THE U-CURVE ON TRIAL - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL ADJUSTMENT DURING CROSS-CULTURAL TRANSITION

The research examined cross-cultural transition and adjustment of sojo urners in a longitudinal study of psychological and sociocultural nl a daptation of Japanese students in New Zealand Thirty-five newly arrive d students completed questionnaires which monitored depression (psycho logical adjustment) and social difficulty (sociocultural adaptation) a t four time periods. within 24 hours of arrival in the country and at 4, 6 and 12 months in New Zealand. Neither psychological nor sociocult ural measurements of adaptation demonstrated the popular U-cui ce of a djustment. Contrary to the U-curve proposition and in line with our. h ypotheses, adjustment problems were greatest at entry point and decrea sed over time. The magnitudes of the correlations between psychologica l and sociocultural adjustment were also examined over the four time p eriods. As hypothesized the relationship between the two adjustment in dicators was insignificant at the first resting (r = -0.05), however, the r,magnitude significantly increased (r = 0.36, p < 0.05) after IZ months in New Zealand. The distinction between psychological and socio cultural al adaptation?, their relationship and variation over time an d the importance of longitudinal research with sojourners are discusse d. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.