Immigrants-in-context framework: understanding the interactive influence of socio-cultural contexts

Research on immigrants is associated with many methodological challenges. Drawing from a recent study of domestic violence among four generations of Japanese American women, this paper elucidates approaches to address methodological challenges in research with immigrant populations. Preliminary studies in both the respondents' country of origin and the United States assisted the identification of socio-culturally rooted manifestations of partners' violence; the development of an expanded, socio-culturally relevant measure of domestic violence; and the examination of within-group variations in the perception about and coping responses to partners' violence. Based on the findings of this and other studies of immigrants, this paper proposes the Immigrants-in-Context framework to conceptualize immigrants' experiences in the context of interactive and transgenerational influences of the socio-cultural factors in the country of origin and those in the country of immigration/residence. This framework may be applicable to other research efforts aimed at understanding social issues affecting immigrant communities. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.