Research
How adult immigrants cope, and why time matters
My master’s research looked at the coping strategies adult immigrants use, and at how their relationship with the past, present and future relates to how they adjust.
Draft page. Maria to add the exact title, university, year, method, sample and main findings. Keep it in plain language, and cite or link the full text if it is public.
The question
Moving to a new country asks a lot of a person: a new language, new rules, distance from family, and often a changed social and professional identity. Some people settle in steadily, others struggle for years. This research asked which ways of coping go together with better adjustment, and whether a person’s time perspective, meaning how they relate to their past, their present and their future, plays a part.
What “time perspective” means
Psychologists describe time perspective as the habitual way a person divides experience into past, present and future. Someone may dwell on painful memories, hold on to warm ones, live mostly for the moment, or organise life around future goals. A move abroad disturbs all three: the past is in another place, the present is unfamiliar, and the future is uncertain.
What I found
Summary of findings to be added.
What it means in practice
How these findings shape my counselling work with people who have moved countries.