Development of a new scale for measuring acculturation: the East Asian Acculturation Measure (EAAM).

Given the paucity of appropriate measures to assess the acculturation patterns of East Asian immigrants in the United States, a new acculturation instrument was developed and evaluated. One-hundred and fifty nonclinical East Asian immigrants (75 males and 75 females) were administered the East Asian Acculturation Measure (EAAM) and provided demographic information concerning length of stay in the United States and gender. Satisfactory reliability is reported for the four acculturation scales: assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Length of stay was not associated with separation but was significantly positively associated with assimilation and integration and significantly negatively associated with marginalization. Gender was not associated with any of the acculturation scales. The findings suggest that the EAAM may be a useful tool for researchers and clinicians to investigate the acculturation patterns of East Asian immigrants.