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The reacculturation of American missionary families
Abstract
A qualitative paradigm was used in the study of three missionary families who had repatriated, respectively, for 17, 45, and 75 months. The purpose of the study was to generate case descriptions and a grounded theory of missionary reacculturation which incorporated the perspectives of the individual participants and the dynamics of the family systems. The data included participant diaries of post-reentry experiences, psychological tests, and field notes of interviews and naturalistic observations which occurred over a two to three and one-half month period with each family. After the return home, most individuals reported grief for the loss of reinforcing events associated with life overseas and altered frames of cultural reference. The adults reported heightened awareness of time management stresses which accentuated problems related to vocational adjustment and family life cycle stage. During the study, the participants gained insight into denial processes which obstructed recognition of the incompleteness of their cross-cultural readjustment. Family dynamics after reentry were characterized by declines in family cohesiveness, increased dependence of wives upon their husbands for emotional support, and interpersonal tensions consequent to children's adaptations to the home culture. The usefulness of Adler's Growthful Reentry Theory was validated in the explanation of the patterns of cross-cultural readjustment. The results also indicated that the reentry transition was more problematic for adult women than for men, children adopted home culture values more quickly than their parents did, reacculturation was facilitated by similarity between home and host cultures, and social support was critical to readjustment. Four conclusions were reported in the literature for the first time. First, a history of dysfunctional family-of-origin relationships was associated with reentry difficulties, especially for women. Second, geographical relocations after repatriation and family life cycle stage transitions complicated cross-cultural readjustment. Third, favorable sojourn outcomes appeared to facilitate healthy grieving processes. Fourth, participants in the marriages that developed more symmetrical power distributions after repatriation appeared to benefit from mutual support that was less available to the couple whose relationship became more asymmetrical.
Subject Area
Clergy|Psychology|Families & family life|Personal relationships|Sociology|Religion
Recommended Citation
Stringham, Edward M, "The reacculturation of American missionary families" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9034290.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9034290