Patterns of attitudinal changes among foreign students

Adaptation Stages and Mental Health of Korean Male Immigrants in the United States

This study examines the variation patterns of Korean male immigrants’ mental health in relation to their length of residence in the United States and identifies significant factors related to the variations. The main hypothesis suggests two critical stages in which Korean immigrants’ mental health would become highly vulnerable—the early exigency stage (1–2 years after immigration) and the later marginality stage (11–15 years after immigration). Hence, the hypothesis predicts a curvilinear (the inverted J-curve) relationship between length of residence and life satisfaction. This hypothesis is tested through an epidemiological survey of 334 Korean male immigrants (20 years and older) in the Chicago area. Results of data analyses generally confirm the hypothesis: 1) the immigrants’ mental health is most highly vulnerable at the early exigency stage, 2) the degree of their mental well-being generally increases with length of residence, 3) the rate of increase in mental well-being tends to stagnate after the resolution stage, confirming the inverted J-curve hypothesis and 4) job satisfaction is the most significant variable accounting for the mental health patterns of the Korean male immigrants. Theoretical and methodological implications of the findings are discussed in the conclusion.

Sojourner Adjustment

This article deals with the adjustment of sojourners in Japan. From a psychological perspective, adjustment is closely linked to the development of attitudes in a foreign country. The results of this investigation do not support the idea that foreigners' attitudes toward their host culture automatically improve once they have learned to cope with their new environment in everyday life. This idea has been implied not only by what is widely known as the U-curve theory of adjustment but also by the theory of culture learning. Generally, the results of this investigation suggest a more ambiguous and pessimistic picture of the prospect of overcoming culture shock in a culturally homogeneous environment.

Developing international managers: the contribution of cultural experience to learning

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate cultural experience as a learning strategy for developing international managers.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using an integrated framework, two quantitative studies, based on empirical methodology, are conducted. Study 1, with an undergraduate sample situated in the Asia Pacific, aimed to examine the relationship between cultural experience and intercultural capability (IC), an original theoretical construct representing the critical factors of international managers. Study 2, employing a more culturally experienced postgraduate sample from Ireland, sought to confirm the findings from study 1 and further test the relationship of cultural experience with the factor of cultural adaptation.

Findings

– Results identify aU-curve relationship of cultural experience and cultural adaptation for inexperienced students (study 1). A more linear, but less significant relationship between the above two with a maximum level of adaptation for more experienced students was found in study 2. This implies that there is a relationship between cultural experience and IC, within the limitations of the sample. However, whilst cultural experience is a major variable in developing IC, findings are that universities and industry training managers need to use a blended learning approach when developing international managers, hence, combining cultural experience (experiential learning) with didactic methods.

Originality/value

– This is an original theoretical construct representing the critical factors of international managers.

Depression and loneliness in overseas students

This paper compared the effect of life change in adjustment of overseas students with those of Australian students. 342 students were divided into 4 experimental groups. There were: Overseas students with residence of less than one year (OV1 group, N = 44), overseas students with residence of more than one year (OV2 group, N = 81), Australian students raised in Brisbane (A3, N = 105) and Australian students raised outside Brisbane (A4, N = 112). The result of discriminate analysis showed that overseas students (OV2) were significantly more likely to experience moderate to severe clinical depression and loneliness than the Australian students. Age and expectation of difficulty in study were the best predictors for depression in overseas students.