� lives in Australia, within the contextuality of accommodation, employment, family creation, social adaptation, language acquisition, attitude towards unionism and religion, expectations about Australia, and reasons for repatriating. The third part analyzes repatriation and life in Greece through resettlement, accommodation, children�s schooling and adaptation, relatives� and friends� attitude, disappointments, and longing for things Australian, while it also examines re-emigratory causes and the disillusionment suffered through repatriation. The final part assesses resettlement in Australia, and all associated social, economic, and environmental aspects, as well as respondents� children�s readaptation to different lifestyle and educational system. The thesis concludes with recommendations for possible further studies associated with the thesis� nature.

Australia is a culturally diverse country with many migrant and refugee families in need of mental health services. Yet, surveys indicate that many culturally diverse community members do not feel comfortable in accessing mental health services, often due to a limited understanding of current western practices and the lack of practitioner cultural sensitivity. Despite the apparent need, few investigations have been conducted with migrant families to understand their different values and needs, and identify how they adjust to a new culture. The paucity of empirical research is largely due to the number of variables associated with the process of cultural change, and the fact that culture itself may lend different meaning to symptom experience, and the expression thereof. Moreover, because migrant adaptation is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, it is often rendered difficult to investigate. Cultural groups have been observed to exhibit differences in the pathogenesis and expressions of psychological adjustment, thus making culturally sensitive assessment a particularly arduous yet important task. Although the number of studies conducted on cultural adaptation trends of adult migrants is growing, few investigations have examined the acculturation experiences of children and adolescents. Moreover, the link between acculturation and mental health has confounded researchers and practitioners alike. Considering assessment procedures largely influence therapeutic strategies, it is deemed essential that Australian health care professionals understand language, behavioural, and motivational differences between ethnic groups. In response to appeals for empirical data on culture-specific differences and developmental pathways of emotional resiliency and psychopathology, the present research program examines the complex interplay between situational factors and internal processes that contribute to mental health among young migrants and refugees. The research focuses particularly on anxiety, which is not only the most common form of childhood psychopathology but also frequently coincides with stressful life events such as cultural relocation. Two hundred and seventy-three primary and high school students (comprised of former-Yugoslavian and Chinese cultural groups) participated in this research program. Primary (n=131) and high school (n=142) students completed self-report measures of acculturation, internalising symptoms, social support, self-concept/esteem, ethnic identity, and future outlook, and were compared by cultural group, heterogenic ethnicity, school level, gender, and residential duration variables. Specifically, Study 1 aimed to map the cultural adjustment patterns of migrant youth so as to determine both situational and internal process risk and protective factors of emotional distress. The main findings from Study 1 indicate: (1) patterns of cultural adjustment differ for children and adolescents according to cultural background, gender, age, and length of stay in the host culture; (2) former-Yugoslavian migrants generally report greater identification and involvement with Australian cultural norms than Chinese migrant youth; and (3) the divergent variables social support and bicultural adjustment are not universally paired with acculturative stress, as previously indicated in other adult migrant and acculturation studies. These outcomes highlight the importance of addressing the emotional and psychological needs of young migrants from unique age-relevant cultural perspectives. Building on these outcomes, the aim of Study 2 was to propose an organisational structure for a number of single risk factors that have been linked to acculturative stress in young migrants. In recognising that divergent situational characteristics (e.g., school level, gender, residential duration in Australia, social support, and cultural predisposition) are selectively paired with internal processing characteristics (e.g., emotional stability, self-worth/acceptance, acculturation/identity, and future outlook), a top-down path model of acculturative stress for children and adolescents of Chinese and former-Yugoslavian backgrounds was proposed and tested. To determine goodness of model fit, path analysis was employed. Specific cross-cultural profiles, application for the proposed age and culture sensitive models, and research considerations are discussed.

Background: Acculturation and perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) are established risk factors for elevated blood glucose level or type 2 diabetes mellitus (EBGL or T2DM). These factors are known to affect health of immigrants in various ways, including dietary transition, psychological, sociocultural and economic status change. Although numerous studies on acculturation and PED have been conducted among immigrants worldwide, few studies have been reported for sub-Saharan African migrants across the world. Aim and objectives: This study aims to determine the potential mechanisms by which acculturation and PED influence EBGL or T2DM and psychological health risk factors such as depression, anxiety and stress among sub-Saharan Africans in north-eastern Australia (Darwin and Brisbane). Specific objectives include the assessment of EBGL or T2DM, PED, depression, anxiety, stress (DAS), overweight and obesity prevalence, the distribution of acculturation modes and sociodemographic characteristics in the sample population; determination of EBGL or T2DM, PED, depression, anxiety and stress prevalence by sociodemographic characteristics and finally, the assessment of the associations between independent variables (acculturation, PED, depression, anxiety, stress, dietary factors, high BMI) and the dependent variable (EBGL or T2DM). Methodology: A cross-sectional design and a purposive sampling method were used to recruit participants. A questionnaire was developed by the modification of validated acculturation scales, PED questionnaire, physical activity (PA) questionnaire, DAS scale and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Face-to-face interviews with 170 adults (≥ 18 years old) sub-Saharan African migrants from 18 African countries were conducted. Fasting blood glucose levels (FBGL) of the participants were measured during the interviews. Results: The results show that the prevalence of EBGL (High risk BGL) or T2DM (Diabetic BGL) was 17.6% (2.9% or 14.7%) in the sample population. This prevalence is higher than the recent Australian-wide prevalence (5.1%) and 41.8% of the sample population are in the integrated mode of acculturation, with 14.7% reporting a high level of PED. No previous data from Australia exists to compare these findings, since this study is the first of its kind in Australia. Of those who reported PED, 22.5% were in the integrated mode of acculturation. Similarly, 29.6% of those with EBGL or T2DM were in the integrated mode of acculturation. This is consistent with a previous finding that highly acculturated migrants are more likely to have EBGL or T2DM. Severe anxiety was higher (28.8%) than severe depression (18.8%) and stress (5.3%) in the sample population. The prevalence rates for anxiety and depression in the present study are higher than in the overall population of Australia, and they are higher in males than females. Overweight and obesity prevalence are 43.5% and 24.1%, respectively with more females (34.1%) than males (14.8%) in the obesity category, but more males (45.5%) than females (41.5%) in the overweight category. This is consistent with previous studies in sub-Saharan Africans, where females are more likely to be obese than males. According to literature, the condition was attributable to some African tradition that favours big body size for females as prestigious for the family. It is seen as a sign of fertility and success and wealth in a family. Forty-one-point two percent of the sample population had low income, and those with high income status were more likely to have EBGL or T2DM, compared to low or medium-income groups. Those who migrated to Australia on skilled migration visas were more likely to report PED and have severe depression (SD) and EBGL or T2DM than those who migrated on humanitarian, student and family/spouse visa type. They are also more likely to have higher income than those in other migration visa types. This result contradicts findings of previous studies where socioeconomic status correlated inversely with EBGL or T2DM. Nearly two thirds (62.2%) of the sample population was employed, 88.8% educated. The majority (74.8%) of those that were educated were employed, while 84.2% of the uneducated were unemployed. Relative risk analysis indicates that participants who were employed were 20 times more likely to report discrimination than those that were unemployed, and participants who were educated and employed were 18 times more likely to report discrimination than those that were uneducated and employed. This is consistent with previous findings where ethnic discrimination is reported to occur in workplaces and highly educated migrants indicate being discriminated against more than less-educated migrants. There was no statistically significant association between socioeconomic status and SA or severe stress (SS). Neither was there a statistically significant association between overweight, obesity, central adiposity and EBGL or T2DM. The lack of a significant correlation between BMI, central adiposity and EBGL or T2DM is contrary to previous findings. Most previous studies that examine the relationship between BMI and EBGL or T2DM find a positive association between them. Inverse and statistically significant associations between the consumption of sweets and snacks, fast food, processed meat and EBGL or T2DM were observed. Further analysis reveals that those who were aware of their EBGL or T2DM status had low consumption rates of sweets and snacks, fast food and processed meat. This gave the assumption that perhaps those who were aware of their EBGL or T2DM status had received some instructions on what to eat to manage their diabetic conditions. Australian vegetables were consumed more than the traditional African vegetables in the sample population. This implies that dietary acculturation is taking effect in the population. Correlation and multiple regression analysis show that an integrated and traditional mode of acculturation is significantly associated with EBGL or T2DM. The traditional mode was inversely associated while an integrated mode was positively associated. Strong associations were observed between PED, SD and EBGL or T2DM, reflecting a mediation effect between PED and SD in the association between acculturation and EBGL or T2DM, because when the relation was tested for mediation, the strength of the association between acculturation and EBGL or T2DM reduced, while that of PED remained strong, indicating that PED acts as mediator to acculturation in the association between acculturation and EBGL or T2DM. Conclusion: The prevalence of EBGL or T2DM in this study is higher than the current Australian prevalence and acculturation and PED are risk factors for EBGL or T2DM in the sub-Saharan African immigrant population in north-eastern Australia. Education and employment are risk factors for PED and EBGL or T2DM, and the association between acculturation and EBGL or T2DM is partially mediated by both PED and SD. Generally, the overall results of this study are unique in comparison to previous similar studies in other migrant groups in OECD countries. Therefore, more confirmatory studies are required to develop a targeted health promotion strategy for community and workplace settings, if sub-Saharan Africans are to positively acculturate in Australia.

This case study investigated pedagogical responses to internationalisation by a faith-based secondary school in Australia. Using social constructivism as the theoretical framework the study examined teaching and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Data generated through questionnaires, focus groups, individual interviews and document archives were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis. The findings showed that teachers believed themselves to be ill-equipped to teach international students. Their concerns centred on a lack of explicit pedagogical, cultural and linguistic knowledge to help the students acculturate and learn. Recommendations include the dissemination of school policies to teachers, intentional staff collaboration and professional development to address the teachers’ needs for internationalisation.

This thesis presents new data on the risk of obesity among immigrants to Australia. The findings show that obesity prevention efforts need to include vulnerable ethnic groups, immigrants in the early-mid settlement period, and immigrant families arriving with children and adolescents. In addition, healthier environments are needed to support healthy weight; particularly in poorer neighbourhoods and areas outside Australia's cities.

This thesis investigates the lived experience of 19 fathers from refugee backgrounds from 11 different countries settling in South-East Queensland. Through in-depth interviews and an interpretative phenomenological analysis, it describes their migration journey and the challenges and changes they faced while being a father in a new society. The analysis outlines the barriers to their social inclusion and the acculturation challenges faced as they revisit the meaning of fatherhood, experience the transition from manhood to fatherhood, and embrace their father involvement. Policy, practice and research avenues are proposed to better support their settlement in Australia.

Employing a salutogenic framework and using an exploratory qualitative longitudinal design, this research investigated the wellbeing of Iranian couples who have undergone forced migration to Australia. Ninety-three semi-structured interviews were conducted, and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, the results of which revealed that, despite ongoing distress and challenges, rewards and posttraumatic growth are possible outcomes of forced migration. Implications can inform the Australian Government’s policy and practice around resettlement processes, provide mental health professionals with the opportunity to review the focus of current support programs, and assist NGOs and researchers with vital knowledge about the needs of forced migrants.

Background and Objectives Obesity and some dietary related diseases are emerging health problems among Chinese immigrants and their children in developed countries. These health problems are closely linked to eating habits, which are established in the early years of life. Young children’s eating habits are likely to persist into later childhood and youth. Family environment and parental feeding practices have a strong effect on young children’s eating habits. Little information is available on the early feeding practices of Chinese mothers in Australia. The aim of this study was to understand the dietary beliefs, feeding attitudes and practices of Chinese mothers with young children who were recent immigrants to Australia. Methods Using a sequential explanatory design, this mixed methods study consisted of two distinct phases. Phase 1 (quantitative): 254 Chinese immigrant mothers of children aged 12 to 59 months completed a cross-sectional survey. The psychometric properties and factor structure of a Chinese version of the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ, by Birch et al. 2001) were assessed and used to measure specific maternal feeding attitudes and controlling feeding practices. Other questions were developed from the literature and used to explore maternal traditional dietary beliefs and feeding practices related to their beliefs, perceptions of picky eating in children and a range of socioeconomic and acculturation factors. Phase 2 (qualitative): 21 mothers took part in a follow-up telephone interview to assist in explaining and interpreting some significant findings obtained in the first phase. Results Chinese mothers held strong traditional dietary beliefs and fed their children according to these beliefs. However, children’s consumption of non-core foods was high. Both traditional Chinese and Australian style foods were consumed by their children. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the original 7-factor model of the CFQ provided an acceptable fit to the data with minor modification. However, an alternative model with eight constructs in which two items related to using food rewards were separated from the original restriction construct, not only provided an acceptable fit to the data, but also improved the conceptual clarity of the constructs. The latter model included 24 items loading onto the following eight constructs: restriction, pressure to eat, monitoring, use of food rewards, perceived responsibility, perception of own weight, perception of child’s weight, and concern about child becoming overweight. The internal consistency of the constructs was acceptable or desirable (Cronbach’s α = .60 - .93). Mothers reported low levels of concern about their child overeating or becoming overweight, but high levels of controlling feeding practices: restriction, monitoring, pressure to eat and use of food rewards. More than one quarter of mothers misinterpreted their child’s weight status (based on mothers’ self-reported data). In addition, mothers’ controlling feeding practices independently predicted half of the variance and explained 16% of the variance in child weight status: pressuring the child to eat was negatively associated with child weight status (β = -0.30, p < .01) and using food rewards was positively associated with child weight status (β = 0.20, p < .05) after adjusting for maternal and child covariates. Monitoring and restriction were not associated with child weight status. Mothers’ perceptions of their child’s weight were positively associated with child weight status (β = 0.33, p < .01). Moreover, mothers reported that they mostly decided what (65%) and how much (80%) food their child ate. Mothers who decided what food their child ate were more likely to monitor (β = -0.17, p < .05) and restrict (β = -0.17, p < .05) their child’s food consumption. Mothers who let their child decide how much food their child ate were less likely to pressure their child to eat (β = -0.38, p < .01) and use food rewards (β = -0.24, p < .01). Mothers’ perceptions of picky eating behaviour were positively associated with their use of pressure (β = 0.21, p < .01) and negatively associated with monitoring (β = -0.16, p < .05) and perceptions of their child’s weight status (β = -0.13, p < .05). Qualitative data showed that pressuring to eat, monitoring and restriction of the child’s food consumption were common practices among these mothers. However, mothers stated that their motivation for monitoring and restricting was to ensure the child’s general health. Mothers’ understandings of picky eating behaviour in their children were consistent with the literature and they reported multiple feeding strategies to deal with it. Conclusion Chinese immigrant mothers demonstrated strong traditional dietary beliefs, a low level of concern for child weight, misperceptions of child weight status, and a high overall level of control in child feeding in this study. The Chinese version of the CFQ, which consists of eight constructs and distinguishes between the constructs using food rewards and restriction, is an appropriate instrument to assess feeding attitudes and controlling feeding practices among Chinese immigrant mothers of young children in Australia. Mothers’ feeding attitudes and practices were associated with children’s weight status and mothers’ perceptions of picky eating behaviour in children after adjusting for a range of socio-demographic maternal and child characteristics. Monitoring and restriction of children’s food consumption according to food selection may be positive feeding practices, whereas pressuring to eat and using food rewards appeared to be negative feeding practices in this study. In addition, the results suggest that these young children have high exposure to energy-dense, nutrient-poor food. There is a need to develop and implement nutrition interventions to improve maternal feeding practices and the dietary quality among children of Chinese immigrant mothers in Australia.

In 1975 Indonesian forces invaded Dili, the capital of East Timor. The invasion and ensuing occupation forced thousands of East Timorese to leave their homes and seek refuge in Australia and other countries. This study considers the situation of a particular group of East Timorese refugees: those who fled to Australia during the 1990s and who were children or young adolescents at the time of their flight. Founded upon an understanding of social identity as being constantly transformed though a dialectic relation between the individual and his or her sociocultural surroundings, this dissertation considers the consequences of refugee experiences on individual identity and belonging, as well as the processes of conceptualising self and negotiating identity within changing social and cultural structures. The relationship between conflict and flight, resettlement, acculturation, identity and attachment is explored, and particular attention is given to issues of socialisation and categorisation, age and agency, hybridity, and ambiguity. Through a qualitative anthropological methodology informed by theories of cultural identity, adolescence and cross-cultural socialisation, the thesis seeks to shed light on the various dynamics that have influenced the young East Timorese people’s identity and sense of belonging, and considers the impact of acculturation and socialisation into a new culture at a critical period of the young people’s lives.
Masters Thesis

In 1975 Indonesian forces invaded Dili, the capital of East Timor. The invasion and ensuing occupation forced thousands of East Timorese to leave their homes and seek refuge in Australia and other countries. This study considers the situation of a particular group of East Timorese refugees: those who fled to Australia during the 1990s and who were children or young adolescents at the time of their flight. Founded upon an understanding of social identity as being constantly transformed though a dialectic relation between the individual and his or her sociocultural surroundings, this dissertation considers the consequences of refugee experiences on individual identity and belonging, as well as the processes of conceptualising self and negotiating identity within changing social and cultural structures. The relationship between conflict and flight, resettlement, acculturation, identity and attachment is explored, and particular attention is given to issues of socialisation and categorisation, age and agency, hybridity, and ambiguity. Through a qualitative anthropological methodology informed by theories of cultural identity, adolescence and cross-cultural socialisation, the thesis seeks to shed light on the various dynamics that have influenced the young East Timorese people’s identity and sense of belonging, and considers the impact of acculturation and socialisation into a new culture at a critical period of the young people’s lives.
Masters Thesis

The present study investigated the experience of acculturative stress through the adoption of a holistic experiential approach. It was premised on the notion that refugees are a distinct cultural group owing to the involuntary nature of their decision to settle in Australia, the status conferred on them in accordance with United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) conventions and Australian Governmental initiatives. The major aim of the study was to further understanding of the relationship between the process of migration and resettlement on an individual's mental health through an examination of the cultural, social and individual variables involved. The conceptual foundation of this study involved the integration of a central theory (Berry & Kim's theory of acculturative stress) with three ancillary ones (Kunz's theory on refugee adaptation. Kessler & Neighbors coping model and Tajfel & Turner's theory of social identity). The present study responded to Berry and Kim's (1987) call for further comparative studies which examine acculturative phenomena across a variety of cross-cultural dimensions. The elaborated version of Berry and Kim's model was utilised to account for and explain the differences and similarities in the psychological adjustment process between Iranian migrants (Muslim) and refugees (Baha'i) in Western Australia. A cross-sectional research design utilising the survey technique was adopted. The theoretical constructs were assessed using a battery of tests for which reliability and validity data have been presented. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between the refugee and migrant sample on the experience of acculturative stress. There were, however, differences between the set of predictors of acculturative stress for the refugee. migrant and the total sample. Cultural, emotional and material factors together with self-esteem were the most important predictors of acculturative stress. Social support and mode of acculturation were positively correlated with acculturative stress but failed to make a significant contribution to the explained variance in stress scores. Policy implications for migrant services delivery for refugee populations per se and other small ethnic minorities have also been discussed.

This thesis explores, through the lens of marketing theory, the migratory experiences of a group of Italian–Australians. Migration is generally accepted as a life-changing event, and, as such would be classified as a consumption activity of higher involvement than most consumption activities discussed within the marketing literature. The research employs an interpretivist qualitative methodology and adopts a multiple method constructivist approach to searching for, gathering and analysing data. This methodology is employed to accommodate the exploratory objectives of the study, and the personal and life-changing nature of migration. From an extensive literature review of migration and marketing three classic marketing theories were selected as guiding frameworks for the collection and analysis of data: (1) Firat and Dholakia‟s (1982) four dimensions of consumption patterns; (2) Rogers‟ (1963) theory of adoption; and (3) Sheth, Newman, and Gross‟ (1991) theory of consumption values. As there is great diversity in the source of Australian immigrants a purposeful sampling technique was employed to provide interpretable data. Immigrant families from the Italian regions of Abruzzi-Molise were selected as this group have a number of characteristics of value to this study. The characteristics include: a considerable gap exists between the consumption patterns of their natal and host communities; sufficient time has passed to allow the original immigrants and their families to reflect on their acculturative journey; and they still maintain strong links with their natal communities. Multiple qualitative techniques were employed during primary data collection. Primary data was collected in both Italy and Australia to gain a natal and host perspective. An iterative investigative approach was employed to compare primary and secondary work, to discover different perspectives, and to identify emergent themes. The major finding is that migration is a consumption activity that cannot be classified within the „textbook‟ convenience, shopping, or specialty product classification. Migration is not just the journey from one place to another; it is the journey from one set of consumption patterns to another. The costs and benefits of migration cannot be fully measured in financial terms and, for many, the evaluation process is an ongoing and cumulative process. Migration is a liminal process where the migrant must separate themself from their natal community and then establish themselves in a host community. Therefore, migration involves the establishment of an old-new hyphenated identity; hyphenated to indicate a life in two-parts. Migration involves the choices of what possessions to divest and what to keep, a passage, and then the acquiring of new possessions. However, unlike less involved consumption activities, all future consumption activities are a consequence of the migratory decision. Therefore in addition to the convenience, shopping, and specialty consumption activities the researcher calls for a new classification „seminal consumption activities‟. This study identifies that migration has three distinct time zones pre-migration, migration, and post-migration. Each of the time zones correlates with a respective stage of the buyer decision process pre-purchase, purchase and product delivery, and post purchase. Furthermore, a number of other three part marketing concepts demonstrate a relationship to this process: the three temporal types of involvement (situational, response, and enduring involvement); the three stages of liminality (pre-liminality, liminality, and post liminality; and the three decision qualities (search, experience, and credence decision qualities). The relationships are discussed in detail within the thesis. The seminal nature of migration and the acculturative reflections of the participants benefited one of the guiding theories. As a result, the Sheth et al (1991) theory of consumption values is advanced, new qualities of value3 are uncovered and a number of theoretical and practical gaps are discussed. An emergent conceptual framework that extends the Sheth et al. (1990) theory is discussed and presented. The thesis supports scholars who argue that there is a relationship between values1 and value2 for money. It also supports those who propose that whilst a person‟s values1 are enduring, estimations and assessments of value2 are more situational dependent. The enduring nature of values1 was displayed through the practise and preservation of natal consumption activities, and, the situation nature of value2 was displayed through the creation of a value2 hierarchy of consumption activities. Exploring this seminal consumption activity and the acculturation of Italian-Australians uncovered a number of insights that are important to marketers. However, they are particularly important to marketers operating in a multi-cultural marketplace. Marketers, like other members of a society, are often enculturated to the consumption activities of the dominant ethnic group; as such they can be blind to the dynamics and opportunities of a multi-cultural marketplace. This thesis highlights that the acculturation process is a two-way process where the attractive consumption activities of migrants are retained, and, then often adopted by members of the host society. Migration is generally accepted as a life-changing event, however, in multi-cultural societies, like Australia, migration is also society-changing event. Therefore, migration can be a seminal event at both an individual and a societal level; characteristics which are particularly rewarding to marketers.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001.
"A thesis submitted in the School of Applied Social and Health Sciences at the University of Western Sydney (Nepean) for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, February 2001" Bibliography : leaves 327-343.

This study explores the exchange of cultural information that takes place in the meeting between immigrant and non-immigrant characters in a selection of Australian novels focusing on the theme of migration: Heartland (1989) by Angelika Fremd, A Change of Skies (1991) by Yasmine Gooneratne, Stella’s Place (1998) by Jim Sakkas, Hiam (1998) by Eva Sallis and Love and Vertigo (2000) by Hsu-Ming Teo. The concept cultural translation functions as a theoretical tool in the analyses. The translation model is particularly useful for this purpose since it parallels the migration process and emphasises the power relations involved in cultural encounters. Within the framework of the study, cultural translation is defined as making an unfamiliar cultural phenomenon familiar to someone. On the intratextual level of the text, the characters take on roles as translators and interpreters and make use of certain tools such as storytelling and food to effect translation. On the extratextual level, Fremd, Gooneratne, Sakkas, Sallis and Teo represent cultural translation in the four thematic areas the immigrant child, storytelling, food and life crisis. The first theme, the immigrant child, examined in chapter one, explores the effects of using the immigrant child as translator in communication situations between immigrants and representatives of Australian public institutions. In these situations, the child becomes the adult’s interpreter of the Australian target culture. The role as translator entails other roles such as a link to and a shield against the Australian society and, as a result, traditional power relations are reversed. Chapter two analyses how the second theme, storytelling, is presented as an instrument for cultural education and cultural translation in the texts. Storytelling functions to transfer power relations and resistance from one generation to the next. Through storytelling, the immigrant’s hybrid identity is maintained because the connection to the source culture is strengthened, both for the storyteller and the listener. The third theme, food as a symbol of cultural identity and as representation of the source and target cultures, is explored in chapter three. Source and target food cultures are polarised in the novels, and through an acceptance or a rejection of food from the source or target cultures, the characters symbolically accept or reject a belonging to that particular cultural environment. A fusion between the source and target food cultures emphasises the immigrant characters’ cultural hybridity and functions as a strategic marketing of culturally specific elements during which a specific source culture is translated to a target consumer. Finally, the fourth theme, life crisis, is analysed in chapter four where it is a necessary means through which the characters experience a second encounter with Australia and Australians. While their first encounter with Australia traps the characters in a liminal space/phase that is signified by cultural distancing, the second encounter offers a desire and ability for cultural translation, an acceptance of cultural hybridity and the possibility to become translated beings – a state where the characters are able to translate back and forth between the source and target cultures.

Thesis (Ph.D) -- University of Western Sydney, 2006.
Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

The literature on migrants and social adjustment in Australia has been limited, with theories on acculturation surpassing empirical knowledge. Additionally, most research in this arena has centered on biosocial correlates of adult migrant activity; few Australian based studies have investigated empirically the impact of acculturation strategies on familial and structural marginalization among migrant youth. Using the underpinning constructs of biculturalism across multiple domains, this thesis examines how ethnic self-identification and self-esteem are mediated by the adoption of bicultural (culturally integrated) or culturally separated strategies of adjustment, and how this in turn may relate to negative adjustment outcomes such as alienating migrant youth from their families (familial marginalization) and from salient social/governance structures (structural marginalization) in their lives. This proposed relationship is articulated in a hypothesized 6-factor model relating the constructs of: Self-Esteem, Ethnic Identity, Cultural Integration, Cultural Separation, Familial Marginalization, and Structural Marginalization. The robustness of the relationship between these constructs is then further tested using a scale of self-reported antisocial behaviour. The proposed mediation model is tested across 330 first and second-generation youth migrants from South-East Asia using structural equation modeling (SEM) and multiple-group analyses. The measurement model was evaluated using a series of confirmatory factor analyses to assess the factor structure of each of the 6 latent constructs examined for both first- and second-generation migrant youth samples: Congeneric (1-factor) models were tested separately for each construct, and configural and measurement equivalence across generations was assessed. The full structural model was then estimated and tested for factorial equivalence and multi-group invariance across generation 1 and 2 cohorts using both aggregate and individual item scores. Results from this arm of the study indicate that the hypothesized multi-group model for familial and structural marginalization is well fitting across generation 1 and 2 migrants, and that significant differences exist in the relationship between independent, mediating and outcome variables when comparing generation 1 and 2 cohorts. Results from the second arm of the study exploring the prediction of antisocial behaviour from the proposed model of cultural and social adjustment indicate that self-esteem, familial marginalization, and structural marginalization added significantly to the prediction of antisocial behaviour for the generation 1 cohort, while only structural marginalization significantly predicted antisocial behaviour for the generation 2 cohort. In terms of descriptive data, this study also reports frequency and correlational statistics obtained from preliminary means-testing procedures. This study contributes to work in the field of migrant adjustment by adopting a multidimensional approach to defining and examining the constructs of ethnic identity and acculturation, and by exploring how these constructs interact to predict experiences of marginalization and antisocial behaviour in South-East Asian youth. More globally, this has implications for how cultural identity and socialization practices may be shaped in a range of settings to which young migrants may become exposed (e.g. schools, refugee detention centers, offender rehabilitation programs) to ameliorate the risk of marginalization and criminalization.

Nombre d’analyses prennent la réconciliation comme point de départ et essayent de voir si, ou comment, elle est réalisée dans une des sociétés qui l’invoquent. À l’inverse, notre étude part de l’hypothèse suivant laquelle la réconciliation n’est autre que ce que les gouvernements et les sociétés en font. L’idéal de réconciliation porte en lui des valeurs d’harmonie sociale ou de rapprochement entre positions antinomiques, suppose un processus de reconnaissance et de réparation, cherche à transformer des relations et requiert la mise en oeuvre de réformes. Néanmoins, il n’impose aux sociétés qui l’adoptent, ni le sens de ces réformes, ni un projet de société précis, pas plus que les modalités du ‘vivre ensemble’. Quelle est alors la vraie nature de la réconciliation australienne ? Notre réponse s’organisera en cinq temps : a) définition des modèles de la rencontre interethnique, des modalités du ‘vivre ensemble’, puis des logiques de société ‘acceptables’ dans le cadre de la réconciliation; b) détermination des logiques socioculturelles que gouvernements et acteurs ont voulu promouvoir pendant les années 1990, décennie de la réconciliation; c) analyse et bilan provisoire des actions menées par les gouvernements et les acteurs de la société, puis évaluation de l’influence de facteurs ‘extérieurs’ comme la mondialisation et le temps; d) observation de l’impact que ces acteurs et facteurs d’influence eurent ensemble sur un nombre choisi de communautés aborigènes; e) caractérisation de la réconciliation australienne, selon qu’elle facilita ou entrava l’assimilation, l’intégration ou la séparation des Aborigènes
Much work has been done on reconciliation, yet this study hopes to make a contribution: rather than see reconciliation as an implicit but definite set of ideas, political principles or processes that may or may not be respected by the States which embrace it, we take reconciliation as a broad ideal which does not commit the States to any particular policy or socio-cultural logics. The question we intend to answer is therefore not so much how Australia conformed to the broad and somewhat abstract concept of reconciliation during its ‘reconciliation decade’, in the 1990s. Rather, we intend to shed light on what the Australian reconciliation was in fact, depending on whether it helped the assimilation, integration or separation of Aboriginal people. On some conditions, all three types of socio-cultural logics are indeed possible expressions of the coming together or the harmony ideal for which reconciliation stands. This work therefore aims to determine: a) which of those three types was preferred by the Keating and the Howard governments; b) what socio-cultural processes were carried out by Australian institutions, organisations, groups or people; c) how the governments and the different players succeeded in making their preferred types dominant, taking into account their conflicting views, the weight of globalisation and the passage of time; d) what impact all these influences have had on the ground, and how it might have been different from one Aboriginal community to the other; e) everything considered, which sociocultural process was strengthened or accelerated in the 1990s, and thus, with hindsight, what reconciliation was

The purpose of this research is to investigate the significance of a Tiwi community's history in order to better understand the work of Aboriginal Community Police Officers (ACPO).The situation under study is a workplace on Bathurst Island in the Northern Territory. The literature on workplace education offers the proposition that an understanding of the socio-cultural and historical context of workplaces is fundamental to thinking about workplace education.It is hypothesised that ACPOs have a dual consciousness of their profession and their workplace, and this consciousness has been informed and shaped by their common history.It is argued that this history is characterised by syncretism. The process of acculturation is researched, where police officers draw on experiences with, and knowledge of, both Tiwi and murrintawi societies.An historical account of the Tiwi society is given.A literary device of vignettes is used, followed by a descriptive-analytical interpretation in which historical events and various social-cultural aspects are described, analysed and interpreted
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The growing concern over immigrants’ integration into their new hosting societies has drawn attention to the concept of ‘acculturation’. In consumer research, this attention is manifested in the immigrant consumer acculturation stream of research, which is mainly concerned with how immigrant consumers’ consumption practices and their appropriation of market resources, as well as sociocultural processes, are reflected in immigrant consumers’ identity projects. This thesis intends to address a gap in the consumer acculturation research regarding the relationship between immigrant consumer subjectivity and sociocultural acculturative processes in the formation of consumer acculturation. Through addressing this gap, this study aims to create knowledge about the nature of the interrelationship between immigrant consumer subjectivity and broader sociocultural processes in the formation of immigrant consumer acculturation. This knowledge can lead to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of immigrant consumer acculturation, their identity projects and the role of consumption in this regard. Adopting a post-structuralist approach, and more specifically using Foucault’s ideas on power/knowledge and how they discursively circulate and come into effect in the formation of the subject has enabled this thesis to address this gap in consumer acculturation research. Accordingly, informed by a Foucauldian approach to the formation of the subject, this thesis aims to investigate how immigrant consumers’ subjectivity and the sociocultural processes are integrated in the formation of immigrant consumers’ identity projects and how immigrant consumers make sense of their experiences in the context of immigration. To this end, 20 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with first-generation Iranian immigrants in Australia. To facilitate triangulation and achieve a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, a netnographic study was conducted of two online forums where Iranian immigrants shared their experiences of life in Australia. A hermeneutic approach was adopted in this thesis in order to interpret the interview and netnographic data. It was found that the participants’ consumer acculturation process is patterned in relation to the discursive context in which they are situated. The findings highlight five discourses and the formation of four identity projects amongst the participants. It is found that the circulation and functioning of the power/knowledge dynamic in these discourses, and the participants’ involvement in power relations, results from these discourses, forms their identity projects and affects how they construct and ascribe meaning to their experiences. By adopting a post-structuralist approach, this thesis sheds new light on and broadens our understanding of the formation of consumer acculturation with regards to immigrants’ broader context and how it is related to their subjectivity. The findings highlight how four identity projects amongst participants are constructed as the result of their involvement within five discursive contexts and the circulation of power/knowledge in these discourses. This finding also extends the current discussion on relating macro-level contexts and micro-level contexts in the study of consumers and consumption in the consumer culture theory (CCT) tradition of research. Methodologically, this study contributes to the call to develop the epistemology of CCT beyond the use of existential phenomenology in describing consumers’ experiences as they are lived. Based on the idea of ‘where there is power, there is resistance’, the hermeneutic approach was used in order to identify discursive power relations from the resistance side of the relationship.

碩士
國立東華大學
觀光暨休閒遊憩學系
104
Overseas working holiday has become the preferred mode of travel among Taiwanese young tourists. Previous studies suggested that overseas working holiday provides the opportunity for holiday makers to deeply experience local life and culture and enables them to earn salary at the same time. However, living in a foreign culture environment may face cross-cultural adaptation to the foreign culture and local life. Thus, this study aims to examine the acculturation experience of the tourists when working holidaying in Australia and Japan and to explore the relationship between acculturation process and place attachment. The purposive sampling and snowball sampling method were employed in this qualitative study. Data were collected through semi-structured interview with 31 working holiday tourists. By adopting thematic analysis, this study finds out that working holiday experience includes interpersonal interaction, work experience, local life, and travel experience. The research findings reveal that place attachment was embodied by affective place identity and functional place dependence. The results from this study indicated that language barrier might be the main attribute affecting acculturation experience in Australia and Japan. It is believed that the findings of this study pave the way for further understanding of working holiday experience.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The present investigation is a project in applied linguistics which looks at second language acquisition (SLA) from a social psychological perspective. The study is cross-sectional correlational by design and draws on two social psychological models of SLA, namely: Gardner's (1985) socio-educational model and Schumann's (1978) acculturation model of SLA. The structured interview and survey methods were used to elicit the attitudes toward the speakers of Australian English and motivation for learning English among first generation non-English speaking adult migrants who were permanent settlers in, or citizens of, Australia. The Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR) scale was used as a global and unobtrusive measure of English language proficiency. The study situates the socio-educational and acculturation models within recent developments of attitude, acculturation, motivation, and SLA theory; explores the differences in attitudes and motivation as a function of respondents' ethnic background and length of residence; and examines the relationship among the various acculturation, motivation and English language proficiency measures.The recurring themes are those of conceptual complexity, of integrativeness which is usually understood in SLA as the learners' social integration and psychological identification with the speakers of the target language, and the impossibility to separate the social from the individual level of analysis in SLA research. The results help to understand the evaluations and stereotype that migrants hold of Anglo-Australians and the values that underlie them. The results also lend support to the proposition (e.g. Dornyei, 2005) that an alternative interpretation of integrativeness in SLA is possible. The findings could be informative to those involved in policy making and in delivering education to migrants.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The present investigation is a project in applied linguistics which looks at second language acquisition (SLA) from a social psychological perspective. The study is cross-sectional correlational by design and draws on two social psychological models of SLA, namely: Gardner's (1985) socio-educational model and Schumann's (1978) acculturation model of SLA. The structured interview and survey methods were used to elicit the attitudes toward the speakers of Australian English and motivation for learning English among first generation non-English speaking adult migrants who were permanent settlers in, or citizens of, Australia. The Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR) scale was used as a global and unobtrusive measure of English language proficiency. The study situates the socio-educational and acculturation models within recent developments of attitude, acculturation, motivation, and SLA theory; explores the differences in attitudes and motivation as a function of respondents' ethnic background and length of residence; and examines the relationship among the various acculturation, motivation and English language proficiency measures.The recurring themes are those of conceptual complexity, of integrativeness which is usually understood in SLA as the learners' social integration and psychological identification with the speakers of the target language, and the impossibility to separate the social from the individual level of analysis in SLA research. The results help to understand the evaluations and stereotype that migrants hold of Anglo-Australians and the values that underlie them. The results also lend support to the proposition (e.g. Dornyei, 2005) that an alternative interpretation of integrativeness in SLA is possible. The findings could be informative to those involved in policy making and in delivering education to migrants.

This thesis explores place-based experiences of non-Indigenous persons in Australia. It examines the extent to which it is possible for non-Indigenous persons to enter deeply into Indigenous ways of seeing and/or knowing place and what the implications of this may be in terms of personal identity and belonging in Australia today. The thesis draws upon the emerging cross-disciplinary field of place studies and is embedded in the discursive space of the encounter between Western and Indigenous knowledge systems. The Indigenous concept of ganma, meaning ‘meeting place’, the meeting of saltwater and freshwater bodies, is the organising principle by which the encounter is examined. Because place-based experiences are the central focus of this study, phenomenology has been chosen as the methodological framework that can hold the complexity, multilayered meaning and ambiguity characteristic of the human experience. What informs this research is a hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry. The specific methods used to carry through such an approach involve three aspects: observations of and conversations with Aboriginal Yuin Elder Uncle Max Harrison in order to shed light on the cross cultural experience; open-ended phenomenological interviews with four participants who received land-based teachings with the Elder aimed at bringing forth the quality of their experiences; and first person phenomenological research through different forms of textual production that reflect the nature of deep engagement and dialogue with place. The discussion chapters confirm the complexities of the encounter between two cultures yet demand a rethink of the intercultural space, the ganma. A new notion of ganma is proposed where a shared sense of place between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons is Participants in the research had a powerful and profound embodied experience of Aboriginal culture, of Aboriginal place or country. These outcomes derive not through borrowing from or wholesale appropriation of another culture, but from direct experiencing and through direct dialogue. The nexus of the interchange is revealed to be an exceedingly complex structure. First, place is no blank space - it is inscribed and saturated with meaning. Country continues to exert its influence, inform, evolve and reveal itself. The potency of country is particularly strong when that site is a sacred site. Second, the influence of the Aboriginal Elder, as mediator of the teaching sites, has considerable impact. Third, the individual’s own psychic contents are brought to bear in any relationship with place. It is posited that an unhinging takes place that allows the shift from one mode of experiencing reality, a Western way of inhabiting the world, to another mode, an Indigenous way of being in the world. The venturer into the new ganma straddles both worlds, is able to adjust to the transfer of knowledge from one cultural context to another and adopts aspects of both cultures into their new conceptual framework. This new merging of the ancient and the modern incorporates place as inscribed with ancient meanings and place with new meanings and new inscriptions. Narratives of place embody the evolving notion of switching modes of reality to switching modes of being as new ongoing forms that challenge existing cultural explanations. The integration of an Aboriginal worldview in non-Indigenous persons may be leading towards the development of a new sensitivity that connects us with place, more informed by Indigenous ways of being.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis examines the counseiUng needs of ethnic migrant groups, in particular the counselling needs of Maltese-Australian females and their female descendants. Research indicates that some Maltese migrants in Australia have experienced acculturation difficulties. Maltese- Australian women record a high prevalence of depression. Reports indicate that children of Maltese- Australian migrants experience lower self- esteem and more parent-child conflict than their Anglo- Australian peers. Research indicates that some members of the Maltese- Australian community, in particular Maltese -Australian females experience more mental illness than other groups and that this may be attached to experiences of unresolved acculturation stress. Children of Maltese- Australian females are at risk of being affected by trans-generational acculturation stress Theraputic interventions for Maltese-Australian females need to target specific cultural needs, identity confusion and experiences of unresolved acculturation stress. An integrated trans- theoretical model of counselling was recommended and included a culturally focused Narrative, Existential and Family therapeutic model for Maltese- Australian females and their female descendants.

Background. Worldwide, a large body of literature is devoted to studying the experiences of international students and the challenges they face. Major issues reported are language, cultural, academic and financial difficulties, as well as discrimination and social isolation. Asian students, for example, experience more psychological difficulties than other groups of international students. There are only a small number of studies of international nursing students' experiences in Australia, with none focusing on factors contributing to acculturative stress among Chinese or Nepalese nursing students. Given the increasing enrolments from these countries and given their dominance at the Australian Catholic University (the study site), this thesis is an attempt to address the gap in the literature. Aim. The aim was to explore Chinese and Nepalese international nursing students' experiences while living and studying in Australia. The specific objectives were to compare the two groups' levels of acculturative stress, sense of coherence (SOC), social support, ways of coping and depression; to examine the correlations between these measures; and to understand the predictors of acculturative stress. Method. This study comprised three phases. Phase A was a Master of Philosophy project that focused on Chinese international nursing students' (n = 119) experiences using a quantitative research design. Upgrading to a PhD project, Phase B and Phase C were added and focused on a comparison between Chinese and Nepalese international nursing students' experiences through a mixed methods design. Phase B used five questionnaires to measure the levels and inter-correlations of acculturative stress, depression, sense of coherence, ways of coping and social support of the participants (n = 187). Phase C, a qualitative design, used one-to-one interviews (n = 52) to supplement the quantitative findings. Results. Both student groups showed high levels of acculturative stress, with the Nepalese students rating higher than that of the Chinese. The Chinese students had a moderately low SOC, but the Nepalese students' scores were even lower. No participants displayed significant depression. There were no significant statistical differences between the two groups in terms of social support or ways of coping. The Chinese students adopted problem-focused coping strategies more often, while the Nepalese students used emotion-focused coping strategies. A significant positive correlation was found between acculturative stress and depression, and between SOC and social support. There was also a significant negative correlation between acculturative stress and sense of coherence, between acculturative stress and social support, and between depression and sense of coherence. The predictors of acculturative stress were identified as religion, sense of coherence, depression and perceived satisfaction with social support. Qualitative findings supplemented these results. The dominant problem among both groups was acculturative stress, which was associated with academic, financial and culture-related difficulties.Conclusion. The current study provides a more in-depth understanding of the factors contributing to acculturative stress among Chinese and Nepalese international nursing students. Insights produced should assist universities to offer more effective support for international students, including academic literacy skills. Findings should also assist international students to better prepare for the Australian study experience.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Australia and accounts for the second highest disease burden in disability-adjusted life years. Meanwhile, according to a recent report 28.1% of the estimated resident population of Australia was born overseas; this is the highest proportion of immigrants in the past 120 years. Patterns of CVD risk, incidence, and mortality vary significantly across different ethnic population groups. This means that the demographic change in the Australian population due to overseas immigration is likely to alter patterns of CVD in terms of incidence, prevalence, and mortality in both the short and long term. These changes may challenge existing health policies, models of service, and guidelines for prevention and care in Australia. Therefore, it is now important to understand the risk for major CVD and risk factor profiles in immigrants compared to the Australian-born population, and how these factors change according to acculturation. This thesis specifically aims to better understand risk factor profiles and CVD in East Asian immigrants and the effect of increasing acculturation. METHODS: The thesis applied a variety of research methods to address these research aims. First, a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis was performed to investigate the prevalence of smoking in East Asian populations living in western countries, and then to quantify the effect size for the association between acculturation and smoking prevalence in these populations. Second, a new cross-sectional study was designed and completed, and the data analysed in order to investigate and assess the factors related to vitamin D status, as a possible CVD risk factor, in East Asians living in Canberra. Third, I examined whether mathematical models used for the prediction of vitamin D status were valid and tested the accuracy of different ways of modelling the data to improve prediction, using data already collected in a case-control study as well as published data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination study. Last, an analysis of data from a population-based cohort study that was linked to hospital admissions and mortality records was conducted in order to assess CVD risk profiles according to region of birth and acculturation level and to investigate hospitalisation for CVD as East Asian immigrants become acculturated to the host country. RESULTS and DISCUSSION: The systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies showed that East Asian-born women were far less likely to smoke than East Asian-born men and Australian-born individuals. The prevalence of smoking in East Asian-born men was high compared to western-born counterparts and smoking cessation was uncommon. However, the prevalence of current smoking was generally lower in men, but higher in women, compared to that of the native country and in association with longer duration of residence. Nevertheless, analysis of baseline cross-sectional data from the population-based 45 and Up Study, in Australia, showed that the prevalence of current smoking among Asian-born men was about the same as their Australian-born counterparts, and increased in relation to longer duration of residence. This contradicts the findings of the meta-analysis, and may be specific to Australia or specific to the 45 and Up Study, where the questionnaire was offered only in English, so that less acculturated immigrants may not have participated. The cross-sectional Asian Australian Health Study, based in Canberra, revealed that vitamin D deficiency in East Asian-born immigrants was common, and greater acculturation was associated with higher vitamin D status in this population. Higher vitamin D status was associated with a lower risk of hypercholesterolemia, but not other markers of cardiometabolic ill-health in this study. Because of the cross-sectional nature of the study, it is not possible to assess whether this is a causal association; it appeared to be mediated by physical activity. The studies testing the validity of prediction models for vitamin D status, as used in large health studies, showed that these may have poor prediction accuracy and a high risk of bias due to incorrect use of instrumental variables in the modelling. Furthermore, support vector regression modelling was shown to provide more accurate prediction of vitamin D status compared to multiple linear regression. The analysis of linked data from the population-based 45 and Up cohort study indicated that CVD risk factor profiles of East Asian immigrants tended to approximate those of Australian-born with increasing levels of acculturation. The association between region of birth and age at immigration to CVD risk varied across different types of CVD and was likely to be determined by a complex interaction of factors related to both the host country and the country of origin. CONCLUSIONS: This thesis explored the association between acculturation, putative CVD risk factors, CVD related hospitalisation, and all-cause mortality in East-Asian-born immigrants to western countries, mainly Australia. The risk of incident CVD incident is lower in EastAsian immigrant populations than in the Australian-born population. However, changes in the prevalence of various risk factors with increasing acculturation suggest that the pattern of CVD risk in Asian immigrants will change toward that of the Australian-born population over the coming years, as these immigrants become acculturated and adopt unhealthy diets and women are more likely to smoke, but there are healthier patterns of physical activity. Having identified these trends with acculturation, there are real opportunities, with targeted, culturally appropriate health promotion materials, to maximise the opportunities to make the transition to Australia one that improves, rather than detracts from, the health of this growing immigrant group.

This dissertation has investigated the impact of the acculturation and repatriation processes and the language experiences of French academic sojourners on their perceptions of cultural identity. This dissertation was based on three substantive themes: culture shock, reverse culture shock and cultural identity issues.

Under-utilisation of mental health services is widespread globally and within Australia, especially among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Improving service access is a priority, as is the need to deliver culturally competent services to the CALD communities. Having migrated to Australia in waves for approximately 150 years from China and South East Asia for various social, political and economic reasons, the Chinese population in Sydney is now the fastest growing non-English speaking ethnic group. There is a need to better understand the impact of culture on the emotional experiences of these Chinese in Australia. How do Chinese make sense of their depressive episodes? To address this question, this study explored the ways participants reach out for medical and/or non-medical help. Lay concepts of illness underpin these decisions and were thus unveiled. Mixed-method research design provided the opportunity to bring together multiple vantage points of investigation: population mental health, transcultural psychiatry and medical anthropology. A study combining quantitative survey and qualitative focus groups was undertaken in metropolitan Sydney. Narratives on symptoms, explanatory models and help-seeking strategies were articulated by focus group informants. Surveys covered demographics, symptom-recognition, previous depressive experiences and professional help sought. Depression measurement tools were cross-culturally validated. Self-ratings of ethnic identities and the Suinn-Lew Self-Identity Acculturation Scale were used to quantify Chinese participants' acculturation level. This allowed comparisons between 'low-acculturated' Chinese', highly-acculturated' Chinese and Australians. Survey results showed comparable levels of symptom-recognition in all subgroups. Focus group discussions provided rich data on informants' help-seeking strategies. Highly acculturated Chinese closely resembled the Australians in many study variables, yet qualitative data suggested cultural gaps beyond language barriers in influencing service use. Participants believed that trustful relationships could work as the bridge to link services with those in need. The implications for Australia's mental health policy include recognising the importance of rapport-building and the existence of cultural gaps. The study indicated professionals can benefit from acquiring information about the mental health beliefs both of individual clients and the wider ethnic communities in which they belong, and respecting the cultural differences between helper and helped as the first step towards cultural competency.

The formation of student diasporas in western universities is a manifestation of the globalization and internationalization of higher education, and has necessitated studies about international students’ adaptation to such universities. Statistics of the last decade show that there has been a significant flow of international students to Australian universities, and a large proportion of this student cohort comes from South East Asian and South Asian countries. Whilst there has been a good deal of research on international students from South East and Far East Asia, who share a Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) background, there are relatively very few studies on South Asian students, particularly postgraduate students from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (defined as South Asian for this study). This qualitative study about the adaptation experiences of postgraduate coursework students from South Asian countries fills some of the gap that exists in the body of literature about international students. The study, conducted at a cross-sectoral Australian university in Melbourne, referred to with the pseudonym Southern University (SU), has utilised a longitudinal qualitative approach to explore from an ‘emic’ perspective the adaptation experiences of ten postgraduate coursework students from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The students were studying in four faculties at SU, and participated in in-depth interviews and focus group discussions over their first two semesters. The study considers the students’ adjustment process in the Australian academic landscape from their pre-arrival expectations to their settlement after two semesters, and is structured to consider three phases of their experiences – initial, transitional and endpoint – in negotiating new academic norms and genres, including spoken communication. The study identifies a number of dimensions along which differences are evident in the students’ approaches and strategies in adjusting to their studies and lives as postgraduates. In academic adjustment, all the postgraduates demonstrated incremental progress which was marked by varying levels of perceptual and attitudinal changes in understanding the new academic culture. Whilst the students shared a common goal of undertaking an Australian postgraduate degree to enhance their employment prospects, two broad types of strategists emerged: initiators of self-development and system compliers. The study also notes that the postgraduates, through their physical presence in Australia and becoming qualified with a western education, negotiated new, hybrid and empowered identities for themselves. In its limited exploration about the students’ social acculturation, the study notes that some of them followed a selective integrative approach while others adopted assimilatory process, and they all indicated a hybrid state of acculturation to Australian culture. The study also uncovers that, besides their academic goals, many of the postgraduates had a largely hidden agenda of long term settlement in Australia.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
This project examines the sociolinguistic situation of bilingual Saudi children in Australian early childhood educational settings. It investigates the social factors surrounding the children and these factors’ effectiveness in the sociolinguistic growth of these young learners of English as a second language (ESL). It is acknowledged that the ESL child’s supportive social network including parents, friends, teachers, and the media can facilitate their social integration either inside or outside the school. Children’s social and cultural backgrounds together with their native languages have a crucial role to play. Additionally, learning a second language is the initial step in the process of acculturation. Researchers indicated an interrelation between acculturation and learners’ achievement level in the second language. The learners’ language competence is seen to be influenced by their desire to communicate with the target culture. Integration into the target community can lead to successful acquisition of the second language. A crucial factor is the learners’ attitude held toward the new culture. Practically, the research looks at the formal and informal sociolinguistic environments surrounding ESL children. It investigates the main social factors affecting ESL children’s acculturation and their implications regarding Saudi children, and other sojourners, in Australia. It aims to specify the sociolinguistic hindrances Saudi children face either in the Australian context or when they return to Saudi Arabia, and to identify strategies provided by parents and teachers to foster their children’s acculturation, reacculturation, and bilingualism. The research used two types of methods: semi-structured interviews and a structured questionnaire. The interview study had two groups of Saudi mothers: the acculturation group and the repatriation group. A total of 20 interviews reflecting Saudi mothers’ viewpoints regarding the acculturation and reacculturation of their children form the basis of this study; five of them were conducted with returnees to Saudi Arabia. The structured questionnaire was administered to 30 teachers who had dealt with Saudi children in early childhood educational levels within the region of Newcastle. The results of the research highlight how ESL children are influenced by their families’ religious and cultural backgrounds. They are not only crucial for Saudi children but also for young ESL children from diverse backgrounds because they focus on essential aspects of child acculturation and second language acquisition (SLA). It is hoped that the results will be beneficial to ESL learners and to the field of linguistics in general.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Increasingly, cultural diversity is a feature of the Australian nursing workforce due to globalisation and global movement of the workforce. Whilst much of this diversity has resulted from general migration over generations, a significant proportion results from nurses who migrate after qualifying as a nurse in another country. The participation of these nurses in the nursing workforce has the potential to enrich workforce culture and practice. However, cultural diversity in the workplace has also been reported as challenging for both incoming and receiving nurses; this calls for more research into the context, culture and experiences in multicultural workplaces. This study examined how overseas qualified nurses (OQNs) and Australian nurses (ANs) work together in the Australian context. Specifically, it explored the experiences of OQNs and ANs working together in a Local Health District (LHD). Unlike previous studies, this study aimed to examine and give voice to both OQNs and ANs using Critical Social Theory as the theoretical framework and Interpretive Description as the methodological framework. The study enabled articulation of the nurses’ perspectives of factors contributing to their experiences, explored the practices and underlying mindsets that both groups of nurses employed while working together, and identified strategies or resources that helped to overcome some of the difficulties they experience in their working environment. The experiences of these nurses were compared with the expectations for and intentions of RNs in Australia formally outlined by professional, organisational policies and regulations. Findings suggest that the experiences of the participants were personally, professionally, organisationally and socio-culturally constructed. All nurses were committed to providing safe and quality nursing care to their patients and to a collaborative working relationship with each other. However, the extent to which they perceived they were ‘working together’ in a novel situation was questionable in that they were not equipped to work with ‘differences’ and ‘the unknown’. They reported having difficulty in building optimal working relationships due to experiences where exclusion, bullying, distrust, disrespect, racism and lack of organisational and supportive leadership were evident in their practice environment. Therefore, there was professional and cognitive dissonance, and power differentials in their working relationships. The study identified that facilitative influences for them to work together well included how well the nurses themselves managed any dissonance, power differential and differences through attempts at collegial engagement and high levels of civility as well as through strategic organisational support. The study assists to build on knowledge of the topic and to guide the development of strategies to enhance cross-cultural experiences of both OQNs and ANs and provide suggestions for reciprocal benefits. Further, in addressing this area of ongoing concern in health care settings, the findings also inform workforce policy and future research and educational strategies related to OQNs and ANs in the workplace and for the Australian nursing profession.

The present study explored cultural identity in minority culture adolescents living in rural and remote regions of North Queensand Australia. Cultural identity can be defined as a process involving cognitive appraisal which results from self awareness achieved either through the collective experience within a membership group or the individual perception as we compare ourselves to a reference group. The present study focused particularly on the work by Jean Phinney and her colleagues (Phinney, & Devic‐Navarro, 1995) who found that adolescents of minority cultures tend to undergo a process of self‐discovery and exploration of their cultural and ethnic roots following self‐challenging experiences such as racism. The authors proposed three distinct stages in the process of achieving an ethnic and/or cultural identity: (1) cultural identity is not an issue and therefore is unexplored; (2) increasing awareness about ethnicity likely to follow experiences of racism; (3) coming to terms with one's cultural identity (acceptance). The stage‐wise nature of cultural identity construction and achievement was of particular interest in the present study, with a focus on clarifying whether minority culture Australian adolescents undergo a process such as that described by Phinney and her colleagues, when actively searching for and/or achieving cultural identification. It was argued that the experience of cultural identification involves a multifaceted and complex process that may not to be smply the outcome of collective negative experiences such as racism, as suggested by Phinney and her colleagues. Rather, it is likely to be the result of a range of experiences, ‐of which racism may be one‐, interacting over time (Alipuria, 2002). Another main objective in this study was to examine the predictive value of Berry's (1992) Attitudes to Acculturation Strategies Scale to explain differences if any in perceived Australian (national/civic) identity between Anglo‐Australian (AA) and minority culture or culturally and linguistically diverse background (CLDB) Australian adolescents. Convenience samples of junior high school (year 8) and senior high school (year 12) adolescents were drawn from four different high schools located in regional and rural North Queensland, Australia. Approximately 415 students ranging from 12 to 19 years of age were asked to respond to a questionnaire during class time. One hundred and six of the participants were identified as of culturally and linguistically diverse background or CLDB (non‐English‐speaking migrants and indigenous Australians). The study included intra‐group (between CLDB age samples) and inter‐group comparisons (between CLDB and Anglo‐Australian samples). The study involved a cross‐sectional field survey including individual variables such cultural identity search (active exploration of cultural roots), identification with an original culture, incidence of racism, phenotypic characteristics of respondents, attitudes to acculturation, individual and collective self‐appraisal, and group‐based variables including parental variables, and socio‐economic and geographical statuses. The present study found that Phinney et al's, (1992) predicted relationship between racism and identity, when mediated by active exploration of one's culture of origin was supported when phenotype was controlled for. A significant relationship between active exploration of one's cultural origins and identification with that culture was found, but not for experiences of racism and active exploration of one's roots for minority culture adolescents overall. In turn, a relationship was found between racism and identification with an original culture for those CLDB adolescents who reported Caucasian phenotype. Therefore, it was concluded that Phinney's model succeeds in predicting racial identity, but not necessarily cultural identity. There were no differences with respect to the incidence of racism for girls and boys and across the age groups. However, youth who reported Asian and indigenous Australian features (phenotype) experienced racism significantly more than the Caucasian‐looking CLDB youth. As expected visible ethnicity was a major factor in shaping cultural identification. Those children who described themselves as "Caucasian‐looking" tended to identify themselves as ʺAustralianʺ. However, children who reported phenotypic characteristics as being consistent with those of Asian and Indigenous Australian background ended to report biculturality rather than an ʺAustralianʺ identity or original culture identification. Racism was not found to be the critical catalyst for cultural exploration as suggested by Marcia, (1980, cited in Bosma, Graafsma, Grotevan, & De Levita, 1994) and Phinney (1991), however, it was when visible ethnicity (phenotype) was controlled for. Interestingly, a large majority of CLDB participants reported experiencing racism, regardless of whether they were visibly ethnic or not. Moreover, those who perceived themselves to be Australian tended to report a lesser incidence of racism. This may indicate that there is pressure to conform to social norms and if youth do not subscribe to the identity of the majority they may suffer discrimination and prejudice as a consequence. Moreover, while Indigenous Australian youth seem to have translated the term "Australian" to encompass being of Indigenous background also, migrant background children in contrast, appear to have experienced role incongruence; that is the overwhelming majority of them reported identifying with being "Australian" but less than half reported identifying with their culture of origin. Results indicated that racism is not necessarily a catalyst for cultural exploration and identification in some minority cultre adolescents. Positive, in‐group, identity‐shaping experiences such as speaking a second language at home and partaking in social and cultural activities appear to be strngly associated with cultural identity achievement. There were no maturation effects for either identity search or cultural identity, with both early and late adolescents reporting similar patterns of responses. This outcome extended to situational identity also, with no age differences being found with respect to original culture identification at home, at school and with peers. Civic or national identity (the meaning of being Australian) yielded no age differences either; however, older adolescents tended to describe being Australian as an asset more so than their younger counterparts. Ego‐identity stage at which respondents found themselves made a difference with respect to global self‐esteem, with higher self‐esteem being reported by those who reported being at the moratorium stage (being aware of one or more original cultures but not as yet committing to them). In contrast, those who were at the diffused stage (not yet aware of an identity) reported lower self‐esteem. Thus, for multicultural adolescents, being aware of two or more cultural realities/experiences may be conducive to higher self‐esteem, than not being aware of them at all. Ego‐identity stage had no effect on other self‐appraisal indicators (coping, self‐image and optimism for the future). A strong, positive association between individual and collective (in‐group) perceptions was found. Attitudes to acculturation were not related to identity search, or cultural identity except for assimilated and integrated attitudes: the lower the search the lower the assimilation attitudes, while the higher the original identification the more integrated the attitudes. In addition, original culture identity was found to be positively linked to collective appraisal (in‐group perceptions). With respect to parental variables, English speaking ability and family composition were not associated with identity search or original culture identification. There was no link between settlement time (whether parents were recent arrivals or established migrants) and cultural background of parents and youth's original culture identification. Similarly, neither parental employment status nor occupation appears to be associated with identity search or original culture identificaion. With respect to national or civic identity, CLDB youth were found to be six times more likely to report being "unsure" of being Australian than AA adolescents, regardless of age and sex. In addition, minority culture youth scored lower on the assimilated and marginalized attitude scales than the Anglo‐Australians, as expected, with no differences between the two cultural groups for integrated and separated scores. In addition, younger youth tended to score higher on separated and marginalized attitudes to acculturation sub‐scales, with little difference in scores for integrated and assimilated scores for both age groups. Finally, girls scored significantly higher on integrated scores, but scored lower for assimilated, separated, and marginalized sub‐scales. Thus, older youth, regardless of age, and girls overall show a more mature, more tolerant attitude than boys. Older youth and females reported a less positive self‐image; however, older youth exhibited higher global self‐esteem.