Alexithymic traits as predictors of difficulties with adjustment in an outpatient cohort of expatriates in Tokyo

The purpose of this study was to examine whether alexithymic characteristics, which are thought to be related to poor coping with stress, would be associated with variables thought to reflect adjustment to life abroad. The subjects were 56 expatriates living in Tokyo, Japan. The Expatriate Adaptation Inventory, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and the Social Support Questionnaire of the Stress and Coping Inventory were given to the subjects. Scores on alexithymia were significantly associated with dissatisfaction with life abroad, higher satisfaction with life in one's home country prior to departure, and higher ratings on the perception of poor social support. An alexithymia variable, difficulty identifying feelings, was a significant predictor of dissatisfaction with life abroad and satisfaction with life in the home country. The results suggest that, because alexithymia was associated with lower satisfaction with life abroad and higher satisfaction in the home country prior to departure, it may be a predictor of adjustment difficulties when individuals live abroad. Empirical confirmation is needed.     

Motivational goals,group identifications,and psychosocial adjustment of returning migrants: The case of Jews returning to Russia

The present study investigated the motivational goals, group identifications, and psychosocial adjustment of Jews who returned to Russia after emigrating from the republics of the Former Soviet Union to different countries (n = 151). To gain a deeper understanding of these returning migrants, their traits were compared with those of Jews living in Russia who did not emigrate (n = 935). Compared to locals, returnees reported a higher preference for the openness to change and self‐enhancement values and a lower preference for the conservation values; there was no difference in the self‐transcendence values. Returning migrants had a relatively weak affiliation with the home country: they had a weaker identification with the home country than with the country of emigration, their identification with Russians was weaker than that among Jews who did not emigrate from Russia, and their intention to emigrate (again) from Russia was greater than that among locals. However, the Jewish identification of returning migrants was similar to that of locals. The adjustment of returning migrants varied across different dimensions: their economic adjustment was better than that of locals; however, the interpersonal adjustment of returnees was less successful than among locals.     

Influence of student exchange on national stereotypes,attitudes and perceived group variability

The present research studied changes in stereotypes, attitudes and perceived variability of national groups within a sample of U.S. college students who spent one year studying in either West Germany¹ or Great Britain. Subjects' stereotypes and attitudes toward host country members changed significantly during their stay, whereas attitudes and stereotypes toward control nationalities did not, and neither attitudes nor stereotypes further changed during the first nine months after subjects had returned home. On the other hand, perceptions of group variability changed significantly both during the stay and after departure from the host country. Although group perceptions generally became less positive over the course of the sojourn, these changes did not seem to be due to negative intergroup contact. Rather, the more contact students reported having with host country members the more positive were their attitudes and stereotypes of the groups. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for implementing student exchange programmes.     

Working Abroad and Expatriate Adjustment: Three Disciplinary Lenses for Exploring the Psychological Transition Cycle of International Employees

Millions of people are working abroad in countries other than their native ones. Among the largest group are those relocated for temporary assignments by their employers. Expatriate employees go through a psychological transition cycle as they prepare to leave their home country, arrive, adapt, and work in the host country, depart, return and re‐adjust to their home country. Three social science disciplines, psychology, intercultural communications studies, and international management, have examined this progression of cultural transitions, recommended coping solutions and advanced our understanding of the process of working abroad. These literatures on expatriate adjustment are summarized in this article. An interdisciplinary approach is suggested which would pose research questions aimed at pragmatic solutions to the transition crises experienced by international employees.     

Leaving home or still in the nest? Parent-child relationships and psychological health as predictors of different leaving home patterns

In this study, the author examines the patterns of leaving home in a sample of 93 participants and their parents. The quality of parent-child relationships, psychological symptomatology in adolescence and young adulthood, and attachment representation were assessed longitudinally from mid-adolescence to young adulthood. Attachment representation, adolescent autonomy, and parent-adolescent conflict were found to be important predictors of the timing of leaving home. In-time leavers were more securely attached and had been granted high autonomy during adolescence, compared with participants who had left home later or had returned to reside in the family home. Young adults with nonnormative leaving home patterns also showed higher percentages of insecure attachment representations and lower percentages of involvement with a romantic partner. Participants residing with their parents were, according to their parents' perceptions, less psychologically healthy.     

Supervising away from home: clinical,cultural and professional challenges

This paper explores some challenges of supervising clinical work of trainees, known as ‘routers’, who live in countries with diverse cultural, social and political traditions, and the analysts who travel to supervise them. It is written as an evolving dialogue between the authors, who explore together the effects of their own culture of origin, and in particular the legacy and values of their own training institutes on the styles and models of analytic supervision. Their dialogue is framed around the meaning of home and experiences of homesickness for analysts working away from home in an interactive field of strangeness in countries where analytical psychology is a relatively new discipline. The authors outline the findings from their own qualitative survey, where other supervisors working abroad, and those they have supervised, describe their experiences and their encounters with difference. The dialogue ends with both authors discussing what they have learned about teaching and supervising abroad, the implications for more flexible use of Jungian concepts, and how such visits have changed their clinical practice in their home countries.     

Acculturation and its determinants among adult immigrants in France

The present study pursued three aims. First, it sought to determine the distribution of types of identification among adult immigrants in France; second, it investigated certain determinants that might contribute to the emergence of exclusively French or ethnic identifications; and third, it attempted to assess the outcomes of French or ethnic identification strategies for well-being. Participants of the study were 6211 adult immigrants in France, aged between 45 and 70 years (M = 55.8, SD = 7.21), 53.6% males. Findings revealed that participants' dominant identification style of belonging was either French (n = 2758, 44.4%) or home country/ethnic group affiliation (n = 1899, 30.6%), with a greater tendency towards the former. In relation to the study second question, it was found that lower levels of education and involvement with French society, higher degrees of religiosity, and shorter lengths of residence in France were positively connected with home country/ethnic group identification as against French and vice versa. Stronger feelings of being settled in France and a command of French, and lower degrees of involvement with the initial national/ethnic community, were associated with a significant decrease in the likelihood of home country/ethnic group identification as against French and vice versa. While respondents' personal experiences of discrimination in home country/ethnic group before migration to France predicted a lower likelihood of home country/ethnic group identification compared to French and vice versa, immigrants' reports of being discriminated against in France had no significant effect on identification choices. Findings revealed also that those identifying with their home country/ethnic group recorded relatively higher degrees of maladjustment than those asserting a French identification.     

Successful Transitions of Runaway/Homeless Youth from Shelter Care

Previous research indicates that runaway and homeless youth often achieve positive outcomes after shelter stays however few studies have examined how these outcomes are achieved. This study employs qualitative methods to explicate this phenomenon. Twenty-five providers and 21 youth from four shelters participated in this study. Youth were recruited who had completed shelter care and returned home for minimally six months. Multiple raters identified themes and created a conceptual model. While in shelter, youths experienced structure and freedom, and the family experienced respite. Once youth became involved in treatment, the family re-connected and the youth returned home. After returning home, youth and family become involved in follow-up services. Results from our study provide insight into the process through which runaway/homeless youth return home after a shelter stay. Our findings emphasize the need for continued change by all members of the family system, highlighting the need for continued intervention to maintain positive changes.     

Transnationalism as a motif in family stories

Family stories have long been recognized as a vehicle for assessing components of a family's emotional and social life, including the degree to which an immigrant family has been willing to assimilate. Transnationalism, defined as living in one or more cultures and maintaining connections to both, is now increasingly common. A qualitative study of family stories in the family of those who appear completely "American" suggests that an affiliation with one's home country is nevertheless detectable in the stories via motifs such as (1) positively connotated home remedies, (2) continuing denigration of home country "enemies," (3) extensive knowledge of the home country history and politics, (4) praise of endogamy and negative assessment of exogamy, (5) superiority of home country to America, and (6) beauty of home country. Furthermore, an awareness of which model--assimilationist or transnational--governs a family's experience may help clarify a clinician's understanding of a family's strengths, vulnerabilities, and mode of framing their cultural experiences.     

Highly Skilled Migrants’ Strong Ties with Their Home Country: Evidence from Filipinos in New Zealand and Australia

This paper provides empirical evidence of the “embedded connectedness” of highly skilled migrants with their home country through the Philippine case in New Zealand and Australia. This challenges the findings in other studies that show the weak connection between them and the home country which is generally explored more in terms of economic remittances. While the majority of the participants in the study are already citizens of the host country, they remain emotionally tied and culturally connected to the Philippines as evidenced by their information-seeking behaviour, feeling of nostalgia, sending of remittances, taking of dual citizenship, attendance in Philippine-related events and the country they perceived as home. One interesting finding in the study is that most of them have taken citizenship for pragmatic reasons, that is, for the benefits and security that it could bring them. It concludes by emphasising the relevance of capitalising on these strong diasporic ties to entice the skilled diaspora to return to their home country and/or be involved in development activities back home.     

Getting the most out of living abroad: Biculturalism and integrative complexity as key drivers of creative and professional success

The current research investigated how patterns of home and host cultural identification can explain which individuals who have lived abroad achieve the greatest creative and professional success. We hypothesized that individuals who identified with both their home and host cultures (i.e., biculturals) would show enhanced creativity and professional success compared with individuals who identified with only a single culture (i.e., assimilated and separated individuals). Further, we expected that these effects would be driven by biculturals' greater levels of integrative complexity, an information processing capacity that involves considering and combining multiple perspectives. Two studies demonstrated that biculturals exhibited more fluency, flexibility, and novelty on a creative uses task (Study 1) and produced more innovations at work (Study 2) than did assimilated or separated individuals. Study 3 extended these findings to general professional outcomes: Bicultural professionals achieved higher promotion rates and more positive reputations compared with assimilated or separated individuals. Importantly, in all 3 studies, integrative complexity mediated the relationship between home/host identification and performance. Overall, the current results demonstrate who is most likely to achieve professional and creative success following experiences abroad and why. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

COMING HOME TO THE ARCTIC COLD: ANTECEDENTS TO FINNISH EXPATRIATE AND SPOUSE REPATRIATION ADJUSTMENT

Building on repatriation adjustment research for U.S. managers and spouses, this study is one of the first to identify potential cross-cultural differences by assessing these processes theoretically and empirically in a non-U.S. sample. Focusing on Finnish expatriates and spouses, this study examined anticipatory and in-country variables related to work, interaction, and general repatriation adjustment. Specifically, time overseas, time since returning home, role discretion, and role clarity were significant correlates of Finnish repatriates' work adjustment. Time overseas, culture novelty, and social status correlated significantly with repatriates' adjustment to interacting with home country nationals. Time overseas and time back home correlated significantly with repatriate' general adjustment. For Finnish repatriates' spouses, time back home, culture novelty, and housing conditions correlated significantly with adjustment to interacting with home country nationals. For spouses' general adjustment, time overseas, time back home, culture novelty, and housing conditions were significant correlates. Implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are explored.
Coming back home was more difficult than going abroad because I had expected changes when going overseas. During repatriation it was real culture shock! I felt like an alien in my own country. Surprisingly, I was totally unprepared for the long, harsh, cold, dark Arctic winter. My attitudes had changed so much that it was difficult to understand Finnish customs. Old friends had moved, had children, or just vanished. Others were interested in our experiences, but only sort of. Most simply could not understand our overseas experience or just envied our way of life. (Finnish Spouse returning from Australia)     

Internal state of emergency – working with an international student suffering from trauma in a student counselling service

In this paper I look at the suicidal state of mind of an international student who comes from a country at war and has been traumatized by a violent event. The student is tortured by an internal dilemma surrounding unbearable feelings of guilt and shame that arise when she leaves her home country to study abroad. Her dilemma or survivor guilt triggers an internal contract with herself, whereby she is internally persecuted when she makes an attachment to the university and her course. I suggest that an individual in this state of mind, suffering from post-traumatic stress, has regressed to a primary state of unintegration where the self is at the mercy of psychotic anxieties and the student is at risk of suicide. It is suggested that a safety net made up of the student services and the wider health service can provide a symbolic or mental space and containment for the student's state of mind until she can function as a student.     

The Relationship of Pregnancy Status to Job Satisfaction: An Exploratory Analysis

Forty-three women who had worked outside of the home prior to becoming pregnant and had returned to the same place of employment after the birth of their children participated in the study. To do so, they responded to a two-part questionnaire asking about their work lives (e.g., level of job satisfaction before, during, and after their pregnancies) and demographic characteristics (e.g., occupation). The results indicated that their job satisfaction was significantly greater before their pregnancies than either during or after their pregnancies. Job satisfaction during pregnancy had a significant, positive correlation with satisfaction with organizational maternity leave policies. Perceived reactions from women's coworkers and supervisors were also examined. Implications for these findings for organizations are discussed. Limitations of the study, and how they might be rectified in future research, are also addressed.     

Escape From Traumas: Emigration And Hungarian Jewish Identity After The Holocaust

Unlike other European countries, at the turn of the 20th century, Hungary ensured complete legal and religious equality for Jews living in the country. As a result, they became strongly assimilated and identified themselves as Hungarian. Leading up to and during WWII, there was a gradual and steady deterioration of those legal and religious conditions, and the “betrayal” and persecution of Jews caused unspeakable trauma all over the world. After the defeat of the Nazis, only a small number of Holocaust survivors returned to their home country; the majority emigrated. This study provides a psychoanalytical analysis of the changes in Hungarian survivors’ psychic realities and the construction of their new identities, depending on the survival strategy they chose. The hypothesis is that the rebuilding of the demolished identity and the level of trauma elaboration depend on whether this process was done at the place of the trauma or in a different society. The study uses psychoanalytic and social psychology literature to follow the impacts of the emigration process, to draw conclusions and apply them to trauma elaboration after the Holocaust.

     

Child and family‐related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

International adoptees need to cope with stressful transitions and to develop secure attachment with their caregivers at the same time. Although most children adopted from abroad adjust fine, they are at increased risk of psychological problems. We investigated whether both child and family‐related factors are associated with later psychological problems and whether the length of time spent at home after adoption before daycare moderates these associations among internationally adopted children in Finland (FinAdo, Finnish Adoption Study). The sample consisted of 1,265 children (708 girls, 557 boys) who arrived in Finland before they started school (mean age 2 years at arrival). Later behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). According to our results, male gender, older age, child's early clinical symptoms (problems of sensory processing) and single parenthood were associated with later behavioral problems measured by CBCL scores. Longer stay at home before the start of daycare or school modified these results. Longer stay at home was associated with less later behavioral externalizing problems in girls but not in boys compared to those who spent a shorter time at home.     

PREDICTORS OF SELF‐REPORTED GAINS IN A RELATIONSHIP‐BASED HOME‐VISITING PROJECT FOR MOTHERS AFTER CHILDBIRTH

We assessed mothers’ self‐reported gains from a postpartum home‐visiting (HV) project in which home visitors are volunteer mothers from the community. Hypotheses were that gains are positively related to (a) mothers’ felt‐closeness with their home visitor, (b) mothers’ level of sociodemographic risk, and (c) the home visitors’ preproject training in support services for families or children (Professionalism). One hundred sixty‐four clients returned written evaluations of the HV project. Items assessing gains were reduced to two factors: Improved Well‐Being (“Self”) and Improved Infant Care (“Infant”). Repeated measures general linear models, with Gains (Self, Infant) as the repeated measure, and multiple regression analyses evaluated the hypotheses. Across the sample, gains on both factors were moderate, although gain scores were higher regarding Self than for Infant. Results show that (a) Mothers’ felt‐closeness with their volunteer was strongly related to mothers’ gains; (b) high‐risk mothers gained more from the project than did mothers of lower risk, particularly regarding Infant Care; and (c) mothers visited by volunteers who were professionals reported more substantial gains than did mothers visited by volunteers who were not professionals. Findings can help explain variance in mothers’ gains from such projects and could be useful in improving their efficacy.     

A Journey between Identities: A Story of Education Students’ Journey to Ethiopia

The qualitative case study presented in this article describes and analyzes the experiences of Israeli education students, who joined a delegation to Ethiopia last year. This journey opened the doors of Ethiopia to the Ethiopian community’s younger generation, most of whom were born in Israel, and to the non-Ethiopian Israelis. During the journey, the participants coped with many challenges and a variety of experiences. They returned home having broken the stereotypes regarding the perception of Ethiopian Jewry, as well as racism, pluralism and relations between the majority and minority groups in Israel. In addition, the Ethiopian participants returned with the renewed identity and the new discourse that had been formed within the group as equal members of Israeli society.     

Flux and permanence of risk perceptions: Tourists' perception of the relative and absolute risk for various destinations

The present investigation is a cross‐sectional, multi‐national, quantitative, and quasi‐experimental comparison of tourists’ risk perceptions regarding different destinations throughout the past decade. Over 10,000 tourists to Norway from 89 different countries filled in a questionnaire rating the perceived risk for various destinations. Data were collected during 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015 and allow for a comparison of perceived risk across time, place and nationality. Results show that while absolute risk judgments for different destinations fluctuate somewhat over the years, relative risk judgments remain constant. Findings also reveal a “home‐is‐safer‐then‐abroad‐bias” with tourists consistently perceiving their home country among the safest destinations. The current investigation is rare because it looks at more than one destination at a time. Insights gained from the present findings diverge from what would have been concluded from employing case studies, that is, looking at one destination at a time.