Adaptation and modification of John Berry’s measure of acculturation expectations

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the description of the process of adaptation and modification on the Russian sample Berry’s questionnaire of acculturation expectations. Acculturation expectations are the host population’s (or representatives of dominant ethnic groups) attitudes towards the migrants or members of ethnic minorities. In his own theory of acculturation, John Berry described four acculturation expectations of the host population: “integration” (previously known as “multiculturalism”), “assimilation” (or “the melting pot”), “segregation”, “exclusion”. In addition, Berry developed questionnaire of personal preferences of acculturation attitudes. In our study, we adapted this questionnaire on the Russian sample. In the process of adaptation, we have made some modifications in the questionnaire, increasing twice the number of items, this helps us increase reliability and consistency of the Russian version of this questionnaire. Then we conducted the socio-psychological survey on a sample of the indigenous Russian population of Moscow (total sample size of 198 respondents, including 59 men and 139 women, the average age of respondents 24 years). According to the obtained results, the adapted and modified questionnaire of acculturation expectations can be considered a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the acculturation expectations of host population/ dominant society in the Russian Federation.