PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL ADJUSTMENT DURING CROSS-CULTURAL TRANSITIONS - A COMPARISON OF SECONDARY STUDENTS OVERSEAS AND AT HOME

The study further explores the distinction of psychological and socio- cultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. One hundred and seventy-eight New Zealand American Field Service (AFS) students resid ing in 23 different countries completed questionnaires which contained assessments of the following: Personality (extraversion and locus of control): life changes (Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire); hom esickness, cultural distance, acculturation (cultural identity and cul tural integration-separation): attitudes toward host country; language ability: amount of contact with host and co-nationals; relationship s atisfaction with co-nationals, host nationals and host family; and out come measures of socio-cultural (social difficulty) and psychological adjustment (Profile of Mood States). Stepwise regressions revealed tha t homesickness, external locus of control, life changes, and social di fficulty accounted for 55% of the variance in psychological adjustment . In contrast, cultural distance, language ability, satisfaction with host national contact, cultural separation and mood disturbance explai ned 52% of the variance in socio-cultural adaptation. In the second pa rt of the research, psychological and socio-cultural adjustment of AFS students was compared with a sample of 142 home-based New Zealand sec ondary school students. Although there were no significant differences in psychological adjustment between the two groups, the students who were resident abroad experienced greater socio-cultural difficulties t han the students resident in New Zealand (P < 0.0005), and, as hypothe sized, the correlation between psychological and socio-cultural adjust ment was significantly greater in the home-based students compared to the AFS group (P < 0.0001).