F OCUS - American Foreign Service Association

who are younger, married for shorter
periods of time, are more likely to have
fewer and younger children and, as a
result, tend to be more isolated than
spouses with older children.
In an interesting and surprising
finding, foreign-born spouses did not
report significantly more re-entry difficulty
than U.S.-born spouses. Though
they did exhibit distress, their levels
were statistically similar to those of
U.S.-born spouses. This result was unexpected,
as anecdotal evidence suggests
that foreign-born spouses would
have a more difficult time when assigned
to the U.S. because it is not
“coming home.”
One possible explanation for this result
could be that foreign-born spouses
view a return to the U.S. as they would
another foreign assignment. From this
perspective, they are better prepared
to manage coming to the U.S. as
“strangers in a strange land” than U.S.-
born spouses, who are strangers in a
land that is supposed to be familiar.
Another important finding showed
that spouses whose return was more
difficult than they had expected experienced
more readjustment difficulty.
This has been shown in previous research
as a discrepancy between the
expectations of returning home and
the actual experience. Also, spouses
who had been in the U.S. for less than
two years were shown to have a higher
incidence of re-entry problems than
those who had been in the U.S. longer.
This is consistent with previous research
showing that symptoms are usually
highest in the first six to 12 months
after re-entry and abate with time.
Changing Perspectives,
Interesting Links
The statistical results also showed a
link between two overseas factors and
re-entry adjustment. First, spouses
who participated more in a range of activities
overseas (whether embassy, expatriate
or local national) were found
to have fewer re-entry problems than
The Foreign Service
lifestyle has many pros
and cons, but the best and
most challenging aspects
are the friendships made
and then left behind.
those who participated less in such activities.
This result appeared to make
sense, as participation indicates less
isolation and those who are less isolated
overseas may tend to be less isolated
at home, as well.
Another unexpected finding was
that participation in U.S. embassy activities
and interactions reduced reentry
distress more than participation
in expatriate or local national activities.
This was particularly interesting because
becoming involved outside the
embassy is viewed positively in the
Foreign Service. This result shows another
side to overseas cultural involvement
or “going native,” which may be
an increased sense of not fitting in
when returning home.
In fact, a change in cultural identity
from an American perspective to more
of a host-country perspective (or simply
to a less American perspective)
had a high statistical association with
re-entry distress. Eventually, after
several months back in the States,
spouses resume a more American orientation.
But nearly all (95 percent)
reported that some changes remained,
as they maintained a more international
perspective.
A most interesting and surprising
finding was that spouses who obtained
re-entry information after their return
experienced more problems than
those who did not receive such information
at all. This finding at first appears
counterintuitive. However, it
could mean that spouses who sought
help after returning home were already
displaying significant re-entry
distress, and by that point information
itself could not alleviate their symptoms.
These spouses may have needed
more intervention.
Some Major Points
In responses to two short-answer
questions, the spouses described their
most recent re-entry experience. The
following major points emerged:
• The first re-entry is the most difficult;
later episodes are less so.
• The challenge in later re-entries
is dealing with family members’ adjustment,
including children acclimating
to new schools and friends and the
employee spouse adjusting to a more
bureaucratic environment. As one
spouse described it: “Coping with my
husband’s ‘hard landing’ and depression
for nine months was very stressful,
as was getting children oriented
and on track.”
• The Foreign Service lifestyle has
many pros and cons, but the best and
most challenging aspects are the
friendships made and then left behind.
• Returning home to retire is also a
challenge. Retiree spouses noted
some painful losses after an active Foreign
Service lifestyle and felt, as one
spouse put it, “left out in the cold by
the department.”
• Spouses who were assigned to
other U.S. locations upon re-entry also
showed high levels of distress. One
spouse stated, “We were thrown into
an unknown city (not Washington,
D.C.) without any help. It is extremely
expensive. I feel very lonely and want
to leave as soon as possible.”
The second question asked spouses
to suggest ways the Department of
State could further assist with re-entry.
There were two major themes to their
responses:
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