Brazilian immigrant women : the relationship of marianismo and acculturative stress to acculturation types

The proposed study will investigate how individuals of different acculturation types vary in their levels of acculturative stress and marianismo. First-generation Brazilian immigrant females will complete a demographic questionnaire, as well as measures of acculturation, marianismo, and acculturative stress. Two 1-way ANOVA analyses and one 1-way ANCOVA analysis will be conducted in order to explore the relationship between these variables. It is proposed that Brazilian immigrant women’s levels of acculturative stress and marianismo will vary by acculturation type. It is further proposed that measuring adherance to traditional gender roles as varying by acculturation type rather than level will yield a more nuanced understanding of this relationship by not confounding integrated and marginalized individuals. Implications and limitations of the study’s potential findings will be discussed. Lastly, a program evaluation perspective will be presented to further explicate the implications of the current study for mental health outcomes and the provision of mental health services to Brazilian immigrant women.