The Adaptation of Indigenous Internal Migrants in Mexico: Acculturation Strategies with the Larger Society

The purpose of the present study is to provide empirical support to the general idea that the conditions of the acculturative context are important to the way people adapt and have positive acculturation outcomes. According to this, lower levels of perceived discrimination and higher levels of perceived security are associated to better cultural adjustment results. This hypothesis is derived from the international MIRIPS project (Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies) and was tested to prove the relevance of these studies in terms of internal migration.

For this purpose, the sample of this study included 440 participants from different indigenous groups (mainly Mixe, Chinanteco, and Zapoteco) from the state of Oaxaca in the southeast part of Mexico, with a majority of them reporting to speak an indigenous language. A total of 212 women and 223 men (and 5 missing values) were surveyed in different high schools of the Sierra Norte mountain range of the state, with ages ranging between 15-24 years old. The results partially support the hypothesis proposed by the MIRIPS project, finding that for these indigenous groups, security is positively correlated to multicultural ideology; however, the proposed relationship between security and tolerance was not supported. Furthermore, there is a negative significant relationship between perceived discrimination and tolerance. Perceived discrimination is positively correlated to assimilation and separation, but not to integration acculturation strategies. These results suggest that there must be some other factors that are relevant when discussing the difference between indigenous groups acculturating within their nation and those found in international migration.