A systems approach to multilingual language attitudes: A case study of Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Purpose: People are shaped holistically by dynamic and interrelated individual and social-ecological systems. This perspective has been discussed in the context of varied aspects of bilingual experiences, namely language acquisition and development. Here, we applied a Systems Framework of Bilingualism to language attitudes, which may be especially responsive to social-ecological influences. Methodology: One hundred twenty-three French-English bilingual adults (M age = 21.20, SD = 3.21) completed self-report questionnaires on demographic information and their attitudes toward languages. A subset of these bilinguals (n = 73) completed a social network survey. Data and analysis: We used language-tagged social network analysis and geospatial demographic analysis to examine the role of individual characteristics (i.e., first language), interpersonal language dynamics (i.e., person-to-person interactions), and ecological language dynamics (i.e., neighborhood language exposure). Findings and Conclusions: At an individual level, we found that bilinguals' language background (i.e., first language) predicted attitudes of solidarity toward a language (i.e., whether a language is associated with personal identity and belongingness). When considering sociolinguistic layers of influence, we found that bilinguals' social network and neighborhood-level language exposure jointly predicted their attitudes of solidarity toward a language, as well as their attitudes toward the protection of minority languages. Originality: While most studies have examined language experience in a unidimensional nature, the present study investigated multilingual language attitudes by considering multiple systems within a social-ecological framework. Implications: Taken together, the results suggest that several interrelated interpersonal and ecological systems are associated with language attitudes, which could have important implications for planning future language policies in multilingual societies such as Montréal.

What Comes First, Acculturation or Adjustment? A Longitudinal Investigation of Integration Versus Mental Resources Hypotheses.

A focal point in the acculturation literature is the so-called "integration hypothesis," whereby integration (high mainstream cultural engagement and heritage cultural maintenance) is associated with higher psychosocial adjustment, compared to other strategies. Yet, the vast majority of this literature is cross-sectional, raising questions about how best to understand associations between integration and adjustment. Does greater integration lead to greater psychosocial adjustment, as proposed by the integration hypothesis? Or is it the other way around, with more adjustment leading to greater integration, consistent with what we name the "mental resources hypothesis?" This study tests these 2 competing hypotheses in a 4-wave longitudinal study of 278 international students in their first weeks and months in Canada. The results replicate well-documented cross-sectional acculturation-adjustment associations. They also show that baseline adjustment is prospectively associated with later integration and mainstream acculturation, but not vice versa, supporting the mental resources hypothesis but not the integration hypothesis.

Within- and between-group heterogeneity in cultural models of emotion among people of European, Asian, and Latino heritage in the United States.

Research on cultural variation in emotion values and beliefs has usually explained this variation in terms of individualism and collectivism, typically comparing European American against East Asian cultural contexts. This study examined emotion model variability across as well as within cultural contexts in a large sample of young adults of Latino heritage along with people of European and East Asian heritage. Using latent class analysis, we characterized and predicted endorsement of emotion models, distinguishing emotion ideals (the emotions one desires) from beliefs about injunctive norms for emotion (the emotions one believes are appropriate). Students from three universities in different regions of the United States (N = 1,618; 490 of European heritage, 463 of Asian heritage, 665 of Latino heritage) provided data on the desirability and appropriateness of experiencing 19 specific emotions in daily life, as well as their U.S. cultural orientation and sociodemographic characteristics. Four distinct classes/models of emotion desirability and four classes/models of emotion appropriateness emerged. Latent class regression demonstrated that endorsement of emotion models was systematically related to heritage group membership and mainstream cultural orientation. Findings suggest meaningful within-group heterogeneity in emotion models and highlight the ways in which emotion models among people of Latino heritage are both similar to and distinct from models among people of European and Asian heritage. By developing a more nuanced understanding of between- and within-group variation in emotion models and highlighting the Latin American form of collectivism as in need of further research, this study advances cultural psychology, affective science, and their integration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Bridging interpersonal and ecological dynamics of cognition through a systems framework of bilingualism.

Human cognition occurs within social contexts, and nowhere is this more evident than language behavior. Regularly using multiple languages is a globally ubiquitous individual experience that is shaped by social environmental forces, ranging from interpersonal interactions to ambient language exposure. Here, we develop a Systems Framework of Bilingualism, where embedded layers of individual, interpersonal, and ecological sociolinguistic factors jointly predict people's language behavior. Of note, we quantify interpersonal and ecological language dynamics through the novel applications of language-tagged social network analysis and geospatial demographic analysis among 106 English-French bilingual adults in Montréal, Canada. Consistent with a Systems view, we found that people's individual language behavior, on a global level (i.e., overall language use), was jointly predicted by the language characteristics of their interpersonal social networks and the ambient linguistic patterns of their residential neighborhood environments, whereas more granular aspects of language behavior (i.e., word-level proficiency) was mainly driven by local, interpersonal social networks. Together, this work offers a novel theoretical framework, bolstered by innovative analytic techniques to quantify complex social information and empower more holistic assessments of multifaceted human behaviors and cognition, like language. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Cardiac vagal control among migrants: Associations with mainstream acculturation and perceived ethnic discrimination.

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study examines associations between cardiac vagal control and mainstream acculturation by systematically investigating the independent contributions of resting, reactivity, and recovery Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA)-physiological factors contributing to adaptive functioning, including social engagement capacity. This study also examines the moderating role of RSA reactivity in associations between perceived ethnic discrimination and mainstream acculturation. METHOD: The sample comprised 111 migrants from Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) to Montreal, QC, Canada. On average, participants (60 women) were 31 years old and had immigrated 7 years prior to the study. The study design was cross-sectional. We collected both psychophysiological (electrocardiogram) and self-report questionnaire data. RESULTS: All three facets of cardiac vagal control are independently associated with mainstream acculturation: Higher mainstream acculturation was associated with higher resting RSA (ß = .24), lower RSA reactivity (ß = -.27), and higher recovery RSA (ß = .26), controlling for several theoretically relevant covariates. Furthermore, lower RSA reactivity to a discrimination-recall task dampened the relation between perceived discrimination and mainstream acculturation (interaction ß = -.20). CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends prior work linking RSA and mainstream acculturation using a sample of racialized and marginalized migrants. It provides evidence that RSA is related to migrants' adoption of the mainstream culture and may modulate how they handle perceived ethnic discrimination. Thus, this study also provides evidence that RSA is tied to how individuals successfully navigate novel social environments, including novel cultural contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Reasoning strategies explain individual differences in social reasoning.

The dual-strategy model of reasoning suggests that when people reason they can either use (a) a statistical strategy which generates an estimation of conclusion likelihood using a rapid form of associative processing or (b) a counterexample strategy which identifies potential counterexamples to a conclusion using a more conscious working memory intensive process. Previous results suggest that strategy use is a strong individual difference that represents a broad distinction in the way that information is processed that goes beyond deductive reasoning. In 3 studies, we examined if this model could predict individual differences in the processing of social information by examining socially relevant cognitive biases. Study 1 found that strategy use predicted the extent of the self-serving bias. Study 2 found that strategy use predicted use of racist stereotypes even when need for closure was accounted for. Study 3 found that an essentialist prime resulted in a higher level of gender bias among statistical reasoners but that this prime had no effect on counterexample reasoners. These results indicate that the processing distinction between the 2 reasoning strategies underlies individual differences in social biases such as stereotypes, sexism, and racism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk and Resilience Factors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Snapshot of the Experiences of Canadian Workers Early on in the Crisis.

Research highlights several risk and resilience factors at multiple ecological levels that influence individuals' mental health and wellbeing in their everyday lives and, more specifically, in disaster or outbreak situations. However, there is limited research on the role of these factors in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis. The present study examined if and how potential risk factors (i.e., reduction in income, job insecurity, feelings of vulnerability to contracting the virus, lack of confidence in avoiding COVID-19, compliance with preventative policies) and resilience factors (i.e., trait resilience, family functioning, social support, social participation, and trust in healthcare institutions) are associated with mental health and well-being outcomes, and whether these resilience factors buffer (i.e., moderate) the associations between risk factors and said outcomes. One to two weeks after the government recommended preventative measures, 1,122 Canadian workers completed an online questionnaire, including multiple wellbeing outcome scales in addition to measures of potential risk and resilience factors. Structural equation models were tested, highlighting that overall, the considered risk factors were associated with poorer wellbeing outcomes, except social distancing which was associated with lower levels of stress. Each of the potential resilience factors was found to have a main effect on one or more of the wellbeing outcomes. Moderation analysis indicated that in general these resilience factors did not, however, buffer the risk factors. The findings confirm that the COVID-19 crisis encompasses several stressors related to the virus as well as to its impact on one's social, occupational, and financial situation, which put people at risk for lower wellbeing as early as one to two weeks after the crisis began. While several resilience factors emerged as positively related to wellbeing, such factors may not be enough, or sufficiently activated at that time, to buffer the effects of the numerous life changes required by COVID-19. From an ecological perspective, while mental health professionals and public health decision-makers should offer/design services directly focused on mental health and wellbeing, it is important they go beyond celebrating individuals' inner potential for resilience, and also support individuals in activating their environmental resources during a pandemic.

Initial Mainstream Cultural Orientations Predict Early Social Participation in the Mainstream Cultural Group.

This work adopts a perspective that construes acculturation as a dynamic intergroup process, and social contact with members of the new community as a key mechanism underlying cultural adaptation. We argue that migrants' initial self-reported mainstream cultural orientation constitutes an important antecedent of early social participation in the new community. Results from two longitudinal studies of newly arrived international students ( N = 98 and N = 60) show that more positive initial mainstream cultural orientations prospectively predict higher social participation, specifically in the mainstream group, over the following months. This relation held after controlling for important alternative predictors, namely, extraversion/shyness, mainstream language proficiency, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a physiological index of social engagement capacity. These studies focus on the very initial stages of the temporal dynamics of acculturation, contribute to bridging research on acculturation and on intergroup relations, and establish a link between cultural orientations, a subjective attitudinal construct, and concrete social engagement behaviors.

Comprehending Adverbs of Doubt and Certainty in Health Communication: A Multidimensional Scaling Approach.

This research explored the feasibility of using multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis in novel combination with other techniques to study comprehension of epistemic adverbs expressing doubt and certainty (e.g., evidently, obviously, probably) as they relate to health communication in clinical settings. In Study 1, Australian English speakers performed a dissimilarity-rating task with sentence pairs containing the target stimuli, presented as "doctors' opinions." Ratings were analyzed using a combination of cultural consensus analysis (factor analysis across participants), weighted-data classical-MDS, and cluster analysis. Analyses revealed strong within-community consistency for a 3-dimensional semantic space solution that took into account individual differences, strong statistical acceptability of the MDS results in terms of stress and explained variance, and semantic configurations that were interpretable in terms of linguistic analyses of the target adverbs. The results confirmed the feasibility of using MDS in this context. Study 2 replicated the results with Canadian English speakers on the same task. Semantic analyses and stress decomposition analysis were performed on the Australian and Canadian data sets, revealing similarities and differences between the two groups. Overall, the results support using MDS to study comprehension of words critical for health communication, including in future studies, for example, second language speaking patients and/or practitioners. More broadly, the results indicate that the techniques described should be promising for comprehension studies in many communicative domains, in both clinical settings and beyond, and including those targeting other aspects of language and focusing on comparisons across different speech communities.

Second language social networks and communication-related acculturative stress: the role of interconnectedness.

Although a substantial amount of cross-cultural psychology research has investigated acculturative stress in general, little attention has been devoted specifically to communication-related acculturative stress (CRAS). In line with the view that cross-cultural adaptation and second language (L2) learning are social and interpersonal phenomena, the present study examines the hypothesis that migrants' L2 social network size and interconnectedness predict CRAS. The main idea underlying this hypothesis is that L2 social networks play an important role in fostering social and cultural aspects of communicative competence. Specifically, higher interconnectedness may reflect greater access to unmodified natural cultural representations and L2 communication practices, thus fostering communicative competence through observational learning. As such, structural aspects of migrants' L2 social networks may be protective against acculturative stress arising from chronic communication difficulties. Results from a study of first generation migrant students (N = 100) support this idea by showing that both inclusiveness and density of the participants' L2 network account for unique variance in CRAS but not in general acculturative stress. These results support the idea that research on cross-cultural adaptation would benefit from disentangling the various facets of acculturative stress and that the structure of migrants' L2 network matters for language related outcomes. Finally, this study contributes to an emerging body of work that attempts to integrate cultural/cross-cultural research on acculturation and research on intercultural communication and second language learning.