Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2561-4410

Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Theodore Bartholomew

Reader 2

Jose Arreola

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Abstract

This proposed study aims to explore the relationship between acculturation strategies and levels of superstitious belief among Mexican immigrants and first-generation Mexican Americans in the United States. In this study, superstitions are explored as cultural anchors to heritage, maintaining cultural identity amid the challenges of immigrating to a new country. Using Berry’s model of acculturation, assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization’s influence on maintaining levels of superstitious belief will be explored, while also testing for possible mediating variables such as acculturative stress, age, and generational status. 150 participants will be recruited from Mexican American cultural hubs to one of two samples, where either interviews or qualitative data will be collected. Interviews taken in the first sample will serve to uncover the origins and significance of superstitions already held by participants. This will inform the measures used to collect the quantitative data in sample two. It is hypothesized that participants who adopt higher levels of assimilation or marginalization strategies will show lower levels of superstitious belief when compared to individuals with higher levels of integration or separation strategies. It is also expected that discrimination’s mediation will be that individuals who experience discrimination from their host country (United States) will hold less superstitious beliefs centered in Mexican Culture. Generational status and age will also mediate, such that older participants who were born in Mexico will show higher levels of superstitious belief centered in Mexican culture. The knowledge gained from this study would fill in gaps in the literature on acculturation and contribute to a deeper understanding of Mexican immigrant experiences.

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