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1.
We investigated the acculturation process of international students (N = 319, 162 female) from 62 countries who were residing in the Netherlands, using the acculturation framework by Arends-Tóth and Van de Vijver (2007). We applied SEM to test the model that acculturation conditions (perceived cultural distance [PCD], personal growth initiative [PGI], proficiency in English and the host language, and length of residence) in conjunction with acculturation orientations as mediators (host, heritage, expatriate) predict psychological adjustment as acculturation outcome (acculturative stress, satisfaction with life, mental health problems). We found direct and indirect effects of acculturation conditions on adjustment; high PGI, high English and Dutch proficiencies, and low PCD were associated with better adjustment. Host orientation (predicted by high PGI, Dutch proficiency, and low PCD) was positively associated with adjustment. Heritage orientation (predicted by low English proficiency) was negatively associated with adjustment. As a novel aspect, we included expatriate orientation - an orientation towards other expatriates in the host community. Expatriate orientation was predicted by low Dutch proficiency and was positively associated with adjustment. We also observed direct links between acculturation conditions and outcomes: positive associations between PCD and acculturative stress and between length of residence and acculturative stress; and negative associations between PGI and mental health problems and between English proficiency and acculturative stress. We provide evidence that including expatriate orientation is relevant among international students: It is stronger than both host and heritage orientations, thereby underlining the importance of studying acculturation in a contextualized way.  相似文献   

2.
This paper explores the impact of acculturation conditions, orientations and outcomes on international students in Australia’s tertiary education sector. Specifically, we investigate the factors that facilitate or hinder acculturation of international students within a multidimensional acculturation context (Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2006). We used a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design in two studies to investigate acculturation of international students at an Australian university and test how these factors are related to psychological and sociocultural outcomes. In Study 1, we conducted a generic qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with a conventional content analyses approach,which compared the experiences of international students who on average had high numbers of positive experiences versus those who had high numbers of negative experiences. We found that a support network of mixed-nationals, and especially host locals, facilitates positive psychological and sociocultural adjustment, and buffers acculturative stress. Study 2 quantitatively tested the association of factors found in Study 1 (perceived stereotypes, intercultural and ethnic network/resources) with psychological and sociocultural acculturation outcomes. Study 2, shows that perceived negative stereotypes loosen ties with the dominant (host) culture and reinforces ties with the ethnic (non-host) culture. The social resources associated with either culture was found to be useful for acculturation, with both independently contributing to participant well-being. Contact with host locals played a particularly crucial role in developing these resources. Our findings provide foundations for pragmatic policy implications, suggesting value in the development of formally organized contact programs in the early sojourn experience of international students.  相似文献   

3.
Psychological resources such as emotional intelligence are claimed to act as protective factors against negative psychological adjustment outcomes of acculturative stress and depression for international students in their intercultural transition in the host country despite the dearth of substantial empirical evidence. With this in mind, the study was conducted to investigate the relationships between emotional intelligence, acculturative stress and depression. The study recruited international university students (N = 506) who were purposefully drawn from seven Chinese universities located in Wuhan. Participants completed three self-report questionnaires: Emotional Intelligence Scale, Acculturative Stress for International Students scale and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The result of the study revealed that students with a higher level of acculturative stress were found to have greater depressive symptoms. The study also indicated that emotionally intelligent students were likely to experience a lower level of acculturative stress and fewer depressive symptoms. The finding of the study further suggested that students with a higher level of emotional intelligence were likely to experience a lower level of acculturative stress and consequently appeared less depressed. Findings of the present study may assist university communities to have an insight into the nature of emotional intelligence and its impact on acculturative stress and depression, and then make the best use of this insight to work on facilitating the psychological adaptation of international students in the new environment. Implications, limitations, and future research directions for the study are discussed.  相似文献   

4.
Acculturation can be a challenging experience for Asian international students moving to Western countries for study. The majority of international students are young adults, a population that has recently entered the legal alcohol purchase age, and who might not be familiar with new regulatory contexts and socio-cultural environments where drinking is common. Informed by theories of acculturative stress, ethno-identity conflict and adaptation, we explored 15 Asian international students’ lived experiences of alcohol in Australia, and the social, cultural and religious contexts within which these experiences were situated. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis exploring subjective experiences of alcohol and acculturation processes. Participants articulated numerous and varied experiences of their transitions, however, did not draw connections between stressful transition experiences and subsequent drinking. Most participants reported having increased their drinking since arrival in Australia, and although many participants had adapted to Australian patterns of drinking and socialising, they also reported it was challenging to navigate different cultural and social expectations and values around alcohol that were strongly rooted as a part of their ethnic heritage. Our participants’ experiences may be useful to inform future research on this much under-studied topic, as well as being used by universities to consider appropriate strategies for addressing alcohol-related acculturation processes as part of orientation curriculum with international students.  相似文献   

5.
Although research has demonstrated a strong linkage between meaning of life and positive emotion, few studies have examined this association in the context of acculturation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive effects of meaning of life and acculturative stressor on positive affect in a sample of Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong, and to compare these effects between the two groups. Four hundred mainland Chinese postgraduate students at six universities in Hong Kong and 227 Chinese international students at the University of Melbourne in Australia completed a questionnaire that included measures of acculturative stressor, meaning of life, positive affect, and demographic information. The analyses revealed that (1) meaning of life had a strong positive contribution to predict positive affect in acculturation, and acculturative stress had a negative impact on positive affect within both samples; (2) social interaction had a significant negative predictive effect on positive affect in both samples, and academic work served as a significant negative predictor of positive affect in the Hong Kong sample; and (3) meaning of life was found to mediate the relationship between acculturative stress and positive affect in both samples. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.  相似文献   

6.
International students face a variety of challenges in their acculturation process. Acculturation, the process of adapting to a new cultural environment, is highly variable and influenced by environmental and individual factors that exist before or arise during acculturation. Among the moderating personal factors existing prior to acculturation, adult attachment has received attention as an important variable impacting the acculturation process and adaptation outcomes. Based on the bi-dimensional model of acculturation (Berry, 1997) and the concept of adult attachment (Bowlby, 1977), the current study hypothesized that an insecure attachment (i.e., high attachment anxiety and avoidance) would predict more acculturative stress, less psychological adaptation, and less sociocultural adaptation. We also hypothesized that students who highly identified with their heritage culture and were highly acculturated to the U.S. culture would experience higher levels of psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Also, we examined if adult attachment moderated the effects of acculturation on international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. International students enrolled in higher education institutions in different geographic locations in the United States (N = 221) completed measures of adult attachment, acculturation, acculturative stress, and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The results suggested that attachment anxiety was a significant predictor of international students’ psychological adaptation. High acculturation to the U.S. significantly predicted more sociocultural adaptation. Attachment avoidance significantly moderated the effect of acculturation to the U.S. culture on international students’ psychological distress, while attachment anxiety was a significant moderator for the effect of acculturation to the U.S. culture on sociocultural adaptation.  相似文献   

7.
This study investigates the perceptions and interpretations of social media and online communication by students engaged in study abroad programs. In-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed with 23 American and international students who completed or were engaged in a study abroad program. Results suggest that online communication enhanced the students’ experience, providing help with sociocultural skills, informational needs, relational bonds, and psychological well-being. Different platforms were preferred when communicating with friends versus family and intimates. Online communication between co-nationals from the student’s home country buffered both the sojourning student’s acculturative stress, and the stress and concern of distant family members.  相似文献   

8.
Social networking sites (SNSs) have become significant communication platforms for numerous international students and their acculturation process. However, the underlying mechanisms of how and to what extent certain types of social media could facilitate cross-cultural adaption are remain under-investigated. Drawing on cross-culture adaption theory, the article seeks to address this gap by investigating the potential influences of differentiated patterns of social media usage on international students’ social support from host and home countries, and acculturation process from both psychological and behavioural perspectives. Data were gathered through a web-based survey from 298 Chinese international students studying in German universities. The outcomes demonstrate that international students’ social media use, especially active use, is associated with increased level of perceived social support from both host and home countries. Additionally, the findings verify that the positive association between active use and cross-cultural adaption is mediated by these two types of social capital. The article may make meaningful contributions to present acculturation studies and managerial practice for universities which target overseas markets.  相似文献   

9.
The internationalisation of education promises to prepare students for diversity in the global workplace. However, many international students do not thrive in their host academic communities. A sample of 196 international students enrolled at a New Zealand (NZ) university between 2011 and 2012 completed an online survey, which explored cultural concepts identified as relevant to the acculturation process. A multiple regression of the quantitative data identified that prior knowledge, perceived relevance, belongingness and cultural distance accounted for almost 50% of the variance in the successful acculturation of students into the university culture. The high level of self-reflectivity throughout the qualitative data provided insight into the integral role of both staff and host students as a catalyst in this process. Findings of this research illustrate that alongside functional support, there is a need to develop the intercultural communication competence of faculty and host culture students. Recommendations to achieve enhanced outcomes for international students include future curriculum development, staff training, host student education and enhanced structural support in areas identified as barriers to successful acculturation.  相似文献   

10.
Acculturation refers to the degree to which immigrants maintain their ethnic culture and accept or reject the new dominant culture. While considerable studies have focused on immigrants’ acculturative processes, little is known about acculturation from the perspective of the host culture. This study examined American students’ acculturation orientations toward international students based on the concept of interactive acculturation and investigated the influence of ethnocentrism, sex, and Facebook use on such acculturation attitudes. Results from a survey of 346 American college students indicated a high degree of individualism and integrationism over other orientations, namely transformation-integrationism, exclusionism, assimilationism, and segregationism. The model with ethnocentrism, sex, and Facebook usage predicted five of the six acculturation orientations, with ethnocentrism being the most important predictor.  相似文献   

11.
The acculturation process generally contributes greatly to stress and anxiety levels among international students. The objectives of the present study were: (1) to see whether international students experience more anxiety, irritability, and stress from being apart from family and friends, pressure from school, difficulties with language, work and finances than students with permanent US residency, and (2) to investigate the same stressors in groups within the international student population. Surveys were distributed to 246 students aged 17–51 at an ethnically diverse community college in Southern California, US. Analysis of variance was conducted to investigate group differences between students: permanent US residents vs. international students, and, permanent US residents vs. European and Asian students, respectively. No significant differences were found between international students and students with permanent US residency. However, when the international student population was sub-grouped by above cultural regions a different pattern emerged. Difficulties of not being able to work and of socially related problems were perceived as more severe for the European and the Asian groups, while finance problems were hard for all three groups. The variable of language difficulties was harder for Asian students, while that of stress of being apart from family was harder for students from Europe. Findings are not only congruent with prior research results on international students but also demonstrate that international students with culturally diverse needs should not be considered as one homogenous group. It is suggested that educational systems need to properly adapt in order to accommodate international students’ unique cultural needs.  相似文献   

12.
This study examined mechanisms through which acculturation influenced psychosocial adjustment of Chinese international students. Specifically, these mechanisms refer to the mediating and moderating effects of social interaction and social connectedness with host nationals upon the acculturation–adjustment linkages. Chinese international students from four universities in Texas responded to a web-based survey (N = 508). Results from regression analyses showed social connectedness with Americans mediated the links between adherence to the host culture (acculturation dimension) and psychosocial adjustment (i.e., depression and sociocultural adjustment difficulties). Social interaction with Americans moderated the association between adherence to the home culture (acculturation dimension) and depression. We discussed implications for theory and health promotion practice, and presented directions for future research.  相似文献   

13.
This study integrates acculturation and person–environment fit theories to investigate the role of student–university value alignment in international student cross-cultural adjustment to host universities in Victoria, Australia. The study used a mixed methods design with the quantitative data collected from a student survey and the qualitative data generated from interviews with university staff. Structural equation modelling and thematic analysis were employed to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The results of the study indicated that international students who possess similar values to their host university, adjust better, both psychologically and socially into the university environment as well as feel satisfaction with their host university. The study also confirmed the mediating role of international student social adjustment in the relationship between student–university value fit and student overall satisfaction with their host university. The findings highlight the key role of international student–university value alignment in contributing to the success of students’ cross-cultural adjustment to the new cultural environment they experience. Therefore, universities should constantly communicate and deliver on their values during both the promotional stage of international student recruitment and the student journey with the university.  相似文献   

14.
International students continue to grow in number worldwide, prompting researchers to look for ways to make the study abroad experience more fruitful. One avenue of research has focused on friendship formation, the significant role it plays in the study abroad experience, and the unique friendship combinations made possible by the study abroad experience. International students form friendships with individuals from their own country, from other countries, and from the host country. Research has found that international students often have more friends from their home country; however, research has also demonstrated a relationship between having more host country friends and satisfaction, contentment, decreased homesickness, and social connectedness. The current study looks to further explore these relationships through a social network lens by examining friendship network ratios, strength, and variability of the three friendship groups. A friendship network grid was developed to assess where international students’ friends are from and how strong those friendships are. Eighty four international students completed a survey examining the relationship between friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, contentment, and satisfaction. Contrary to prior research, international students did not report having a higher ratio of individuals from their home country in their friendship networks. However, international students with a higher ratio of individuals from the host country in their network claimed to be more satisfied, content, and less homesick. Furthermore, participants who reported more friendship variability with host country individuals described themselves as more satisfied, content, and more socially connected. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.  相似文献   

15.
Most research on student sojourners has studied students coming from the Majority World to Western countries, especially the United States, for undergraduate and graduate education. Though increasing greatly in numbers, shorter sojourn has not been the focus of attention. With regard to the adjustment of sojourners, research has tended to stress situational factors rather than personality. This study is different in terms of focusing on short term educational sojourn of Western students in a Majority World country and examining the effect of personal characteristics and cultural evaluation of the sojourners on their experience. Relatedness and country of origin were found to influence the cultural experience of exchange students through their cultural evaluation at baseline. Students with higher relatedness orientation had more positive cultural evaluations at baseline which then led to a more positive cultural experience in the receiving country.  相似文献   

16.
Traditional acculturation research has focused mainly on acculturative stress and its negative consequences on the mental health of migrants. However, there has recently been a substantial paradigm shift in acculturation research from a psychopathological perspective to a resilience framework, which focuses on positive adaptation outcomes and their contributing protective factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate how to improve the emotional well-being of migrants by developing and testing a resilience model of acculturation using mainland Chinese postgraduate students in Hong Kong as the sample. A total of 400 mainland Chinese students were recruited from six universities in Hong Kong through a cross-sectional survey. A resilience-based and meaning-oriented model of acculturation was developed for Chinese students by path analysis and structural equation modeling. Threat appraisal and sense-making coping partially mediated the relationship between acculturative hassles and negative affect. The effect of acculturative hassles on positive affect was mediated by two pathways: the first was mediated by threat appraisal, sense-making coping, and negative affect; the second was mediated by meaning-in-life. The findings suggest that acculturative hassles and threat appraisal are significant risk factors and that sense-making coping and meaning-in-life are important protective factors for psychological adjustment in cross-cultural adaptation.  相似文献   

17.
This review systematically examined predictors of psychosocial adjustment of international undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. Sixty-four studies published in peer-reviewed journals between January 1990 and January 2009 were reviewed. Statistically significant predictors of psychosocial adjustment were grouped by adjustment outcome variables (e.g., psychological symptoms and sociocultural adjustment). The methodological quality of each study was examined using an 11-point grading criteria, assessing the employment of theoretical framework, reporting of data's validity and reliability, study design, and analytic techniques, among others.The most frequently reported predictors included stress, social support, English language proficiency, region/country of origin, length of residence in the United States, acculturation, social interaction with Americans, self-efficacy, gender, and personality. The mean methodological score of the reviewed studies was 6.25 (SD = 1.8; maximum possible score = 11). The reviewed studies overcame selected limitations pointed out by Church in a previous review (1982), by employing a wide range of theories, employing longitudinal designs, and comparing among countries/regions of origin. This review also discussed implications for health promotion for international students and directions for future research.  相似文献   

18.
Acculturation of short-term international sojourners, such as expats and international students, has received considerable attention from scholars in the past decades. Acculturation is commonly defined as the interplay between cultural maintenance, the sojourner’s desire to maintain their home culture identity, and host country participation, their desire to initiate contact with members of the host society. The present paper focuses on the role that Social Network Sites (SNS) play in the acculturation process of this group. Through a survey, we examined how 126 short-term sojourners in the Netherlands use SNS to interact with relations in both home and host country, and how this affects their cultural maintenance and host country participation. Furthermore, we examined psychological alienation and online social support as possible mediators. Our results show that on the one hand SNS contact with home country relations is positively related to online social support. On the other hand, it is also related to psychological alienation, which in turn is related to cultural maintenance. This shows that sojourners who keep in touch with friends and family at home also experience more loneliness and homesickness, and place more emphasis on their own cultural heritage. Finally, we found that SNS contact with host country relations predicts host country participation. Through online activities, sojourners are able to foster social interaction and strengthen friendships with locals.  相似文献   

19.
Studying abroad far away from family and friends may put young people at particular risk of experiencing loneliness. From this perspective, behavioral strategies to deal with the challenges of a new living environment have important implications for the development of loneliness over the course of an educational stay abroad. This study investigates adolescents’ experience of loneliness over the course of a school year abroad, as well as the longitudinal interplay between loneliness and the sojourners’ host- and home-cultural behavioral engagement. To that end, we analyzed data from 1,225 student sojourners using latent growth curve models and cross-lagged panel models. Participants were surveyed four times before and during the student exchange period using online questionnaires. Our results showed that loneliness increased during the transition from home to the host country but decreased again afterwards. Host-cultural behavioral engagement predicted lower levels of loneliness by a direct effect, whereas home-cultural behavioral engagement predicted higher levels of loneliness by a time-lagged indirect effect via host-cultural behavioral engagement. Implications for acculturation and loneliness research, and practical implications for the support of student sojourners are discussed.  相似文献   

20.
BackgroundBased on different outcomes, immigrants to the U.S. may experience a decline in health with length of time or acculturation. Acculturative stress is often applied as an explanation for these changes and may be impacted by social supports and social networks, but more information is needed on the specific role of each. Thus far little research has examined acculturative stress and health by both ethnicity and gender.MethodsDrawing on the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), we examine data on a nationally-representative sample of foreign-born Latino (N = 1,627) and Asian (N = 1,638) adults living in the United States. We examine relationships between acculturative stress and self-rated physical and mental health, as well as the potential role of social support factors, with a primary focus on gender.ResultsAs a group Latinos report more acculturative stress than Asians. However, among Latino immigrants acculturative stress has no association with health, and for Asian immigrants there is an association with physical health among women and mental health among men – but only the latter persisted after adjusting for controls. We do find that among Latino men and women, acculturative stress is health damaging when specific types of social support are low but can even be health promoting at higher support levels.DiscussionWhile self-rated health differs among immigrant groups, we find that acculturative stress may not be the primary driving force behind these differences, but interacts with specific elements of social support to produce unique impacts on health by gender and ethnicity.  相似文献   

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