A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD CONSTRUCT - CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION

The dominant Picture of cross-cultural adaptation still, with some exc eptions, features a reified process of recovering from culture shock o r culture-related stress. The purpose of this article is to put cross- cultural adaptation back into perspective, reconnecting it with its ro ots in sociopsychological adjustment theory. Cross-cultural adaptation represents in essence a common process of environmental adaptation. F ar from being culture specific, ''culture'' shock is simply a frustrat ion reaction syndrome. A model of cross-cultural adaptation based on s ociopsychological adjustment theory and applied to the findings of dec ades of cross-cultural investigations is presented. It holds that all adjustment is a cyclical and recursive process of overcoming obstacles and solving problems in present-environment transactions. It is the i ndividual who chooses how to respond, and in so doing creates his or h er own adjustment. Cultural adaptation is a continuum. Sojourners exhi bit a broad range of degrees, modes, and levels of adaptation. Adaptat ion is also more than the sum of the subadjustments that compose it. W orking one's way into a culture can produce fundamental changes in the sojourner commensurate with a process of resocialization. When, in th e adaptation process, socialization is extensive or adjustments are pa rticularly difficult, sojourners can be ''reborn'' by the experience.