7 as emigrants who make it back

People all over the world every day are thinking about emigration. Someone wants to go to a warm climate away from the chilly winter, others are looking for career opportunities, others want to go for adventure and new experiences.

On the one hand, what could be simpler: saved money, learned the language, packed his bags - and now you are in another country. And on the other - and many people do, and then get disappointed and return. Research has shown that there are certain psychological obstacles. As it can be predicted before the move, that person will be unhappy in a different country, will not be able to adapt and come back again.

1. The high level of expectations from the new life

Psychologists and sociologists believe that the more high expectations from a potential emigrant, the more likely we can predict that he will not be able to adapt after the move

C. Ward, Bochner S., Furnham A. The psychology of culture shock. Second edition. Routledge. 2001. 386 p..

It is understood that most people are not waiting for that new country they will find amazing, financial support, an adventurous life, immediately came out of the airport. But many peculiar to a certain optimism, which affects the level of training.

Very often this is due to the knowledge of languages. It is believed that the language is easier to learn during a complete immersion. Future immigrant slightly teaches the language, hoping to tighten it in place. In reality it turns out that the constant petty domestic problems due to lack of understanding of what you say, and you can not answer, gradually eroding self-confidence and forced to cut contacts with the locals. And studies show that a lack of communication with the people of the new country is particularly bad effect on the level of the joy of lifeSelltiz, C., Cook, S. W. Factors influencing attitudes of foreign students toward the host country. Journal of social issues, 18 (1), 1962, 7-23.

2. Lack of tolerance to all new and incomprehensible

Tolerance - the ability to understand and accept the person or situation that is different from you. After the move is the quality of the individual it becomes one of the most necessary.

At first, the immigrant will be constantly faced with people of a different appearance, race, nationality, or sexual behavior.

Overreaction that could be acceptable to Russia and kept aside, in a new country can lead to problems with communication, dismissal or even criminal prosecution.

People who are not able to accept others without judgment, is often as hard to apply themselves. Emigrant who berates himself for every mistake is unlikely to be able to for a long time in a state psychological comfort of the new country, which will have to relearn how to talk and behave in society.

Moreover, people are often intolerant authoritarian, afraid to show emotions and vent them to other people, they are biased and stereotyped. And in a state of extreme stress after the relocation of these qualities are amplified and did not contribute to the adaptationAdorno T. W., Frankel-Brunswik E., Levinson D. J., Sanford R. N. The authoritarian Personality. Harper-Row - N. Y., 1950.

3. Doubts about the decision to move

Social psychologists have developed the theory that if a person does not doubt in his decision to emigrate, that it is much faster and more successfully adaptedDavid G. M. Social Psychology, 7th ed., 2002. People who come temporarily - to study, work or simply as tourists - may start their adaptation to a new country, but never it is not finished, because they have no incentive to do so. Emigrant who moved to the country for a very long time or forever, but doubts will expend energy on vibrations, instead of accepting the situation and start living.

4. The inability to take responsibility for their actions on themselves

People who refuse to take responsibility for their actions, believe that everything that happens to them - this is the result of external forces. They often all bad, because they have no luck, the weather is bad, corrupt officials, noisy neighbors, the next generation is not what the emigrants work selected and the like.

Psychologists call this attitude to life external locus of control.

People with opposing positions have an internal locus of control. They believe that only they determine their future, and their failures often blame themselves than others.

Research that scientists conducted in 1976 in the United States to Chinese immigrants, they say that people with less able to adapt to external locus of control than those who themselves bear the responsibility for themselves. And yet these people are more prone to depression and various psychosomatic diseasesKuo W. H., Gray R., Lin N. Locus of control and symptoms of distress among Chinese-Americans. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 22, 1976, 176-187.

5. Elderly age

On this subject, there have been many studies. They do not support fully, but do not deny the fact that old age affects the success of adaptationLebedeva M. Introduction to ethnic and cross-cultural psychology. M.: "On-Key", 1999. - 191 with..

Often people aged difficult to learn foreign languages, it is more difficult to make new friends, to revise their living habits and find a new circle of friends. But those who are still able to adapt in the elderly, a lot. Perhaps it is in a serious level of motivation: the desire to live closer to the children or, for example, to fulfill a dream and spend their old age by the sea.

6. Unwillingness to learn, and to learn something new

Studies have shown that people who have higher education and continue learning in adulthood, experiencing less stress from moving, than those who do not like to acquire new knowledgeC. Ward, Bochner S., Furnham A. The psychology of culture shock. Second edition. Routledge. 2001. 386 p.. Considering how many different information is processed after experiencing a new country, the result of these studies is quite easy to explain.

7. reluctance to move

This item is for those for whom the move was forced process. Sometimes it's the spouse, children and parents, those who had to leave (refugees, people fleeing from persecution), as well as those who had to take the decision to move quickly and without preparation.

Such people often are not able to adapt completely, since this requires inner will and the motivation to do it. If, however, people moved, because it wanted to members of their families or their forced political or economic situation, for them the culture shock can be more difficult than for others.

These are human qualities and emotions are not necessarily severe obstacles to emigration. They only say that these people will be much harder to adapt and start a new life.

Perhaps we should work out in advance in each of the problems currently:

• to learn more about a new country, to reduce the level of expectations;
• address to the psychologist, to remove doubts about the decision to move;
• improve tolerance to self and others;
• learn to take responsibility for themselves.

People in old age may well learn and adapt, it is a question of motivation and strong will.

The only reason that can be unambiguously called insurmountable obstacle to emigration, is the reluctance of move. Here we can only review the priorities and come back.