Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Petr Cincala

Second Advisor

Paul Tompkins

Third Advisor

Steve Case

Abstract

Problem

The immigrant population in the UK is rapidly increasing along with correlated increases in the membership of both the British Union Conference (BUC) and the Scottish Mission (SM) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Scottish Mission Pathfinder clubs (SMPCs) have many immigrant children. However, as immigrants’ home culture comes into continuous contact with the British culture, acculturation gaps between first- and second-generation immigrants tend to form naturally as a result of the differing pace with which these two generations acculturate. Adolescents are generally thought to adapt quicker. Parent-child miscommunication and disagreement on critical matters such as values, beliefs, and practices tend to widen the acculturation gap during the struggle to accept each other’s cultural perspective, and this may lead to intergenerational cultural conflict associated with poorer psychological outcomes for youth. Immigrant families are perceived to need awareness and family resources to reduce the occurrence of such conflict. Without such a concerted effort to mitigate intergeneration cultural conflict, the church and its mission may be extensively weakened in Scotland and in the UK given current and projected immigration trends.

Method

This study developed a two-generation mezzo-educational intervention that featured five workshops to bring an awareness of acculturative tasks and their tendency to breed intergenerational cultural conflict. Furthermore, the intervention facilitated participants’ gaining a host of psychosocial skills as family resources to reduce such conflict in a supportive, validating, and mutually empowering social setting for participants. A theological reflection as a premise for asserting beliefs, values, and practices in a relational way was also delivered using an imago-Dei - missio-Dei framework. Using the Brief Family Relationship Scale (BFRS) as entry and exit surveys, as well as a further exit survey on communication and a discussion-based assessment, the intervention used a mixed methods approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Improving attitudes towards relationships within the family and improved communication skills were the key family resources engaged to mitigate intergenerational cultural conflict within the BFRS subscales of cohesion and expressiveness.

Results

The results showed that among SMPC immigrant families, the intervention contributed to improved relationships and communication skills, factors known to reduce intergenerational cultural conflict and support healthy integration into Scottish society. Along these results, were observed improvements in attitudes towards family relationships, positive and meaningful theological reflections and an awareness of the complexities of the acculturation gap-distress model that illustrates the intergenerational cultural conflict challenge.

Consequences

I have personally witnessed how cultural differences easily affect first- and second-generation immigrants, thus resulting in conflict and distress. While intergenerational conflict is common during adolescence, immigrant adolescents are known to be at greater risk of experiencing poorer outcomes for youth. They are largely raised according to a separation acculturation strategy in which pressure is placed on them to accept and conform to the beliefs, value system, and religious experiences of their first-generation immigrants’ country of origin and yet, are subjected to societal pressure and public perceptions of assimilating as they trade with social capital in school. Consequently, the ideal integration of these immigrants through multidimensional acculturation is often impacted, along with their religious experience with dire consequences.

Subject Area

Acculturation, Culture conflict--Religious aspects--Seventh-day Adventists; Conflict of generations; Intergenerational relations--Religious aspects--Seventh-day Adventists; Pathfinders (Organization); British Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

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