Themes Caribbean Overseas Students Perceive Influence Their Levels of Culture Shock.

This study investigated whether or not Caribbean overseas students, attending universities in the United States, perceived that they experienced culture shock and what themes emerged explaining their experiences. Thirty-eight participants indicated having experienced culture shock, and 20 did not. Five major themes (loneliness and feelings of not fitting in, anxiety and depression, value system and cultural differences, cultural identity, and environmental factors) emerged from the students who experienced culture shock. One major theme (sense of community) emerged from the students who did not experience culture shock. Recommendations for counselors and areas for future research are discussed. Keywords: Caribbean students, culture shock, international students ********** Transitioning from home to university is historically regarded as a positive experience (Fisher & Hood, 1987). Attending college is a time of identity exploration, and moving into adulthood with more expectations of responsibility (Zunker, 2006). However, the college experience brings a number of academic, social/interpersonal, and personal stressors that could create an increase of mental/emotional suffering (Fisher & Hood, 1987). For international students, these stressors are compounded by pressure to assimilate. They must quickly learn to navigate through the demands of their day-to-day activities and adjust to new ways of communicating and behaving (Johnson & Sandhu, 2007). In fact the most challenging time of an international student's journey to the U.S. most likely happens during the first days of being in a different country with unfamiliar surroundings. Culture shock is undoubtedly going to set in (Coppi, 2007). With this culture shock, self-doubt and fear may replace the pre-arrival excitement (Coppi, 2007). Given these stressors, it is not surprising that members of this population suffer more psychosocial distress than their U.S. colleagues (Popadiuk & Authur, 2004). Therefore, as the international student population in the U.S. continues to grow, there has been increased attention placed on the educational and mental health issues of these students if they are to perform as expected academically (Mori, 2000). International students are differentiated from other immigrants who travel from their home countries to work and live in other cultures. The differentiation between international students and other immigrants is due to their distinct status as temporary sojourners (Martin & Harrell, 1996). Therefore, this distinction creates a unique condition for their cross-cultural experience, often attributed to their being in transition; they are challenged to manage the transition away from their home country, the transition to living and learning in a new country and in some cases manage the transition back home (Arthur, 2004). The tendency is to treat these transitional immigrants as members of a homogenous group of learners (Arthur, 2004). However, the remarkable variability in academic and personal preparation makes exploring within group differences important. One reason for further exploration is the fact that the lack of international standards for educational programs in many countries leads to variability in the knowledge base of students (Arthur). Arthur believes that the one size fits all expectations about academic performance may be unrealistic. Currently, most of the research studies in the professional literature about foreign students regarding their psychosocial and academic needs in the United States refer to Asian students (e.g., India, China, Korea, and Japan). This is not surprising since, according to The Open Doors, 2010 fact sheet, published by the Institute of International Education, in January 2010, there were 435,667 international students from the Asian region attending various universities throughout the United States. The region having the second highest number of students, 85,084, is Europe with a 350,583 difference in student attendance from those coming from the Asian region. …