What term describes stress resulting from the pressure of adapting to a new culture?

• A. Stressor
• B. Culture Shock
• C. Social Strain
• D. Acculturative Stress

Answer: (D)

Adapting to a new culture places ongoing pressure as you navigate language, norms, values, and social expectations. This continuing strain from the process of adjustment is acculturative stress. It captures the difficulties of learning new customs, communicating in another language, and rebuilding social support while facing possible discrimination or homesickness. Culture shock describes the initial disorientation and emotional upset that can occur when first entering a new culture, which can be part of the experience but isn’t the ongoing stress of adapting itself. A stressor would be the event that triggers stress, not the ongoing experience of adjusting to a different culture, and the term social strain isn’t the standard way to describe this phenomenon.