Marginality,Modernity,and Anxiety in Indochinese Refugees

Abstract

Indochinese refugees to the United States face major psychological adjustments to a modern, industrialized society. This exploratory study measures marginality, modernity, and anxiety in a group of Vietnamese and Laotian refugees. As predicted, the refugees score higher in marginality and anxiety and lower in modernity than a random sample of Americans. A negative relationship is found for marginality and anxiety for the Laotians, and no significant relationship between these two variables is found for the Vietnamese. On the other hand, a positive relationship between anxiety and marginality was found for the American sample. These findings question the relevance of the concept of marginality when studying the psychological states of refugees.

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