Acculturation, psychological and socio-cultural adaptation in peruvian immigrant schoolchildren in Chile

Abstract

Introduction: Research on Peruvian immigrants in Chile has been concentrated mainly in adult population, having been little analyzed the situation of adolescent immigrants. Objectives: First, to describe acculturative orientations by 296 Peruvian high school students (women: 51.4%) who attend schools in Santiago. Second, to analyze the effects of the acculturative orientations and the sex of the participants on variables related to their psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Method: The present investigation can be classified as non-experimental, ex post facto, retrospective of a simple group. Results: Boys and girls chose integration as the most preferred acculturative orientation. However, it was differences in their second choice: men preferred separation while women opted by assimilation. Regarding the analysis of the effects of acculturation and gender and their interaction on psychological and sociocultural adaptation, it was found only main effects. Conclusions: adolescent immigrants are a vulnerable group in Chile so that it is necessary to develop more research in this population.