Nicht jeder Auslandsreisende erlebt einen Kulturschock. Resultate des Projektes 'The Impact of Living Abroad' [Not all sojourners experience culture shock: Evidence from the impact of living abroad project]

The literature on acculturative stress is discussed and an overview is provided of the main models of cultural adaptation, namely the U-curve pattern of adaptation and J-curve pattern of adaptation. Three different aspects of acculturative stress were examined. First, stress trajectories were analysed, and it was found that different exchange students in our sample had qualitatively different experiences in terms of stress and adaptation. A total of 5 distinct stress trajectories emerged, namely U-curve, J-curve, mild stress, mild relief, and resilience patterns. Second, different antecedents of stress were examined, including adaption, personality, and coping. Adaptation was negatively related to stress, such that participants reporting being more adapted showed lower levels of stress. For personality, neuroticism and openness were related to higher levels of stress, but extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and honesty -humility were all related to lower levels of stress. For coping, approach and acceptance coping were related to lower levels of stress, but avoidance and self-blame strategies were related to higher levels of stress. Support in the host country had a buffering effect on stress, but support from people back in the home country lead to an increase in stress. Third, we found that high levels of stress or U-curve and J-curve trajectories were associated with high incidences of family changes and early return. In contrast, students that experienced the resilience trajectory were less likely to change families or return home early.