4 A Novel Brief Measure of Acculturation and its Association with Subjective and Objective Cognition

Abstract

Objective:

There is equivocal evidence that acculturation is associated with cognition. Various factors may contribute to ambiguous findings in the neuropsychology setting, including psychometric limitations of tools available for assessing acculturation as well as the frequent conflation of bilingualism with acculturation. Additionally, neuropsychological research on acculturation and cognition has largely failed to account for bidimensional models of acculturation, which have greater empirical support over unidimensional models. In response to these limitations and the theoretical literature on acculturation, we developed the Perceived Identity & Ethnicity Scales (PIES), a brief rating scale system to quickly (<2 minutes) capture an individual's perceived acculturative identity across several domains. In the current study, we sought to (1) provide initial psychometric support of the PIES and (2) examine how it relates to cognition in a culturally and linguistically diverse sample.

Participants and Methods:

We recruited 242 individuals from both university and community samples (age=23.7±7.6, range 18-72; <12 Years of Education=4%; 78% Female; 58% Hispanic/Latin American; 69% middle SES; 22% educated outside the USA). In addition to demographic questionnaires, participants completed the PIES; an established measure of acculturation (the Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire, BIQ) and bilingualism (Bilingual Language Profile, BLP); measures of mood (the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales, DASS; Apathy Evaluation Scale, AES); and of self-reported cognitive functioning (Everyday Cognition, ECog). A subsample of Spanish speakers (n=86) also completed a cognitive battery validated for use in this population (the Spanish English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales, SENAS). For the first aim, we examined the reliability, validity, and dimensionality of the PIES in the full sample. In the Spanish-speaking subsample, we examined the relationship between the tool and both subjective and objective cognition using linear regression controlling for age, education, sex/gender, and premorbid intellectual functioning.

Results:

Measures of internal consistency and dimensionality supported a bidimensional model of acculturation; identification with culture of family origin (PIES-O) was not related to identification with US American culture (PIES-U; r=0.036, p>0.05). Cultural preference scores from the BIQ were associated with PIES-O (r=-0.322) and PIES-U (r=0.277; both ps<0.001) in the expected directions. PIES-O (r=0.350) and PIES-U (r=-0.432) were associated with the ability to speak a language other than English on the BLP (both ps<0.001). PIES-U, but not PIES-O, was also strongly associated with other BIQ and BLP scores as well as with receiving education outside of the USA at medium to large effect sizes (rs=0.3 to 0.6; all ps<0.001). In the subsample, PIES-O and PIES-U were not associated with subjective cognition as measured by the ECog (AR²=0.016, p>0.05); global cognition as measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; AR²=0.046, p>0.05); or SENAS cognitive composite scores (AR²=0.016, p>0.05) after controlling for covariates.

Conclusions:

Findings provide strong initial psychometric support for the utility of the PIES in the assessment of acculturation. Moreover, these results further support the bidimensional model of acculturation. Acculturation as measured by the PIES was not associated with cognitive abilities in this highly educated and mainly female cross-sectional sample. Longitudinal research accounting for acculturation is needed to elucidate these relationships.