The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions☆

Abstract This study attempts empirically to distinguish psychological and sociocultural forms of adjustment during the process of cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and five sojourners (Malaysian and Singaporean students in New Zealand) completed a questionnaire which examined psychological well-being (depression) and sociocultural competence (social difficulty) in relationship to the following variables: expected difficulty, cultural distance, quantity and quality of social interactions with both host and fellow nationals, attitudes towards hosts, extraversion, life changes and personal variables such as age, sex, length of residence in New Zealand, cross-cultural training, and previous cross-cultural experiences. Multiple regression analysis was employed to construct predictive models of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Satisfaction with relationships with host nationals, extraversion, life changes, and social difficulty combined to account for 34% of the variance in psychological adjustment. Cultural distance, expected difficulty, and depression combined to account for 36% of the variance in sociocultural adjustment. It was concluded that although psychological and sociocultural adjustment are interrelated, there is a need to regard these factors as conceptually distinct.

[1]  O. Tzeng,et al.  The effects of time and practice upon culture assimilator training , 1977 .

[2]  Af Furnham.  Research in social skills training: A critique. , 1983 .

[3]  A. Furnham,et al.  Value differences in foreign students , 1985 .

[4]  R. Mckechnie.  DEPRESSION: THEORY AND RESEARCH , 1975 .

[5]  R. Brislin,et al.  Cross-cultural perspectives on learning , 1975 .

[6]  O. Klineberg,et al.  At a foreign university: An international study of adaptation and coping , 1979 .

[7]  Colleen Ward,et al.  Cross-cultural transitions and sojourner adjustment in Singapore. , 1989, The Journal of social psychology.

[8]  D. Eden,et al.  Transitional stress, social support, and psychological strain , 1985 .

[9]  Stress, Coping and Adjustment in Victims of Sexual Assault: The role of psychological defense mechanisms , 1988 .

[10]  Fred E. Fiedler,et al.  The Culture Assimilator: An Approach to Cross-Cultural Training. Technical Report. , 1970 .

[11]  S. Bochner,et al.  Anticipated Role Conflict of Returning Overseas Students , 1980 .

[12]  W. Zung.  A SELF-RATING DEPRESSION SCALE. , 1965, Archives of general psychiatry.

[13]  K. M. Lin,et al.  Adaptational problems of Vietnamese refugees. I. Health and mental health status. , 1979, Archives of general psychiatry.

[14]  E. Schild.  The Foreign Student, as Stranger, Learning the Norms of the Host‐Culture , 1962 .

[15]  The nature of American student reentry adjustment and perceptions of the sojourn experience , 1986 .

[16]  Sybil B. G. Eysenck,et al.  A cross-cultural comparison of personality in adults and children: Singapore and England. , 1986 .

[17]  A. Furnham,et al.  THE FRIENDSHIP NETWORKS OF FOREIGN-STUDENTS - A REPLICATION AND EXTENSION OF THE FUNCTIONAL-MODEL , 1985 .

[18]  R. Cochrane.  The Social Creation of Mental Illness , 1983 .

[19]  Adrian Furnham,et al.  Social difficulty in a foreign culture: An empirical analysis of culture shock. , 1982 .

[20]  S. Lysgaand,et al.  Adjustment in a foreign society: Norwegian Fulbright grantees visiting the United States. , 1955 .

[21]  P. Pedersen.  Role Learning as a Coping Strategy for Uprooted Foreign Students , 1980 .

[22]  Y. Y. Kim,et al.  COMMUNICATION PATTERNS OF FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS IN THE PROCESS OF ACCULTURATION1 , 1977 .

[23]  Y. Y. Kim,et al.  A Causal Model of Communication Patterns of Foreign Immigrants in the Process of Acculturation. , 1976 .

[24]  R. Rahe,et al.  A longitudinal study of life-change and illness patterns. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[25]  S. Bochner,et al.  Friendship Patterns of Overseas Students: A Functional Model , 1977 .

[26]  K. Oberg.  Cultural Shock: Adjustment to New Cultural Environments , 1960 .

[27]  A. Furnham,et al.  Culture Shock: Psychological Reactions to Unfamiliar Environments , 1987 .

[28]  A. Furnham,et al.  The Friendship Patterns of Overseas and Host Students in an Oxford Student Residence , 1985 .

[29]  A. Furnham,et al.  The Expectations and Experiences of a Sojourning Temporary Resident Abroad: A Preliminary Study , 1987 .

[30]  J. Berry,et al.  Comparative Studies of Acculturative Stress 1 , 1987 .

[31]  K. David,et al.  Intercultural communication and the adjustment of the Sojourner. , 1971 .

[32]  S. Monroe.  Life events and disorder: event-symptom associations and the course of disorder. , 1982, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[33]  A. Furnham,et al.  The mental health of foreign students. , 1983, Social science & medicine.

[34]  黃堅厚 Chien-Hou Hwang.  Studies in Chinese Personality: A Critical Review 近年中國人人格心理研究之評述(英文稿) , 1982 .

[35]  T. H. Holmes,et al.  The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. , 1967, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[36]  Hans J. Eysenck,et al.  Manual of the Eysenck personality questionnaire , 1975 .