Cultureshockhasmanystages.Eachstagecanbeongoingorappearonlyatcertaintimes.Thefirststageistheincubationstage.Inthisfirststage,thenewarrivalmayfeeleuphoricandbepleasedbyallofthenewthingsencountered.Thistimeiscalledthe“honeymoon”stage,aseverythingencounteredisnewandexciting.
Afterwards,thesecondstagepresentsitself.Apersonmayencountersomedifficulttimesandcrisesindailylife.Forexample,communicationdifficultiesmayoccursuchasnotbeingunderstood.Inthisstage,theremaybefeelingsofdiscontent,impatience,anger,sadness,andfeelingincompetence,thishappenswhenapersonistryingtoadapttoanewculturethatisverydifferentfromthecultureoforigin.Transitionbetweentheoldmethodsandthoseofthenewcountryisadifficultprocessandtakestimetocomplete.Duringthetransition,therecanbestrongfeelingsofdissatisfaction.
Thethirdstageischaracterizedbygainingsomeunderstandingofthenewculture.Anewfeelingofpleasureandsenseofhumormaybeexperienced.Onemaystarttofeelacertainpsychologicalbalance.Thenewarrivalmaynotfeelaslostandstartstohaveafeelingofdirection.Theindividualismorefamiliarwiththeenvironmentandwantstobelong.Thisinitiatesanevaluationoftheoldwaysversusthoseofthenew.
Intheforthstage,thepersonrealizesthattheculturehasgoodandbadthingstooffer.Thisstagecanbeoneofdoubleintegrationortripleintegrationdependingonthenumberofculturesthatthepersonhastoprocess.Thisintegrationisaccompaniedbyamoresolidfeelingofbelonging.Thepersonstartstodefinehim/herselfandestablishgoalsforliving.
Thefifthstageisthestagethatiscalledthe“re-entryshock..”thisoccurswhenareturntothecountryoforiginismade.Onemayfinthatthingsarenolongerthesame.Forexample,someofthenewlyacquiredcustomsarenotinuseintheoldculture.
Thesestagesarepresentatdifferenttimesandeachpersonhastheirownwayofreactinginthestagesofcultureshock.Asaconsequence,somestageswillbelongerandmoredifficultthanothers.Manyfactorscontributetothedurationandeffectsofcultureshock.Forexample,theindividual’sstateofmentalhealth,typeofpersonality,previousexperiences,socio-economicconditions,familiaritywiththelanguage,familyand/orsocialsupportsystems,andlevelofeducation.