A meta-analysis of acculturation/enculturation and mental health.

This meta-analytic study examined the relationship among the constructs of acculturation, enculturation, and acculturation strategies (i.e., integration, assimilation, separation, marginalization), and mental health. Data from 325 studies (163 journal articles and 162 dissertation studies) were analyzed using a random-effects model, across a broad spectrum of negative mental health (NM: depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and negative affect) and positive mental health (PM: self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and positive affect). Overall, acculturation was favorably associated with both NM (negatively) and PM (positively), whereas enculturation was favorably related only to PM (positively). In fact, enculturation was positively related to anxiety. The specifics of these relations were further examined using the following moderators: (a) researchers' operationalization of acculturation/enculturation (i.e., linearity, dimensionality); (b) contextual influences (i.e., when and where the study was conducted); and (c) sample characteristics (i.e., voluntariness of residency, race, gender, age). Overall, bilinear measures of acculturation indicated a positive association with PM, while unilinear measures did not. External acculturation (e.g., language, behaviors) and internal enculturation (e.g., identity) were most favorably related to mental health. The place of study had differential effects on the relation of enculturation and NM. Acculturation appeared to be especially important to Asian Americans, whereas enculturation was to African Americans. Differential effects of age suggested the need to consider life-span development of needs and social roles in relation to acculturation and enculturation. Both correlational analyses and mean comparisons affirmed that integration was the most favorable acculturation strategy to mental health. Implications for research, practice, and theory are discussed.

Divergent effects of two different doses of intranasal oxytocin on facial affect discrimination in schizophrenic patients with and without polydipsia.

RATIONALE: Hyponatremia and dexamethasone resistance in polydipsic schizophrenic patients are attributable to changes in hippocampal-modulated antidiuretic and stress hormone activity, respectively. The relationship of the neuroendocrine findings to the psychiatric illness, however, is unknown. An impaired ability to identify facial emotions has been linked to core features of schizophrenia and to diminished levels of the closely related hormone, oxytocin, in the polydipsic subset. Intranasal oxytocin enhances facial affect discrimination in healthy subjects. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore if oxytocin reverses impaired facial affect discrimination in schizophrenic patients with, relative to that in patients without, polydipsia. METHODS: Intranasal oxytocin (10 or 20 IU) and placebo were administered on three occasions to five polydipsic schizophrenic patients, eight nonpolydipsic patients, and 11 healthy controls. Subsequently, subjects rated the presence and intensity of six facial emotions. RESULTS: Emotion recognition fell in both patient groups following 10 IU of oxytocin due to an increased propensity to identify all emotions regardless of whether they were displayed. By contrast, emotion recognition improved following 20 IU in polydipsic relative to nonpolydipsic patients due primarily to divergent effects on the bias to identify fear in nonfearful faces. CONCLUSION: The effects of 20 IU oxytocin support the hypothesis that altered neuroendocrine function in polydipsic patients contributes to their psychiatric illness. Further studies are warranted to confirm these findings and assess if oxytocin treatment improves social functioning in this subset. This is the first psychopharmacologic study to compare different doses of oxytocin in the same subject, thus the significance of the opposing responses is unclear.