The effects of personality and acculturation on the adjustment of North American sojourners in Taiwan

As more North Americans sojourn abroad in the emerging global marketplace, it is important to understand the factors related to successful cross-cultural adjustment. This study explores how personality factors and acculturation influence the cross-cultural adjustment process of North Americans sojourning in Taiwan. The results reveal that greater psychological adjustment to life in Taiwan was related to less neuroticism, greater agreeableness, greater conscientiousness, and being more acculturated to Taiwanese culture. More successful sociocultural adjustment was associated with being male, being more extraverted, and being more acculturated to Taiwanese culture. The results suggest the importance of distinguishing between psychological and sociocultural cross-cultural adjustment processes, as well as viewing acculturation as a multidimensional construct.