Acculturation

Abstract Acculturation is a form of cultural transmission or adaptation from outside a person's own cultural group, resulting from direct contact (i.e., colonization, immigration) or indirect contact (i.e., media exposure, books). Originating in intercultural studies, acculturation made its mark in health through epidemiological research and in health communication through women's acculturation to a society that objectifies the female body. However, a majority of current health communication research incorporates acculturation to understand immigrant health behaviors. Due to the current trend of patient‐centered communication in healthcare, addressing and understanding a patient's identity is given utmost priority. For individuals experiencing adaptation to new cultures, acculturation provides a pathway for understanding their changing identities. The four main acculturated identities – integrated, assimilated, separated, and marginalized – can help clinicians and health communication experts develop suitable patient–clinician communication/communication‐based interventions for acculturated individuals. A lack of clear understanding of an acculturating individual's identity, on the other hand, may lead to stereotyping and further marginalizing minority population groups. Despite its importance, acculturation research lacks rigor in measurement, defining, and operationalizing culture. Moreover, implicit assumptions made in most acculturation research, such as the inherent “goodness” of acculturation or having a target culture to acculturate toward, reinforces societal power structure and pressures ethnic and cultural minorities to (most often) Westernize, instead of acculturating. Future research needs to focus on developing more rigorous scales and defining and operationalizing culture in the context of the study.