Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec;59(6):1133-1141.
doi: 10.1002/ijop.13239. Epub 2024 Sep 8.

The associations between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation among Arab immigrants

Jasper Van Assche  1   2   3 , Azzam Amin  4 , Hisham M Abu-Rayya  5   6
Affiliations

The associations between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation among Arab immigrants

Jasper Van Assche et al. Int J Psychol. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

This contribution investigates differences in self-construal and emotional expressivity among Arab immigrants and non-immigrants. Furthermore, it examines the role of acculturation styles and perceived emotional acculturation in predicting these outcomes among Arab immigrants. Using a sample of 1249 self-identified Arabs (629 immigrants in Western Europe and North America; 620 non-immigrant Arabs in the Mashriq and Maghrib regions), we found that collectivist self-construal was significantly lower, and positive emotional expressivity was significantly higher among immigrant, than non-immigrant, Arabs. High home country acculturation (also in combination with high host country acculturation) was the strongest predictor of collectivist self-construal. Immigrants' perception of the positive emotional expressivity of people in their host culture was the strongest predictor of their personal positive emotional expressivity. These results were replicated using the Euclidean distance method to measure acculturation. Hence, the study provides valuable insights into the relationships between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation styles, specifically among Arab immigrants.

Keywords: Acculturation; Arab immigrants; Emotional expressivity; Self‐construal.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Abu‐Rayya, H. M., Berry, J., Grigoryev, D., & Sam, D. (2023). The integration hypothesis: A meta‐analysis of the ICSEY project data using new methods. British Journal of Psychology, 114, 819–837. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12656
    1. Abu‐Rayya, H. M., Lepshokova, Z., Grigoryev, D., Berry, J., & Alnunu, M. (2023). Basic values as a motivational framework relating individual values with acculturation strategies among Arab immigrants and refugees across different settlement contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1094193. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1094193
    1. Abu‐Rayya, H. M., Tobias, N., Amin, A., & Kluas, B. (2024). Examining the circumplex value structure and the person‐environment value congruence hypothesis in middle‐eastern and North‐African (MENA) countries. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 6, 100176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2023.100176
    1. Alnunu, M., Amin, A., & Abu‐Rayya, H. M. (2021). The susceptibility to persuasion strategies among Arab Muslims: The role of culture and acculturation. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 574115. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.574115
    1. Arends‐Tóth, J., & van de Vijver, F. R. (2006). Assessment of psychological acculturation. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 142–160). Cambridge University Press.

LinkOut - more resources