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

Stressors and problems in Culture Shock

A qualitative study is conducted by Lin (2006), its findings proofed that Chinese students at the Midwest University have suffered from culture shock and their suffering already began even before the trip to the campus and intensified during the first few weeks or months after their arrival. There are several stressors found in the study, such as

housing, lack of transportation, living expense, the language barrier, and difficulty in getting adapted to a new academic system (Lin, 2006).

In addition, separation from family, poor cooking facilities, political discrimination are main stressors in culture shock (Lin, 2006).

Furthermore, there was a modest and statistically significant relationship between the size of the social network and the culture shock score. The higher the number of people with whom the respondent had regular contact, the lower the degree of culture shock (Pantelidou & Craig, 2006).

In general, Singh (1963), interviewed 300 students in Britain in great detail and found that many experienced unanticipated difficulties.

1. 
   Emotional problems. Nearly half of the sample experienced difficulties which they had not anticipated. These related mainly to loneliness, homesickness, lack of training in looking after oneself, food difficulties and worries about domestic problems back at home. Upper-class students had less difficulty than middle-class students, and younger students-under 26-were better adjusted than older students. Emotional strain was significant associated with adjustment.
   

2. 
   Academic problems. Nearly half the students had academic problems, mainly as a function of three factors: language problems, particularly in oral expressions; the higher standard of British university; and difficulties in teacher-student relationships, particularly regarding status. Academic difficulties were significantly negatively correlated with adjustment.
   

3. 
   Adjustment. Adjustment was related to place of residence (students had more difficulty at Oxbridge than provincial universities), social class (upper-class students were better adjusted than middle-class students), duration of stay (there is
   

a U-shaped curve up to three years with least adjustment in the middle period), social skill (there was a positive correlation between social skill and adjustment).

4.