A study of mental health VIS a VIS culture change and anxiety among international students: A study in Bengaluru

Abstract

Culture change is an incident an individual experience when he is exposed to an environment of different cultural components ideally differing to the home culture; Additionally, it refers to the sense of confusion that a person may have when adapting to a new culture as a result of immigration or travel, changing social situations, or just adopting a more varied way of life. (Macionis, 2010) This research identifies some of the major causes of a cultural change and highlights on parameters which affects their experience and their impact on mental health. The research has been done with a thought process of evaluating the type of change through four distinct phases vis a vis honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation phase. The aim of this research was to examine the culture shock and anxiety among international students studying in Bengaluru and to find out various coping strategies adapted by them to overcome their culture shock. Parameters identified in this study are: information overload, language barrier, generation gap, technology gap, skill interdependence, formulation dependency, homesickness (cultural), infinite regress (homesickness), boredom (job dependency), response capability (cultural skill set) (Ramsay, Jones, & Barker, 2007; Winant, 2001).