ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ways in which Micronesian student's motives for and approaches to learning depart from those assumed by Western-oriented courses in personal adjustment. The University of Guam (UOG) is the United State's only accredited four-year institution of higher education in Micronesia. UOG's Psychology Program offers an elective course in personal adjustment. Theoretical models in cross-cultural psychology reduce complex differences between cultures to several factors that predict differences at the level of individual behavior. Psychological acculturation popularly called 'culture shock' involves having to relearn much of what daily life is about, at the very time that ones communication skills may be reduced to those of a child and one's customary social supports are unavailable. Abuse of alcohol and other drugs is very common throughout Micronesia. People decided to include material on psychological acculturation and means of coping with it in their adjustment course, and to invite students to address them in their self-modification projects.
