Diplomats spend four years at a time abroad in South Africa's foreign missions, and after a home posting to Pretoria, typically lasting two years, they leave again. Children attend international schools. Thus diplomatic families have to adjust to a lifestyle of change and discontinuity, foreign cultures and unknown environments. The extent of this adjustment seems underrated and misunderstood. Since 1994 the number of missions abroad has doubled and most of the new missions are in the third world, hence the focus on hardship postings. In this narrative research, interviews were conducted with diplomatic families in several hardship posts. The aim was to gain a better understanding of the process of adjustment based on first hand information. Adjustment is described as a complex unfolding narrative with regressive as well as progressive story lines. The first stage lasting up to six months is seen as regressive, since the person is further removed from his goal of adjustment than at arrival. The rest of the stay is largely progressive if adjustment is seen as "being settled in a familiar routine" . Regressive elements refer to environmental restrictions. Findings include a description of an ideal couple for the foreign service; a need for effective preparation for a posting is confirmed; a changed relationship between Head Office and an official when abroad; diffuse identity among adolescents who spend formative years abroad, resulting in poorly understood adjustment problems on reentry; importance of attending to the soft issues of relocation instead of focusing on financial compensation. / Thesis (PhD (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Psychology / unrestricted

The adaptation to a new country is a complex and stressful process that is compounded when changes in status and identity have to be made. This exploratory study examined the adaptation of international company transferee spouses when they decide to follow the transferee on overseas assignments. Research to date indicates that the spouses’ dissatisfaction with life abroad is the leading cause of transferees breaking contract and prematurely returning home. The causes of this dissatisfaction are still not clear and this study sought greater clarification, particularly examining the experiences of male as well as female trailing spouses. The study, thus, takes gender as a main variable to consider. It explores how gendered expectations inherent in the structures of society inflect and inform the decisions, attitudes, and behaviors that affect the adaptations of trailing spouses living in a foreign habitus. The study is based on eight months of ethnographic research in two culturally different locations, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Brussels, Belgium. Forty-two American international company transferee spouses were recruited (seven males and thirty-five females). The data analysis revolved around five main themes: (1) the comparison of male with female trailing spouses’ experiences, (2) the effect of location on spouses’ adaptation, (3) the communities that spouses integrate into, (4) variations in personal work and family histories, and (5) conditions of exit. The analysis engaged multiple theories regarding gender, sociological adaptation, and psychological adaptation. Results indicate that both socio-cultural and psychological factors affect adaptation and that gender matters very significantly, particularly along two axes: (1) gendered structures in our society create different reasons why males and females become trailing spouses, (2) the gendered social constructions of role expectations make the experience of being a trailing husband different from being a trailing wife. In addition spouses’ status as parents (or not) and their “readiness for change” were found to be important predictors of positive spousal adaptation. In contrast, significant ties with families in the home country and strong professional identity with career projections were important predictors of negative spousal adaptation.

Text in English / Early migration across borders predominantly involved movement by males for work. While changing times have seen a considerable increase in the number of female migrants as principal migrants solely for independent employment, women still move as passive participants, who have to play an often obscure supporting role beside men. Through a qualitative, exploratory research design, this thesis explored the lived experiences of accompanying immigrants, particularly women from other African countries, accompanying their immigrant spouses in South Africa. Data collection was conducted through individual face-to-face unstructured in-depth interviews with eight female accompanying spouses. The data were thematically analysed and yielded seven overarching themes, namely: motivation to relocate and power dynamics; effects of migration; how accompanying immigrant status is experienced by the female accompanying spouse; challenges immigrants that hold accompanying spouse status face; meaning-making, adaptation; and strategies deployed to cope. These were discussed in terms of the construction of the ‘accompanying spouse status’ and how this powerful social discourse impacts women’s wellbeing. Participants reported education, socioeconomic factors and related life aspects were amongst the motivations for their relocation to South Africa, in addition to citing both positive and negative effects of their migration. From the study results, accompanying spouses recounted how they encountered various adversities, including how accompanying spouse status fundamentally reduces the holder to a dependent, whose being revolves around the principal migrant spouse. Notwithstanding participants’ struggles, the study results show how the participants have, through it all, learnt to live with their status, deployed methods of coping against all odds, and today still stand. / Psychology / Ph. D.(Psychology)

A common practice of multinational companies is to temporarily transfer employees to international locations in order to exchange technology, launch new ventures, and facilitate communication within the company. To do this, multinational companies must make a number of decisions regarding their expatriate programs. Even though international companies would rather stay focused on the professional performance of their employees without having to "meddle" in personal and family affairs, recent research has shown that the adaptation of the accompanying spouse is one of the most critical factors in expatriate assignment success or failure. By studying the available literature on expatriate spouse adaptation, coupled with conducting my own exploratory research with American expatriate spouses currently living in France, I was led to the conclusion that adequate, pre-departure preparation is indispensable to an expatriate spouse's successful cross-cultural adaptation. To improve the efficacy of pre-departure training, I propose providing expatriate spouses with personal trainers who will teach them to adopt a new mindset for the purpose of conducting cultural analysis. This mindset involves assuming the role of anthropologist—just as an actor would assume a role in a play. The benefits of this approach are twofold: firstly, imagining oneself as an anthropologist provides excellent motivation to get out and explore a new culture rather than avoiding it and hiding out in the safe haven of one's own home; secondly, having a new, temporary identity will help create the emotional distance necessary to minimize reactionary, negative feelings and allow for progressive, cross-cultural understanding. While being sensitive to prospective expatriate spouses' personal goals, personal trainers should provide concrete methods to help mitigate culture shock's related stresses, as well as helping expatriate spouses develop appropriate coping skills to assist them in dealing with the unsettling experience of living in another culture. By implementing improvements in relocation programs, such as the solution I propose, multinational companies can maintain an acceptable return on investment for their relocation programs while affording expatriate employees and their respective families an enriching and life-changing intercultural experience.