Coping with culture shock: a study of stressors, adjustments and stereotypes among chinese students at bangkok university

Literature Review

1. Background of international students

Overseas students, although typically only temporarily separated from their home country, may also suffer psychological distress associated with moving to an unfamiliar environment (Pantelidou & Craig, 2006).


According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), psychological stress is defined as ‘a particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being’. International students are subjected to many stresses during their time at university.
Although it is common knowledge that there are many factors that cause stress (Sovic, 2008). It is widely accepted that the transition of students from one country to another is accompanied by various emotions, positive and negative. Many aspects of the process of adaptation that students have to experience-cultural, social and academic- have a significant impact on their achievements. Students are confronted with many stressful situations, of which ‘culture shock’ is just one (Sovic, 2008).

Most of the research on student sojourners has considered the affective, behavioral and cognitive consequences of cross-cultural transition and has attempted to establish which individual, interpersonal, social, structural and economic factors reliably predict adjustment (Kagan and Cohen, 1990).

Hammer (1992) has noted that the literature on international students broadly appears to cover four areas: the problems of sojourners, the psychological reactions of sojourners to encountering a new cultural environment, the influence of social interaction and communication on sojourner adaptation, and the culture learning process apparent in the cross-cultural sojourn.

2. Previous studies on U-curve Hypotheses

In a frequently cited cross-sectional study, Lysgaard (1955) proposed a U-curve of adjustment during cross-cultural relocation based on his empirical investigation of Scandinavian Fulbright grantees in the United States. He reported that students who had resided in the United States for 6-18 months were significantly less adjusted than those who had been there either less than 6 months or more than 18 months (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001).


In addition, some study’s result is opposite to the U-curve Hypotheses. According to Ward and Kennedy (1996), their study followed a group of Malaysian and Singaporean students who were initially interviewed and tested within a month of arrival in New Zealand and then again after 6 and 12 month periods. Psychological adjustment followed a U-curve, but in the opposite direction to that described by Lysgaard (1955). That is, the overall level of depression was significantly greater at 1 month and at 1 year of residence than at the intermediate 6 month period (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001).

Similar findings emerged in a study of Japanese students in New Zealand. In an attempt identify the ‘entry euphoria’ proposed by Oberg (1960), students were tested within 24 hours of arrival to New Zealand and then again at 4, 6 and 12 month periods (Ward et al., 1998). The level of depression was highest during the entry period with a significant drop and only minor variations over the subsequent three time periods (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001).

3.