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

Definition of terms

In the research, there are several terms have to be defined.
Stressor: according to English dictionary¹, stress is defined as ‘pressure or worry resulting from mental or physical distress, difficult circumstances’; thus, the stressor is defined as cause and fuse which result to pressure or worry; and stressors include mental or physical distress and difficult circumstances and potential others. In the research, stressors are mainly focused on mental pressures and difficult circumstances which are caused by oversea life in Bangkok among Chinese students.


Coping: the word “cope” is defined as ‘be able to deal with something difficult’²; thus, the word “coping” is noun of the word “cope”. Coping means ability to deal with something difficult. In the research, coping is ability or method to deal with stressors in short term or temporariness.

¹ Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Extended fourth edition). P. 1511.

² Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Extended fourth edition). P. 313.


Adjustment: adjust is defined as ‘become or make suited to new condition’³, and “adjustment” is noun of ‘adjust’; thus, adjustment means actions or behaviors to become or make suited to new condition. In the research, adjustment means actions or behaviors that make Chinese students suited to Thai culture. And those actions and behaviors are set to solve stressors permanently.

³ Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (Extended fourth edition). P. 18.

Chapter 2

Theoretical Orientation & Literature Review


In this chapter, culture shock’s concept, U-curve culture shock (4 stages of culture shock), symptoms of culture shock, and perspectives of culture shock are introduced in first part of the chapter as theoretical orientation in the research. And, the second part is literature review of previous studies. It includes previous studies on U-curve hypotheses of culture shock, stressors and problems in culture shock, coping resource of culture shock, and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. There are several important studies are presented in this chapter which are important to understand the study.

1.