The Measurement of Acculturation in Neuropsychological Evaluations of Hispanic/Latino Individuals across the Lifespan: A Scoping Review of the Literature

OBJECTIVE: Acculturation has been linked to health outcomes in Hispanics/Latinos (H/Ls).

However, there is equivocal evidence of a relationship between acculturation and neuropsychological outcomes.

Various factors limit the ability to subject the evidence to systematic/meta-analytic review.

We sought to examine the current state of the literature in the context of H/Ls and neuropsychology and describe the various limitations of measuring acculturation across the lifespan.

METHOD: Applying a scoping review approach, we identified unique stand-alone (e.g., questionnaires) measures of acculturation.

We focused on psychometric (e.g., internal consistency) and other characteristics (e.g., language, structure/format) and description of the validation samples (e.g., cultural background/country of origin).

RESULTS: A total of 40 unique acculturation measures were identified.

Measures spanned various domains (e.g., language proficiency, food preference, music choice), and relied heavily on linguistic behavioral characteristics.

Internal consistency varied from unacceptable to clinically acceptable ranges.

Variable approaches to development and validation were reported.

Validation samples varied from 22 to 2,048 respondents (median = 380), most of which represented a general adult population.

Only eight measures were validated for use in pediatric populations; none were developed specifically for use with older adults.

CONCLUSIONS: Published measures are outdated, evidence highly variable psychometric and methodological weaknesses, and lack a lifespan perspective.

Several themes in the types of items considered elemental to the acculturative process are revealed and findings are summarized via an “ABC” framework, categorizing items as antecedents, behaviors, and consequent acculturative changes, that lends itself to clinical and research settings.