Transition Adjustment
Adjusting to life in the host country can be challenging and
stressful. There will be new foods, unfamiliar behaviors, and often a
different language. The level of the challenge and the amount of stress
experienced will depend largely on each student’s preparation and expectations, personality and their
level of immersion in the host culture.
Individual differences can greatly affect cross-cultural adjustment.
Being high-strung in a laid-back culture, a Muslim in a predominately
Catholic country, a vegan in a country that serves meat at every meal, a
student of color, a woman, a student with a disability, a member of the
LGBT community, etc. all affect a student’s cross-cultural adjustment.
That is not to say that members of these groups do not adjust well, it
is simply to say that these are factors to consider.
The following text provides an explanation of cultural adjustment, a list
of symptoms that students may experience, a description of the stages of
cross-cultural adjustment and tips on how to respond. This information
is based on L. Robert Kohl’s Survival Kit for Overseas Living. The complete edition can be found on Google Books.
What is Cultural Adjustment?
Cross-cultural adjustment, often called “culture shock,” has many contributing factors including:
- being cut off from familiar cultural cues and known patterns
- living and/or working over an extended period of time in a situation that is ambiguous
- having one’s values brought into question
- being expected to function with maximum skill and speed in a setting where the rules have not been adequately explained
Cultural
adjustment is a slow, cumulative feeling of frustration that can
cause intense discomfort. It is often accompanied by hyper-irritability,
anger, resentment, homesickness, and depression. In some cases
distinct physical symptoms of psychosomatic illness occur.
Not everyone will experience a severe case of adjustment, nor will
all the symptoms be observed in any single individual. Many people sail
through cross-cultural adjustment with relative ease, only now and
again experiencing the more serious reactions. But many others do not.
One might say that cross-cultural adjustment is the occupational
hazard of overseas living. One has to be willing to go through it in
order to have the pleasures of experiencing other countries and
cultures.
The following chart lists the multiple reactions which people normally have to cultural adjustment.
Overall Symptoms |
Withdrawal Symptoms
|
Aggressive Symptoms
|
Anxiety |
Physical and/or psychological withdrawal |
Compulsive eating & drinking |
Homesickness |
Spending excessive amounts of time reading |
Exaggerated cleanliness |
Helplessness |
Need for excessive amounts of sleep |
Irritability |
Boredom |
Only seeing other Americans or Westerners |
Family tensions |
Depression |
Avoiding contact with host nationals |
Relationship stress |
Fatigue |
Short attention span |
Excessive chauvinism |
Confusion |
Diminished productivity |
Stereotyping |
Self-doubt |
Loss of ability to work or study effectively |
Hostility toward host nationals |
Feelings of inadequacy |
Returning home early |
Verbal aggressiveness |
Unexplained fits of weeping |
|
Physical aggressiveness |
Paranoia |
|
Deciding to stay but permanently hating the country and its people |
Physical ailments & psychosomatic illnesses
|
|
|
What are the Stages of Cross-Cultural Adjustment?
There are several stages of cross-cultural adjustment, and though
they are not absolutes, most students can see in themselves the
characteristics of these stages.
- Initial Euphoria
Most people begin their study abroad experience with great expectations
and a positive mindset. If anything, they come with expectations that
are too high and attitudes that are too positive toward the host
country. At this point, anything new is intriguing and exciting. But,
for the most part, it is the similarities that stand out. The newcomer
is really impressed with how people everywhere are really very much
alike. This period of euphoria may last from a week to a month, but the
letdown is inevitable. - Irritability and Hostility
Gradually, a student’s focus turns from the similarities to the
differences, and these differences, which suddenly seem to be
everywhere, are troubling. Students tend to overreact and turn little,
seemingly insignificant difficulties into major catastrophes. This is
the stage generally identified as culture shock, and students may
experience any of the symptoms listed in the chart above. - Gradual Adjustment
In this stage the crisis is over, and students are on their way to
recovery. This step may come so gradually that, at first, students are
unaware that it is even happening. Once students can orient themselves
and are able to interpret some of the subtle cultural cues that passed
by unnoticed earlier, the culture seems more familiar. They become more
comfortable in it and feel less isolated from it. - Adaptation and Bi-culturalism
Full recovery will result in an ability to function in two cultures with
confidence. Students who reach this stage will even find a great many
customs, ways of doing and saying things, and personal attitudes which
they enjoy and miss when they return home.
Students often experience “reverse culture shock” upon their return
to the United States. In some cases, particularly where a person has
adjusted exceptionally well to the host country, reverse culture shock
may cause greater distress than the original culture shock.
Responding to Cross-Cultural Adjustment
- Realize that almost everyone who goes overseas for a substantial
period of time experiences cross-cultural adjustment in some form. It is
completely natural.
- Be ready for the lesson cross-cultural adjustment teaches, which is
one that cannot be learned as effectively by any other means: One’s own
culture does not possess the single right way of providing for human
need and enjoyments. Culture is a survival mechanism which tells its
members, not only that their ways of doing things are right, but also
that they are superior. Culture shock stems from an in-depth encounter
with another culture in which the student learns that there are many
different ways of doing things, all of which are valid.
- Select one or two areas of interest and investigate them more thoroughly than the other topics. In other words, get a hobby!
- Begin to consciously look for logical reasons behind everything in
the host culture that seems strange, difficult, confusing, or
threatening. Take every aspect of the experience and look at it from
their perspective. Search for patterns and interrelationships. Students
are often surprised at what they discover when they do this.
- Make a list of all the positive things about being in the host
country. Then tack the list up some place visible. Discuss the positives
with other Americans, particularly those who have a different
perspective on the host culture.
- Avoid those Americans or other foreigners who are in a permanent
state of culture shock and who spend their days seeking company to
commiserate with.
- Don’t succumb to the temptation to disparage the host culture.
Resist making jokes and denigrating comments, and avoid others who make
them. Negativity breeds negativity.Work at maintaining a healthy sense
of humor. Making a cultural fau paux is inevitable. Better to laugh it
off than become a grouch.
- Make friends with host nationals and try to develop a deeper, more
intimate relationship with one or two of them. Discuss adjustment issues
with them—without making it sound like a criticism.
- During the deepest plunges into culture shock, take a trip — get
away to a scenic spot or a nearby country. Returning will feel like
coming home.
Reference:
Kohl, R. L. (1996). Survival Kit for Overseas Living: For Americans Planning to Live and Work Abroad. The complete text can be found online at Google Books.