Counseling and expatriate adjustmen

This study examined the relationship between North American and Western European expatriate adjustment and multiple potentially influential factors contributing to the adjustment process of living in Asia; specifically, use of counseling services, type of counseling services, and length of counseling services. Components of personality were also examined to explore any relationships that may exist between personality and adjustment, specifically the component of emotional stability, as it has been demonstrated to be related to adjustment and is of interest to the counseling profession. Additional demographic variables were examined to further develop an understanding of the expatriate adjustment process.;Expatriates living in Asian countries (n = 199) voluntarily completed the Expatriate Adjustment Scale, the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. The instruments were completed anonymously, online using a Qualtrics link. Participants were recruited through personal contacts, expatriate online forums, solicitations in expatriate newspapers, and through the professional networking community LinkedIn.;Data analysis using hierarchical regression revealed statistically significant findings in several areas. The personality trait of Emotional Stability was found to be positively related to cross-cultural adjustment. An expatriate's reported job satisfaction was also found to be positively related to cross-cultural adjustment. Counseling was not found to have a significant relationship with cross-cultural adjustment, but this may be attributed to the small number of participants, about 5%, who indicated experience with counseling services.