Does acculturation influence psychosocial adaptation and well-being in Native Hawaiians?

Native Hawaiians have suffered higher disease rates and achieved lower educational and economic levels than other ethnic groups living in Hawaii. This study tests the hypothesis that cultural affiliation protects against psychosocial pathology in Hawaiians. Subjects included 172 Hawaiians of varying blood quantum and 92 non-Hawaiians. The Na Mea Hawai'i, a rationally derived, empirically validated measure of Hawaiian acculturation was administered to all subjects in addition to psychological tests which included 19 visual analogue scales that measure both state and trait variables. The Na Mea Hawai'i proved excellent at differentiating Hawaiians from non-Hawaiians (p = .0001), and it correlated well with blood quantum (r = 0.31, p = .0001). Low acculturation scores among Hawaiians did not correlate with any measure of discontent or psychosocial pathology irrespective of blood quantum. We conclude that Na Mea Hawai'i is a valid measure of Hawaiian acculturation, and that adaptation of the Hawaiians in our sample has been unaffected by level of acculturation.