Zooming in on proximal life domains : a literature review on family, peer, and school dynamics in adolescents’ acculturation and psychosocial adjustment

Abstract

Current research on acculturation is engaged in a debate over the links between acculturation and psychosocial adjustment, particularly in light of the recent meta-analytic findings of longitudinal studies. During adolescence, young people experience acculturation differently across proximal life domains, within which their development unfolds. Adopting a developmental domain-specific approach, this literature review provides an overview of key acculturation concepts to clarify the family, peer, and school domains for adolescents’ acculturation. It further reviews the most salient acculturation conditions in these proximal life domains that precede adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment directly and indirectly through acculturation orientations. Specifically, this literature review presents domain-specific acculturative conditions linked to socialization processes, intergroup relations, structural diversity, and the approaches schools take towards this diversity. Altogether, the current review advocates investigating adolescents’ acculturation separately in each proximal life domain while considering the effects of the domain-specific conditions as a promising route to address the interplay of acculturation and adjustment during adolescence.