Reverse Culture Shock: A Literature Review

There has been a shift in education abroad in recent decades towards globalization. Students and employers are more interested in education abroad to develop intercultural skills and global competency. As this movement for education becomes more common, so does culture shock. Culture shock can be thought of as the process of adjusting to a new cultural environment. Students attending universities in a different cultural environment have to face novel social and educational organizations, behaviors, and expectations – as well as dealing with problems of adjustment that are common to students in general. Studies have found positive effects of studying abroad such as increased self-efficacy and self-confidence, open-mindedness, maturity, and awareness of their own home country (Dettweiler et al., 2015). While there are desirable outcomes of studying abroad, research has found that international students struggle with culture shock when they move to a new country (Hendrickson, Rosen, & Aune, 2011; Hotta, & Ting-Toomey, 2013). International students may experience adjustment issues such as feelings of inferiority, isolation, depression, and anxiety (Gaw, 2000). They may be prone to irritability or show signs of stress such as restlessness, fatigue, a desire to be alone, loss of appetite, or have difficulty communicating (Young, 2014). They may also have to recover from jet lag, make new friends, and be exposed to new foods, and possibly communicate in a foreign language.

While culture shock is the emotions and behaviors that come with being immersed in a new or different cultural environment and the more commonly known experience, reverse culture shock is the process of readjusting, acculturating, and reassimilating into one’s own home culture after living in a different culture for a significant period of time (Gaw, 2000). This can be just as difficult to experience. The concept of culture shock was described as a U-curve of adjustment over time by Lysgaard (1955) where sojourners experience initial excitement, then depression, and finally re-establish a stable emotional state of being. Gullahorn and Gullahorn (1963) extended the U-curve to a UU-curve or W-curve model, including the sojourner’s return home and readjustment to their home culture. They also suggested that adapting to a new culture might leave them with expectations and behaviors incompatible with their own home culture.

Low, Bharathy, and O’ Brien (2018) conducted a focus group studying the effects of RCS on returning Malaysian medical students from training overseas and found three major themes related to experiences of RCS. Students reported difficulty adjusting to less approachable and more hierarchical interpersonal teaching styles, and they missed the connections they made and the open social structure abroad. Upon their return to Malaysia, the students reported difficulties in making friends and reintegrating into prevailing social groups. They also found it difficult to share their experiences in general for fear of being judged negatively. This fear of sharing can hinder healthy processing of their cultural experience and allow the students to properly incorporate the cultural skills they acquired into their lives back home.

The reason I chose this topic for this final assignment is that this topic is one I strongly identify with. I have experienced both CS and RCS during my undergraduate studies at Purdue University, my study abroad month in Japan, returning home for a year after graduation, and returning to America for graduate school. It is something I am still going through since I had already acculturated to home after graduating from Purdue, and now I must readjust to life in America. I also believe that with the modernization and globalization of the world, CS and RCS are becoming more important topics to talk about and address in schools to help the adjustment processes of students. These concepts can also be applied to the public. People who have immigrated or moved from one cultural environment to another may experience culture shock at varying degrees in different ways. Provide an example here of someone else you know who experienced culture shock or RCS and how it affected them?

As I read the literature, I learned that many sojourners are challenged when they return home to a place they expect to feel comfortable in, but instead experience feelings of frustration and misunderstanding (Young, 2014). According to Gullahorn and Gullahorn (1963), the main difference between RCS and CS is the expectations of the sojourners. Sojourners expect to return to an unchanged home as unchanged individuals, which is usually not the case. The world moves on when the sojourners are abroad and the sojourners themselves go through life experiences that may change their worldviews, values, and perceptions. It was suggested by researchers that sojourners see their home culture as a new culture to adapt to upon their return (Gaw, 2000; Dettweiler, et al., 2015). Can you elaborate on how these changes in expectations worsened the mental condition of the sojourner if the article talks about it?

Studies conducted on overseas-experienced families and students reported RCS-related adjustment problems (Gaw, 2000). These included adjusting to home country social expectations (e.g., social rules, customs), fear of rejection, and ridicule for being “foreign”. They faced coursework difficulties, personal identity confusion, and problems with interpersonal relationships. They also faced a dilemma of whether to maintain or trim the new aspects of themselves. Young (2014) suggested that students may be afraid to tell others about their feelings since it may be perceived as a sign of weakness or a lack of appreciation. Upon their return home, they do not have the ready and willing support system that they had when they first arrived overseas. This causes them to keep their feelings and experiences inside for fear of judgment. Wayland (2015) suggested that experience requires reflection to be translated into learning. This can be done in various ways: journaling, reflective essays, focus groups, synthesizing one’s experience for a conference or publication, becoming an ambassador for study abroad programs, or help other international students through their adjustment process.

If an international student experiences CS or RCS, the likelihood of achieving a sense of identity and overall life satisfaction is lower. Similarly, the likelihood of coping with the day-to-day stresses of social life is also low. A study conducted by Presbitero (2016) found that cultural intelligence (CQ) acts as a moderator that lessens the negative effects of both CS and RCS on psychological and sociocultural adaptation among international students. CQ was defined in four aspects: a person’s interest and confidence interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds, their knowledge of cultural norms, practices, and backgrounds, the ability to constantly plan, monitor, and revise mental models of cultural norms to adapt, and the capability to demonstrate verbal and non-verbal actions that are appropriate. The psychological aspect consists of a sense of identity, mental health, and overall life satisfaction, while the sociocultural aspect consists of an ability to cope with the daily stresses at school, work, and society in general (Presbitero, 2016). Students who are overwhelmed by their new cultural environment will have limited engagement with university programs and services. This suggests that higher education institutions should be more proactive in nurturing and developing CQ both before the overseas program and after it is over.

The effects of culture shock are a social issue that can be remedied in a few ways, one of which is counseling. Counseling can help sojourners process and reflect on their emotions and cognitions of their experience abroad. This will promote a healthier transition back home and allow returnees to properly draw on their experiences and apply them to their life moving forward. Counseling can also help with the symptoms of depression and anxiety that returnees might face. It may also help with the fears of rejection and the interpersonal difficulties that may manifest. Have you considered detailing what the counselor can do? As opposed to just saying counseling can you be more specific and elaborate on exactly what type of counseling – u mention the strategies you would use in the next paragraph, maybe suggest some general ones here that counselors without your experience could leverage?

This knowledge of the effects of CS and RCS will be beneficial in my career as a counselor, particularly with international or immigrant populations. Like racial or ethnic minorities, returnees often feel out of place and ignored by the majority because of their non-majority life experiences. As a counselor, I can approach returnees from this perspective and be able to use intervention strategies that are sensitive to the returnee’s experience and support their personal and professional development. By being aware of both the positive and negative effects of CS and RCS, I can help clients use the strengths that they’ve acquired during their experience abroad to encourage them and remind them of their successes. Researching this topic can help counselors better understand the overarching issues that may cause feelings of isolation and depression from being in a new environment.