Reverse Culture Shock
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
The disorientation, frustration, or sense of alienation experienced upon returning to one’s passport culture after an extended period abroad. Often more intense and longer-lasting than the initial culture shock experienced on arrival in a host country, partly because it is unexpected.
Comparable terms
Reentry shock (counseling, education) · Repatriation shock (HR/mobility) · Reverse adjustment (coaching — softer framing) · Readjustment difficulty (clinical — functional, non-experiential) · Coming home shock (informal — contested; “home” is problematic for many returnees)
Why this matters
Reverse culture shock can be sharper for children and teens than for adults. It challenges assumptions that home is automatically familiar or welcoming. Recognizing it prevents pathologizing normal reactions and guides tailored support.
Cross-references
W-Curve (Transitions & Mobility); Re-entry Shock (Cultural Adaptation); Repatriation (Transitions & Mobility); Reintegration (Transitions & Mobility). Re-entry shock is the preferred neutral term for the same phenomenon in counseling and education contexts; repatriation describes the formal process during which reverse culture shock most commonly occurs; and reintegration describes the longer-term adjustment arc of which reverse culture shock is an early signal.
Sources
The concept of reverse culture shock was formally theorized by Gullahorn and Gullahorn (1963), who extended Lysgaard’s U-curve model of culture shock into a W-curve to account for the readjustment process upon return to the home culture. ScienceDirect Gullahorn, J.T. & Gullahorn, J.E. (1963). An extension of the U-curve hypothesis. Journal of Social Issues, 19(3), 33–47.
Gaw, K.F. (2000). Reverse culture shock in students returning from overseas. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24(1), 83–104. This study found that children and adolescents tend to experience greater severity of reverse culture shock than adults.
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