Responses to Barriers

How do you deal with stress?

• Do you exercise?
• Do you chat with friends or maybe go out to dinner? 
• Do you pet your cat?
• Do you struggle to think happy thoughts even when it is near impossible?

Perhaps if you are an introvert, you find places inside you didn’t know you had.  If you are an extrovert, you find yourself with an insatiable need to be around people, but you are not sure why.  Or, perhaps you fall somewhere in between.  These are your self-selected responses to cope with stress.  Although it may happen consciously or unconsciously, you attempt to cope with the stress that may or may not be evident to you or those around you.

The American Psychological Association (2020) noted individuals use specific strategies to manage their contact (that causes acculturative stress) with and participation in the culture of a larger, dominant group (APA, 2020). In other words, people can self-select (consciously or subconsciously) how they will ‘manage’ the impact of acculturative stress in the environment.

At times, individuals select strategies to deal with acculturative stress. As a reminder from chapter one, Acculturative stress is defined as “the abrupt or enforced entry into a different and unknown cultural environment, thus creating a psychological struggle to find social and personal balance within a novel group culture. Researchers significantly explored acculturative stress among various ethnic groups.  High levels of acculturative stress contribute to negative patterns of coping and maladjusted behavior patterns.

Acculturative stress leads to high levels of attrition, non-attendance, low levels of student retention, and lower grade point averages (GPAs) were associated with acculturative stress. For educational professionals, it leads to high levels of isolation, depression, frustration, and feelings of defeat. Researchers have also associated acculturative stress with a decrease in self-efficacy, self-image, self-directed learning, and socialization.