Abstract
International students are differentiated from other populations who work and live in other cultures due to their unique status as temporary sojourners in a foreign country (Martin & Harrell, 1996). The transition between home and host cultures involves a period of adjustment generally described as culture shock (Oberg, 1960; Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). Major differences in the educational and social customs between a student’s country of origin, and the host culture compounds adjustment (Pedersen, 1991). Culture shock results from external changes and differences in the physical environment, e.g., climate, food, transportation, and internal changes such as role differentiation and status loss (Pedersen, 1991). During cross-cultural transition, familiar roles, traditional sources of self-validation and means through which social support is communicated are disrupted (Ishiyama, 1995a, 1995b). Role changes and loss of status in the new culture can have a profound impact on the sense of security felt about one’s personal identity. Crossing cultures may mean shedding prior roles, usual ways of operating in those roles and building new sources of personal identity. There are immediate demands for learning new ways of behaving in the new culture in order to meet role expectations. International students’ capacity for role learning is an important influence on their adjustment (Pedersen, 1991). Along with role changes, if sources of support or other coping strategies are inadequate, international students may experience debilitating stress associated with the adjustment to life in the new culture (Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992; Wan, Chapman, & Biggs, 1992). Thus, an understanding of the relationship between stress and coping can be helpful for appreciating individual differences in way that cross-cultural transitions are managed (Chen, 1999; Lazarus, 1997; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Ryan & Twibell, 2000).
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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Arthur, N. (2004). International Students: Learners in Transition. In: Counseling International Students. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8919-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8919-2_2
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