Remote acculturation gaps, family conflict and psychological wellbeing among Turkish emerging adults

This study examined remote acculturation gaps among 204 Turkish mother–emerging adult dyads (N = 408; emerging adults: M age = 21.35, SD = 1.62, 77.3% women; mothers: M age = 48.27, SD = 5.32; ethnicity: all Turkish). Acculturation gaps were assessed via differences in U.S./Turkish orientation, familism, and gender ideology. Mediation analyses showed that Turkish-orientation gaps were directly associated with higher depressive symptoms in emerging adults. Familism gaps were associated with greater mother–child conflict, which in turn was associated with depression, anxiety, and stress; these indirect associations were significant but modest (β =.07–.09). Gender ideology gaps were associated with greater conflict but not with distress, and U.S.-orientation gaps were associated with neither. Findings highlight intergenerational cultural discrepancies as one correlate of family conflict and psychological distress in a non-migrant, non-Western context.