W-Curve
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
A model of cultural adjustment and re-entry that extends Lysgaard’s U-curve of cross-cultural adaptation to incorporate the repatriation experience. The W-curve adds a second dip to the U-curve, representing the re-entry adjustment difficulties that occur when an individual returns to their passport culture after an extended period abroad. The two valleys of the W represent culture shock on arrival in the host country and re-entry shock on return to the home country; the two peaks represent the honeymoon period and the post-repatriation restabilization. Now considered an oversimplification by many researchers but remains one of the most widely cited models in international education, counseling, and HR contexts.
Comparable terms
U-curve (Lysgaard — the original adjustment model from which the W-curve derives; describes host-country adjustment only) · Re-entry shock (see Cultural Adaptation — the psychological experience the W-curve’s second dip describes) · Reverse culture shock (see Transitions & Mobility — the equivalent experiential term) · Adjustment curve (general — informal descriptor for any staged model of cross-cultural adaptation)
Why this matters
The W‑curve offers a simple shared language for the emotional ups and downs of global moves. It helps normalize that “down again” after coming home is expected, not a failure. Used wisely, it’s a psychoeducation tool to structure timing of support and reviews.
Cross-references
Re-entry Shock (Cultural Adaptation); Reverse Culture Shock (Transitions & Mobility); Repatriation (Transitions & Mobility); Culture Shock (Cultural Adaptation); Reintegration (Transitions & Mobility). Repatriation is the formal organizational process during which the W-curve’s second dip most commonly occurs; reintegration is the longer-term adjustment arc of which that dip is an early phase. Both entries provide the substantive content that the W-curve’s simplified visual model points toward but does not fully capture.
Sources
Gullahorn and Gullahorn extended Lysgaard’s U-curve hypothesis into a W-curve by proposing that repatriation produces a second cycle of adjustment analogous to the original host-country adjustment, with returnees experiencing disorientation upon re-entry for many of the same reasons that newcomers experience culture shock — the mismatch between expectations and reality. Gullahorn, J.T. & Gullahorn, J.E. (1963). An extension of the U-curve hypothesis. Journal of Social Issues, 19(3), 33–47.
The W-curve model has been critiqued for oversimplifying the adjustment process into discrete stages when the research evidence supports a more continuous, variable, and individually differentiated experience. For the critique, see: Ward, C., Bochner, S. & Furnham, A. (2001). The Psychology of Culture Shock (2nd ed.). Routledge, which addresses the limitations of stage models generally.
« Back