Cultural Adaptation of ´Global´ People Across National Contexts

Abstract: The current geopolitical events of globalization have intensified multiculturalism across continents making the study of the process of acculturation and its impact on adaptation more relevant than ever. 708 international migrants and sojourners from 69 nationalities living in 43 countries were investigated by means of a web-based cultural adaptation survey. The following questions were addressed: how do they acculturate/which strategies do they use? How well were they adapting psychologically and socio culturally? Were the ways they acculturate related to different levels of adaptation? Results showed that first assimilation is associated with the best psychological and socio cultural adaptations and separation with the worst acculturation strategy; and second that marginalization ranked as the second best acculturation strategy and integration the third best strategy for both psychological and socio cultural adaptation. The findings contradicted Berry´s tradition theories of acculturation however were, to a certain extent, in accordance with more constructivist approaches. The findings suggest the need to consider changes in the international context and characteristics of this population´s social network and their global identity.