ABSTRACT

Mexican immigrants in the United States (US) account for 11.4 million individuals, yet little psychological research has examined the role of adult attachment on their acculturation experience and mental health outcome. This study investigated the relations among adult attachment, acculturative stress, and mental health (i.e., psychological distress, life satisfaction) with a sample of 154 non-US-citizen Mexican immigrants. Results indicated that the direct effects of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance on psychological distress were not significant when considering acculturative stress, but both attachment variables indirectly associated with psychological distress via acculturative stress. Consistent with our hypothesis, attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were positively associated with acculturative stress. Higher acculturative stress was positively correlated with psychological distress, but it was not significantly associated with life satisfaction. Further, attachment avoidance was directly associated with life satisfaction, but its indirect effect on life satisfaction via acculturative stress was not significant. Attachment anxiety did not have a significant direct or indirect effect on life satisfaction. Findings highlight the role of acculturative stress in the association of adult attachment and mental health and suggest that psychological interventions targeting at alleviating acculturative stress may be important in reducing psychological distress for non-US-citizen Mexican immigrants with insecure attachment.

摘要

美国 (US) 的墨西哥移民有 1140 万人，但很少有心理学研究检验成人依恋对他们的文化适应经验和心理健康结果的作用。本研究以 154 名非美国公民的墨西哥移民为样本，调查了成人依恋、文化适应压力和心理健康（即心理困扰、生活满意度）之间的关系。结果表明，在考虑文化适应压力时，依恋焦虑和依恋回避对心理困扰的直接影响不显着，但两个依恋变量都通过文化适应压力与心理困扰间接相关。与我们的假设一致，依恋焦虑和依恋回避与文化适应压力呈正相关。较高的文化适应压力与心理困扰呈正相关，但与生活满意度没有显着相关性。此外，依恋回避与生活满意度直接相关，但其通过文化适应压力对生活满意度的间接影响并不显着。依恋焦虑对生活满意度没有显着的直接或间接影响。研究结果强调了文化适应压力在成人依恋与心理健康之间的关系，并表明旨在减轻文化适应压力的心理干预可能对减少具有不安全依恋的非美国公民墨西哥移民的心理压力很重要。依恋回避与生活满意度直接相关，但其通过文化适应压力对生活满意度的间接影响并不显着。依恋焦虑对生活满意度没有显着的直接或间接影响。研究结果强调了文化适应压力在成人依恋与心理健康之间的关系，并表明旨在减轻文化适应压力的心理干预可能对减少具有不安全依恋的非美国公民墨西哥移民的心理压力很重要。依恋回避与生活满意度直接相关，但其通过文化适应压力对生活满意度的间接影响并不显着。依恋焦虑对生活满意度没有显着的直接或间接影响。研究结果强调了文化适应压力在成人依恋和心理健康关联中的作用，并表明旨在减轻文化适应压力的心理干预对于减少具有不安全依恋的非美国公民墨西哥移民的心理压力可能很重要。