THE IMPACT OF VALUE DISCREPANCIES AND CULTURAL-IDENTITY ON PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOCULTURAL ADJUSTMENT OF SOJOURNERS

This study builds on earlier research by Searle and Ward on the prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions; however, this investigation is extended to a more diverse sample of sojourners and additionally examines cultural identity and value discrepancies as predictors of adjustment. One hundred and fifty-five sojourners (tertiary students from 42 countries, resident in New Zealand) completed a questionnaire which assessed psychological (mood disturbance) and sociocultural (social difficulty) adjustment in relationship to the following variables: cultural knowledge, cross-cultural experience and training, attitudes toward host culture, personality (extraversion and locus of control), cultural distance, loneliness, amount of contact with host and co-nationals, cultural identity, and values. Multiple regression analysis indicated that loneliness and cultural distance combined to account for 27% of the variance in mood disturbance. Cultural identity and cultural knowledge, by contrast, were significant predictors of social difficulty (14% of the variance). Contrary to expectations, value discrepancies were not significantly related to either psychological or sociocultural adjustment. © 1991.