Psychological Adaptation of Foreign Students

Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine

Taurida National V.I.Vernadsky University

Psychological adaptation of students who study abroad

byYakovina A.B.

a second(third)-year student

of Management Department

 

Language Instructor:

Kaluzhyna O.V.

Associate Professor

Department of Foreign Languages for

Social and Economic Studies

 

Simferopol 2014

Contents

Topicality of the research.

Adaptation is one of the fundamental processes by which people survived in extreme conditions. There are many people who study abroad nowadays and the number of such kind of students is increasing. The sociocultural and psychological difficulties of adaptation amonginternational students can lead to academic issues and deprave mental health of young people.Traditionally, Europe, Asia, USAand Australia invite students to study in their multicultural and developed regions. Nowadays, trip or training in another country is a measure of success; it gives to the student an opportunity to gain priceless experience.

The current study considers socio-cultural and psychological adaptation by addressing several issues through an assessment. Several factors have been suggested to contribute to potentially successful socio-cultural and psychological adaptation: flexibility, emotional regulation, and creativity. In the current study we have investigated and measured these qualities in two different groups of students, namely European and Japanese students who studied at Willamette University in the state of Oregon.

The purpose is acomparative analysis of psychological acculturation students from Europe and Japan.

The hypothesis of the research.

Background of our study was based on the hypothesis that the adaptation process is significantly different in samples from the representatives of Japan and Europe, and specifically the level of emotional regulation, the ability to accept and understand the new cultural norms and rules, and the capacity for flexibility and creativity in the new environment. In accordance with the purpose and the hypothesis of the study we set the following tasks:

1. To define psychological adaptation and its differences, which depend on the duration of stay abroad and voluntary resettlement, as well as a change in psychology students under the influence of a new culture,based on the analysis of scientific literature;

2. Choose methodological tools to identify differences in the psychological adjustment of students from Japan and Europe;

3. Conduct an empirical study of sociocultural and psychological adaptation;

4. Identify and analyze the key factors that contribute to and complicate the adaptation of students in Japan and Europe.

The object of the research is psychological adaptation of foreign students studying in the United States.

The subject of the research is the features of psychological acculturation of two different groups of students at a U.S. university.

Conceptual approaches, theoretical and methodological directions of studying psychological adaptation: cross-cultural adaptation and cultural shock (Lysgaard S. and Oberg, K.) intercultural understanding (Kim Y.Y. and Pederson A.), adjustment problems from a psychological point of view (N.S.Khrustalyova), self-efficacy as a factor of cross-cultural adaptation (I. V.Brunova-Kalisetskaya).

Participants

The sample included students based on of the criteria of uniformity and conformity of the focus of the study. Using these criteria provides us comparable samples. Students should 1) be eighteen to twenty-six years old; 2) study in a U.S. university for at least four and not more than twelve months; and 3) be representatives of the countries of Europe or from Japan. Research participants were thirty students from Japan and twenty-two from Europe (twenty-seven men and twenty-five women) which were studying in Willamette University, state of Oregon. The mean age of the participants was twenty years.

Quantitative methods of data collection:

1. Socio demographic characteristics (Questionnaire). We designed a questionnaire to collect some basic information about the subjects. Six questions included: age, gender, country of origin, education, training period abroad and previous experience of studying abroad.

2. Twenty-nine items of the Socio-cultural Adaptation Scale, developed by Ward and Kennedy (Ward, C., &Rana-Deuba, A., 1999) were used in this study. Method includes scales of Cultural Empathy (8 questions), Impersonal Endeavors (7 questions) and Cultural Relatedness (6 questions).

3. Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS-55) was designed to measure individual differences in the four directions which are necessary for the cross-cultural adaptation (Mcgrae R.R., 1984): Emotional Regulation, Openness, Flexibility, and Creativity.

4. Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Twenty points include major components of depressive symptoms, including depressed mood, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, psychomotor retardation, loss of appetite and sleep disturbance.

The theoretical part

Psychological Adaptation of Foreign Students

Despite the fact that over past decades the world of science has accumulated enough researches about cross-cultural adaptation, there remains considerable controversy on the process of adaptation to a new culture and patterns and models of adaptation over time.

The U-curve theory of stages of cross-cultural adaptation, one of the most popular and well known was originally put forward by Lysgaard (1955) in his study of Norwegian Fulbright scholars in the United States. He noted that the greatest difficulties of adaptation was experienced by those who lived abroad from six to twelve months compared with those who had been abroad less than six months or more than eighteen months. A similar study of cross-cultural adaptation was cited by Oberg (1960) in his anthropological description and the development of the concept of “culture shock”. Researchers, who have investigated cultural shock, noted that it should be seen as a positive process of acquiring experience, which leads to better intercultural understanding (American Counseling Association, 2005; Berry J.W., Annis R.C. 1974; Garza-Guerrero A.C. 1974; Kim, K., Li, D., & Kim, D. 1999; Redfield, R., Linton, R., & Herskovits, M., 1936).

Ward and his colleagues (Sellitz C., Hopson A.L. and Cook S.W., 1956; Ward C. and Chang W.C., 1997) have suggested that cross-cultural adaptation can be divided into two significant areas: psychological (emotional/affective) and socio-cultural (behavioral). Psychological adaptation refers to psychological well-being or satisfaction in the new cultural environment, while the socio-cultural adaptation refers to the ability of settlers to “fit into” or interact effectively with members of the host culture.

Our study was based on participation of students from Japan, where society is arranged on the principle of collectivism, and students from individualistic countries of Europe. Researchers have recognized the influence of cultural orientation of individualism-collectivism on the personal style of communication, a system of values and behavior. This affects direct rules and regulations that guide people in everyday life and in their primary cultural orientation (Hayashi S., 1988; Matsumoto D., LeRoux J. and Ratzlaff C., 2001; Searle W., Ward C., 1990).

International students have difficulties in acculturation, along with the language barrier and cultural differences (Thomas K. and Harrell T., 1994). Thus, in the understanding of the international students, it is important to recognize that by "being an international student", he or she represents a common identity of minorities in the United States (Schram J. and Lauver P., 1988). Students differ in their experiences from refugees, immigrants, and ethnic minorities in the United States, mainly due to immigration problems, temporary residence in the United States, requirement to achieve success in the American academic system, and the necessity to quickly learn how to adapt to the demands of daily life, communication, and behavior (Juon, H. S., Choi, Y., & Kim, M. T., 2000; Mori, S. 2000; Murguia, A., Zea, M. C., Reisen, C. A., & Peterson, R. A., 2000). Foreign students experience the unique challenges of adaptation and a sense of isolation as a result of training in the United States (Sumer, S., Poyrazli, S., & Grahame, K., 2008). Thus, it is natural that some foreign students will experience psychological distress (Berry, J.W., 2003).

Speaking about the most important features of psychological adaptation, we should mention these three points: 1) Emotional regulation is the ability to control and manage an emotional experience and its expression, and channel its energy in a constructive way; 2) Flexibility is the ability to assimilate a new experience, ways of thinking and methods to transform these into your own; 3) Creativity is the ability to think outside the box, in a creative and autonomous way (Matsumoto D., LeRoux J. and Ratzlaff C., 2001).

Summing up the complexity of the situation in which the student resides, getting into a new culture, we see the need for a better understanding of these difficulties and study the psychological characteristics of adaptation.

Conclusions:

1. The study hypothesis was confirmed, in fact, cultural empathy among representatives of Japan was significantly higher than that of the Europeans. Also, in the process of mathematical analysis of data, other interesting and significant differences became apparent. For example, Japanese students demonstrated emotional regulation distinctly higher than that of the European level. Moreover, the former are leaders in terms of cultural relatedness, but inferior to students from Europe in terms of flexibility and creativity.

2. The results showed that in fact, Creativity, Cultural Empathy, Cultural Relatedness, and Impersonal Endeavors are different in these groups of students. Students who are better integrated and, to some extent identified with American culture, experienced fewer difficulties during their staying in the United States.

3.Europe and Japan are two seemingly different worlds, with their own traditions and history, the first famous by individualism, and the last one well-coordinated collectivism. But, despite all the differences, when students were put in a new and different culture, there were similar and identical symptoms of culture shock for all nationalities and appeared tough and high barriers of psychological adaptation. Each group of students has their own distinct patterns of behavior adapted to the new environment and in their own distinct way.

References

 

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