adjustment
Definition
Adjustment refers to the extent to which individuals possess the cultural competence to navigate effectively and function well in social networks, social situations, and institutional contexts of the majority culture. In school settings specifically, adjustment encompasses multiple dimensions including motivation to learn, behavioral engagement in academic tasks, compliance with school norms and expectations, and quality of peer relationships. Emotional acculturation—the degree to which immigrant-descent youth adopt the normative emotion patterns of the majority culture—can serve as both a facilitator and impediment to adjustment outcomes, with its effects moderated by contextual factors such as perceived discrimination, where high discrimination contexts may transform potential benefits into liabilities for school engagement and motivation.
Sources: Jasini et al. (2025)
Related Terms
Applications
Adjustment and Emotional Acculturation
Emotional acculturation demonstrates paradoxical effects on school adjustment outcomes for immigrant minority youth. While emotional fit with the majority culture positively predicts contact with majority peers over time, it simultaneously predicts lower school motivation and behavioral engagement, particularly among students perceiving high levels of school discrimination.
Sources: Jasini et al. (2025)
Adjustment and Discrimination
Perceived discrimination functions as a critical moderator of the relationship between emotional acculturation and adjustment. For students perceiving high levels of discrimination, emotional fit with the majority culture strongly predicts steeper declines in school motivation and behavioral engagement, whereas students perceiving low discrimination show no significant negative effects, suggesting that discrimination transforms emotional acculturation from a potential benefit into a liability for academic adjustment.
Sources: Jasini et al. (2025)
