Determinación de los parámetros de control de estado

In addition to the identified psychological and sociocultural adjustment issues and challenges, food emerged as an important and distressing issue during international students’ cross cultural transition (Furukawa, 1997; Pan et al., 1999; Brown, 2009). Food-related issues have been mentioned in previous adjustment studies, for example, differences of local and home country food (Pedersen, 1991; Sandhu, 1994; Lee et al., 2007), difficulties finding familiar food items (Mehdizadeh et al., 2005), difficulties getting used to local food (Tseng et al., 2002; Ward et

39 al., 2004), and finding food that conforms to culture and religious beliefs (Novera, 2004; Sherry et al., 2010). However, Brown (2009a) commented that food is usually mentioned only incidentally as one of the issues during the sojourn adjustment. The food-related issues identified in the adjustment studies mentioned above are not supported with further explanation and discussion and still, little is known about how food relates to positive adjustment experiences. A few examples exist of dedicated research examining food related issues during adjustment within several contexts, such as, perceived cultural distance, dietary acculturation, and food neophobia (Furukawa, 1997; Pan et al., 1999; Satia- Abouta, 2001; Papadaki et al., 2007; Kremmyda et al., 2008; Brown, 2009a; Edwards et al., 2010; Ruetzler et al., 2012).

Perceived cultural distance

Furukawa’s (1997) study was aimed to evaluate the influence of cultural distance on psychological adjustment of 211 Japanese high school and college students staying with a host family in one of 23 countries in the world. Ten domains were measured: climate, clothes, language, educational level, food, religion, material comfort, leisure activities, family life, and courtship. The results later indicated food as the greatest influential factor in the students’ emotional distress during the cross cultural experience. Furukawa concluded that students who live alone in a foreign community will therefore have to eat the food that is generally available and this certainly has great repercussions in the students’ life.

The perceived cultural distance which causes culture shock is defined by Oberg (1960) as the anxiety that results from losing familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse when an individual enters a new and strange culture. According to Garza-Guerrero (1974), one of the common symptoms of culture shock is the excessive preoccupation with food upon entering a new food culture. This behaviour is described by Gosden (1999) and Brown (2009a) as food

40 shock. This symptom is often mentioned by internationals students as a possible obstacle to adjustment. Hence, the practice of seeking comfort in familiar food that brings emotional comfort becomes a priority during adjustment (Brown & Aktas, 2011). Brown et al. (2010) conducted a study to uncover international students’ responses to the food they eat whilst abroad and the food they left behind. In the study, semi structured interviews were conducted with ten international postgraduate students at a university in the UK. The findings of the study indicated that the role and meanings of familiar and comforting food is very important to international student who experience food shock.

Dietary acculturation of international students

The study on sojourners’ adjustment has seen a growing research interest in migrants’ nutritional education program that considered dietary acculturation as the main determinant of food choices in the host country. Satia-Abouta (2002) defines dietary acculturation as the process in which immigrants adopt the dietary practices of the host country. For example, a study on the effect on dietary habits of Greek undergraduate students living away from home by Papadaki et al. (2007) found that the students decreased their weekly consumption of healthier foods when compared with students who continued to live at home. Findings from a second study on Greek students studying in Glasgow by Kremmyda, Papadaki, Hondros, Kapsokefalou, and Scott (2008) indicated that living away from home and having responsibility on food purchasing and preparation had a major effect on the dietary habits of the students. It was found that the students’ consumption frequency of fresh fruits, meat, and cheese had decreased and the consumption of snack foods increased(Kremmyda et al., 2008).

41 Pan et al. (1999)’s study aimed to evaluate the changes in dietary patterns following migration so that nutrition education program could be tailored to international students. Based on the sample of international students in local universities and junior colleges who have been residing in the United States (US) at least three months before the start of study, Pan et al. examined the eating pattern before and after migration using a questionnaire. The study found that majority of the students consumed more salty and sweet snack items chose American-style fast food when eating out, increased consumption of fats and sweets, increased consumption of dairy products, and decreased consumption of meat and vegetables after migration to the United States.

It was recognised that one of the reason that influences the rejection of unfamiliar foods and persistency in retaining traditional food habit is food neophobia, defined as the rejection of foods that are novel or unknown (Dovey et al., 2008). The extent of international student’s food neophobia experience over time was evaluated in a study by Edwards et al. (2010). A total of 226 international students took part in the 3 components of data collection using “Food Neophobia Scale” for measurement and it was found that Asian students were more neophobic than European and both groups became more neophobic over time. However, this study offers no explanation of how food neophobia affects the overall intercultural experience of the students, but rather indicated the influence of the length of time spent in the host country. However, Ruetzler et al. (2012) found that the duration of stay in the host country neither supported nor refuted the theoretical constructs related to food neophobia of international students’ adaptation and perception towards on-campus food service whereby no significant difference were found between the two variables (length of time and food neophobia).The results indicated that the length of stay had positively influenced the adjustment experience of

42 the on campus foodservice whereby the students who have been there the longest (more than a year) can fully adapt to the food and service available on campus.

Although the above studies aimed towards the physical well-being or physical health of international students through the understanding of dietary acculturation, they did not go to the extent of examining how the changes of food choices made by the students contribute to the adjustment experience. The studies identified the food consumed as a result of acculturation and no significant relation with psychological or sociocultural adjustment was evaluated.

2.5 Summary

This chapter introduces international students as the sojourners group and the trends and statistics representing the numbers of international students in the UK and the world in general. The international students’ adjustment challenges are then discussed by relating how stress may influence their overall adjustment experience. One of the most challenging experience mentioned in the studies on international students were the food-related issues. Perceived cultural distance and dietary acculturation were found to be the most common issues related to the dietary changes of international students. The importance of food during the transition period was recognised although very few empirical researches existed to explore this matter.

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Chapter Three: Literature review

Acculturation

3.1 Introduction

The contribution of migrant population to the host country has led to the burgeoning importance of understanding the links between cultural context and individual behavioural development in the acculturation field (Sam et al., 2006). This adds to the growing body of literature and research interest within the cross cultural psychology investigating how people who have developed in one cultural context attempt to re-establish their lives in another during cross cultural transition, which help decrease stress and aid the migrants’ acculturation (Berry, 1997; Sam et al., 2006)..

The central aim of cross cultural psychology is to demonstrate the continuity and changes of the way human corresponds to the cultural influence in the new setting referred to as “acculturation” (Berry, 1997; Berry, 2005). The terms adjustment, adaptation, and

acculturation have been used interchangeably within the studies of cross cultural transition but

their core concept is similar: to evaluate the process of changes resulted from cultural interaction related to migration (Ward et al., 1999). The term acculturation and adjustment will be used interchangeably throughout this thesis.