41
of acculturation. This researcher believes the expression of grief
to be an integral part of the-process of adjustment to the host culture.
To adapt, the immigrant has to overcome the impulse to try to restore
the past. A major blocking factor in adjustment is the failure to fully
realize the departure is final. The inability to surrender the past
conjures up feelings of unreality and sometimes marked irritability and
apathy. Returning to the home country after a long absence can also be
traumatic. The memories which have been harbored for so long are ex
changed for the realization that the immigrants who left are not like
those who stayed behind, nor quite like a member of the host society
either.
Cohon (1981) finds two stages to adjustment to the new host cul
ture. First, there is a feeling of euphoria at being free of previous
problems. Slowly, the immigrant realizes the differences in culture
and becomes aware of the loss of the past. The past is then idealized.
As this awareness continues, the immigrant may experience paranoia,
hypochondria, anxiety, and depression. The immigrant frequently ex
periences impairment of interpersonal skills and contradictory tendencies
to withdraw and to relate to people. During this period there is a
reorientation of values influenced by the internalization of the
original value system--a function of individual age.
Little attention has been given to the process of adaptation and
assimilation as it is experienced by women and children, although women
are typically viewed as adapting most slowly, and children most quickly,
to new language and culture patterns. In studying Portuguese female
immigrants, Smith (1980) finds they personify "marginal man," the person