Multicultural Psychology Commons^™

Culture Shock And Adaptation Among Student Missionaries To Japan, Sheryl J. Craig

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to delineate certain parameters of the experience of student missionaries to Japan. This study was a longitudinal, descriptive study which identified background characteristics, aspects of the adaptation process, and stages and intensity of culture shock.

A group of twenty-seven student missionaries were followed from their arrival in Japan, which occurred over a three-month summer period, through the following May, just prior to their expected departure. Data were gathered using interviews, questionnaires, a semantic differential (to measure attitudes), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

The time when subjects were most at risk for high anxiety, poorer …