• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.45-66
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• 2015

This study explored the moderating effects of social supports (family support, home friends support, foreign friends support) and cultural identity (home identity, foreign identity) on the relationships of reverse culture shock and subjective well-being. Participants were 157 returnees who left home-country prior to the age of 19 and resided in the foreign-country for more than three years. The results of hierarchical regression analyses on two-way interaction effect between reverse culture shock and each hypothesized moderator (e.g., family support, home friends support, foreign friends support, home identity, foreign identity) indicated that reverse cultural shock and subjective well-being was negatively related and their relationship was moderated only by family support. Specifically, the relationship between reverse culture shock and subjective well-being was weaker when the level of family support was higher. Subsequently, three-way interaction among reverse culture shock, one of the social support factors, and one of the cultural identity factors was investigated using hierarchical regression analyses. The results showed that the three-way interaction among reverse culture shock, family support, and home identity was significant. The slope difference tests yielded that the relationship between reverse culture shock and subjective well-being was stronger when both levels of family support and home identity were lower compared to when either level of family support or home identity was higher. These results imply that environmental factors such as family support and intrapsychic factor such as home identity might function as a buffer against the negative consequences of reverse culture shock experience.