Returning home: An empirical investigation of cross-cultural reentry

Abstract

Reentry into the home country following an extended stay in another culture is generally assumed to be both problematic and painful. This paper investigates empirically the problems with family and friends, in particular, and daily life, in general, that confront foreign students following their sojourn at an American campus. The data indicate that culture shock may not be as universal as generally assumed in the literature, may be alleviated by visits home, but may be more problematic for females than for males.