| Poster | Poster Session 11 Program Schedule
02/17/2024
10:45 am - 12:00 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 11: Cultural Neuropsychology | Education/Training | Professional Practice Issues
Final Abstract #46
The Role of Culture in Neuropsychological Test Performance of Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union
Alexsia Ishkhanian, California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, United States
Kayla Goreinstein, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, United States
Douha Louimina, California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, United States
Jill Razani, California State University, Northridge, Los Angeles, United States
Category: Cross Cultural Neuropsychology/ Clinical Cultural Neuroscience
Keyword 1: acculturation
Keyword 2: neuropsychological assessment
Keyword 3: cross-cultural issues
Objective:
Neuropsychological tests, designed to evaluate complex cognitive abilities, are typically developed, and standardized for monolingual English-speaking individuals in the United States or Canada. Consequently, the applicability of these tests to assess bilingual immigrant individuals has not been extensively examined. One group with a distinct pattern of immigration to the U.S. is those from the former Soviet Union. There was mass immigration from this region beginning in the late 1980s and for several decades following. There is now a large aging population from the former Soviet Union in the U.S. that need adequate healthcare including neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study is to assess how cultural factors affect the neuropsychological test performance of bilingual immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Participants and Methods:
A total of 66 fluent, English-speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union were administered tests of language and information processing. Phonemic fluency (F-A-S) and categorical fluency (Animals) were the language tests administered, and the Stroop Test (color name reading, color naming, and interference subtests) was the information processing test administered. Cultural factors are best in accounting for variability in participant performance in verbal fluency tasks (F-A-S and Animal Naming) and Stroop tasks. Additionally, cultural factors such as the percentage of education they obtained outside of the U.S. and acculturation (i.e., the degree to which an individual adopts, acquires, and adjusts to the new, dominant culture) were gathered from each participant.
Results:
A correlation analysis was performed between all neuropsychological outcome measures and the two cultural factors. It was revealed that all neuropsychological measures significantly correlated with both the level of acculturation and the percent of education obtained outside of the U.S. (r values ranged from .25 to .55) with the exception of Stroop A (color word reading). Four stepwise regression analyses, with the two cultural factors used as the independent variable and each of the neuropsychological scores used as the dependent variables, were performed. The findings show that percent of education was the single best predictor for Stroop B and Stroop C, accounting for 16% and 13%, respectively. Acculturation was the best predictor for the phonemic and category fluency tests, accounting for 14% and 30%, respectively.
Conclusions:
Taken together, these findings suggest that the level of an immigrant's acculturation should be considered when assessing their language, specifically, their verbal fluency abilities. However, whether one obtains their education within the U.S. or not, can affect the information processing speed test performance of these immigrant groups.
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