The relationship between tenure, stress and coping strategies of South African immigrants to New Zealand

Immigration has significant psychological and social consequences for a migrant family. This study explores the adaptation of two groups of South African immigrants to life in New Zealand. Sixty-three per cent of the 72 ex-South Africans contacted, using convenience sampling, had lived in New Zealand for less than five years. The perceived difficulties related to relocating as well as the coping strategies associated with self-identified problems related to the relocation and the length of tenure in New Zealand were both qualitatively and quantita-tively assessed. A problem-oriented semi-structured questionnaire and the Dimensions of Stress and Cyber-netic Coping scales were used to collect the data. It appears t'1at the longer the immigrants have been in New Zealand the less control they perceive themselves to have over the problems associated with relocation and the more likely they are to use the coping strategy of avoidance rather than actively trying to change their situation. *To whom correspondence should be addressed Migration is one of the most radical life changes and transitions an individual can face, since one is departing from a familiar environment to an environment filled by the unknown and differ-ent (Fisher, 1990; Tousignant, 1992). It is a stressful and trau-matic process in which familiar patterns of being and relating t