Cross-cultural contact and health in Asia

Abstract

Investigating the relationship between psychology and culture takes three approaches: cross-cultural or trans-cultural psychology, indigenous psychology, and cultural or comparative psychology. This study focuses on the first category, the psychology of cross-cultural contacts and transitions, and introduce studies conducted by the author and colleagues. Based on this, investigations on international students’ cross-cultural adjustment in Japan, foreign workers in Japan, Japanese overseas students, and Japanese hosts are discussed. The study examined the following questions: (a) How do adjustment and maladjustment develop? (b) How is positive health maintained under different cultural environments and cross-cultural contacts? (c) What can Asian health psychology suggest about general psychology if Asian researchers focus closely on differences between Asian and Western cultures rather than assume a Western identity? Questions and findings of specific studies are illustrated, and perspectives and possibilities of investigating cross-cultural contact are discussed. Finally, future tasks and prospects for developing cross-cultural health psychology in Asia are outlined.