Psychological Skills Related to Intercultural Adjustment

Abstract

In this chapter, we reported recent work from our laboratory spanning 17 studies on the development and validation of a new measure of intercultural adjustment — the ICAPS. Focusing initially on sojourners from Japan, our studies suggested that the ICAPS is a highly valid and reliable measure to predict adjustment success for students, businesspersons, housewives, and individuals involved in intercultural marriages. Further tests indicated its validity for predicting adjustment in sojourners from other cultures as well. These findings in toto lead us to believe that the psychological constructs identified by the ICAPS are applicable to predicting intercultural success for sojourners from many different cultures. Individuals with the potential to adjust to life well in another culture are good at regulating emotions, open and flexible to new experience, and able to think critically. The availability of the ICAPS, and other measures like it, promises to continue to make a significant contribution to intercultural relations for years to come, and its findings point to the importance of certain key psychological skills important for adjustment.