Abstract

Due to influx of immigrants in the United States, it has become essential in cross cultural research to consider cultural variables such as cultural orientation, cultural identity, and acculturation in order to better understand cultural influences on psychological processes and assessment outcomes (Cuellar, 1998). However, there are very few studies that have actually looked at how culture influences neuropsychological test performance (Feltcher-Janzen, Strickland, & Reynolds, 2000). Therefore, in order to better assess culturally diverse individuals and to validly interpret the findings, a conceptual model developed by Betancourt and collaborators (Betancourt & Fuentes, 2001; Betancourt, Hardin, & Manzi, 1992; Betancourt & Lopez, 1993) in studying the role of culture in psychology has been used as a guiding theory to effectively investigate the cultural influence on neuropsychological assessment outcome (e.g., COWAT-FAS & AN, RFFT, CVLT-II, RCFT, TMT, CTMT). Seventy-eight Middle Easterners (ME) and 87 monolingual English-speaking Anglo Americans (MEAA) between the ages of 18-69 years were recruited from the greater Los Angeles community. After proper screening, they were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment battery with an addition of acculturation measure (i.e., ARSMA) for the MEs. In between group comparisons, ME participants, in general, did not perform as well as MEAAs on the neuropsychological tests (p < .05). Furthermore, examination of within group comparison revealed that ME participants with higher levels of acculturation to the dominant U.S. culture performed similarly to the MEAA and better than those who are not acculturated (p < .05). Evidently, the daily functioning of all individuals are not independent of culture and therefore, cultural influence should be taken into consideration when interpreting cognitive test performance.

LLU Discipline

Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

Graduate Studies

First Advisor

Susan Ropacki

Second Advisor

Hector Betancourt

Third Advisor

Jill Razani

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Level

M.A.

Year Degree Awarded

2010

Date (Title Page)

6-2010

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Neuropsychology; Acculturation; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Ethnic Groups -- psychology; Adaptation, Psychological; Neuropsychological Tests; Analysis of Variance.

Type

Thesis

Page Count

x; 57

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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