Introduction

This part of the introduction will pertain a somewhat brief but detailed introduction to me as a person, my experiences, and educational background. After finishing high school in 1982, I attended Alcorn State University in Mississippi on a football scholarship. After playing football for the first 2 to 3 years of my academic career, I decided to get serious about education. In order to get serious about my educational goals, I knew that transferring to another university where I did not know anybody was something that must be done. I ended up transferring to The University of Southern Mississippi (U.S.M) and managed to graduate with a B. S. in Criminal Justice; consequently, I joined the Hattiesburg Mississippi Police Department in 1990. In 1991, I applied for and was accepted in graduate school at U.S.M. in Criminal Justice. I continued to work as a police officer until completing my M.S. in 1993. I had 3 years of law-enforcement experience and a Master's Degree in the field of Criminal Justice when I applied for a promotion within the Hattiesburg Mississippi Police Department. I was not promoted for reasons unknown and thus applied for the doctoral program in School Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. I later obtained an M.A. in School Psychology and in 2001 obtained a doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology.

During the time I was working on my dissertation, I accepted a job with the Federal Bureau of Prisons; consequently, my hiring date was 1999 and I completed my doctoral degree in 2001. For 2 years, I had to drive 12 hours round trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in order to complete my dissertation. While working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, I decided to obtain a graduate degree in Counseling. This was a weekend program; thus, I could work and attend college at the same time. I currently work with the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a substance abuse specialist. I also have a private practice in Georgia as a mental health and substance abuse professional. I decided to share my story about acculturation before starting a conversation about the topic.

Acculturation is a process by which a person from one cultural group adopts the beliefs and practices of the host culture. The dominant theory views acculturation as a linear process. Within this linear perspective, the person who is considered to be a minority moves toward the complete adoption of the customs of the dominant culture and the subsequent relinquishment of their traditional practices. This is not considered to be healthy because most individuals loss a sense of their own identify in order to fit in; consequently, the word sell-out might be applied to this person. As further research was conducted on acculturation, professionals and lay people were able to redefine their working concept about healthy acculturation. Healthy acculturation is a product of pro-social learning and functioning. The concept of healthy acculturation means maintaining a good balance between your cultural perspectives and those of others.

Mental health professionals and researchers have become keenly aware of the importance of understanding the process of cultural adaptation. Cultural adaptation has been characterized primarily by aspects of contact with and exposure to the mainstream culture. Another aspect related to acculturation is cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is promoting the culture or language of one nation. Within this concept, we are all one culture and cater to one understanding of the individual perspective. Cultural imperialism does have some advantages. It promotes the ideals of a collective whole; however, it might represent an extreme view within the cultural rollercoaster. If minorities are forced into cultural imperialism, it might cause even more psychopathology and distrust. The key here is the concept of being forced to change who you are because it might not be correlated with success. The individual who is culturally balanced appears to be more adaptive than those that are on one extreme or the other.

The acculturation process is currently considered to be multidimensional, including physical, psychological, financial, spiritual, social, language, and family adjustment. From a physical perspective, individuals who try to acculturate might appear to present a more acceptable appearance in order to fit in. Psychologically, the person who is going through the acculturation process in a healthy manner appears to be more psychologically in tune with positive mental health. Financially, people who are able to acculturate in a healthy manner seem to be more stable over the long-term. Spiritually and socially, the person who has managed to acculturate in a healthy manner to American society is better able to function. Language is pertinent to individuals who do not speak English.

The common mindset for most people in America is the belief that in order to receive any support from this country you should speak English. So if you are not able to communicate in English, you might not be able to truly acculturate into American society. The process of acculturation can include the family of the individual. Family members who are able to become acculturated might not be accepted within the family that does not view acculturation as that big of an issue. From the physical perspective, the attributions that represent whiteness are considered to be more attractive and less threatening. From a psychological perspective, you feel better about yourself when you are accepted as part of the dominate culture. Other variables of acculturation that require further study include: education, wage, urbanization, settlement patterns, population densities, changes in socialization practices, and pressures to change under the impact of these experiences.

The person who decides to attend college might be considered to be more acculturated than those who do not. Education or the lack of it can be linked to potential or possible employment. Some minorities might have a negative perception about education and think that the individuals who were able to obtain a degree might be sell-outs and only were able to obtain what might be deemed as White or European knowledge. The goals of acculturation were not conceptualized as moving toward any particular culture or value system; consequently, they are considered to be multi-lineal and thus providing many options for the individual to pick from. If the individual chooses to not accept the dominant culture, he or she can separate into their traditional culture or reject both of the cultural life styles. Within the multidimensional perspective pertaining to acculturation, the individual has more than one healthy choice to make. The multidimensional perspectives cause less...