School Adaptation of Greek Children after Remigration

The aim of the study is to explore the patterns of adjustment of Greek remigrant children (coming from the former Federal Republic of Germany) as compared to their peers in the Greek public schools. Teacher, peer, and self-ratings were used and achievement data were obtained. The sample consisted of two age groups, elementary and secondary school students of public schools in Greece. The remigrant students were divided into two groups ("early return" and "late return") based on the year of return to Greece, and the control group consisted of all the classmates of the students. Return students were found to experience problems mainly in school performance. Contrary to the authors' hypotheses, remigrant students do not seem to experience any severe interpersonal or intrapersonal problems as compared to their local peers, indicating a rather smooth psychosocial adjustment. The authors' findings underscore the importance of the right time for remigration.