Is Social Capital Portable? Acculturating Experiences of Indian Immigrant Men in New York City

Immigrants depend on within-group social networks for social support, including information related to social and cultural adjustment related information. Within-group social networks are linked to higher mutual concern and reciprocity, lower acculturative stress and lower depression among immigrants. Current directions in immigrant health research highlight the need to understand the formation and roles of these social networks during the acculturation process in the context of global connectedness, transnational connectivity and geographically separated social networks. Grounded in a social capital approach and a social ecological framework, this qualitative, community-based participatory study examines the social networks of men who migrate from India to New York City in both their pre- and post-immigration contexts. Drawing upon the participants' narratives, the author illustrates the influences of social capital upon acculturative stress in post-immigration socio-cultural contexts. A model linking pre-immigration practices, pre-immigration expectations and post-immigration experiences is presented, along with its implications for community-based interventions.