Coming home from a stay abroad: Associations between young people’s reentry problems and their cultural identity formation

Abstract

Combining a variable- and person-centered approach, the present study explores associations between cross-cultural reentry problems and cultural identity formation (processes and statuses) in late adolescence and young adulthood. The study sample consisted of 510 participants between 16 and 29 years of age who had spent 6–60 months abroad, mainly for educational reasons. Referring to a neo-Eriksonian identity model, three processes of home-culture related identity formation were differentiated: commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. At the variable-centered level, reentry problems were negatively related to commitment with home culture and positively to exploration and, most strongly, to reconsideration. This pattern was corroborated at the person-centered level. Participants in the moratorium status (low commitment, high exploration, high reconsideration) reported most problems with reentry, whereas participants in the closure status (a pattern inverse to that of moratorium) reported fewest. Participants in the achievement and diffusion statuses ranked in the middle. In all analyses, person-related variables (gender, age, big five personality traits) and sojourn-related variables (length of sojourn, time since return) were controlled for. Implications of the findings for our understanding of (cross-) cultural mobility and identity are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.