Acculturation: Role of Student–University Alignment for International Student Psychological Adjustment

Abstract

The interaction between host environment and international students plays a critical role in the students’ cross-cultural adjustment. However, limited research has captured this interaction in investigating international student acculturation. Building on acculturation and person–environment fit theories, this article investigated student–university alignment of different dimensions as predictors of psychological adjustment of international students at universities in Victoria, Australia. The results of structural equation modeling suggested student–university goal alignment was positively associated with student psychological adjustment. A revealing finding of this article is the mediating role of complementary fit in the relationship between supplementary fit and student psychological adjustment, where the complementary fit was represented by the alignment between student needs and university academic and facilities support, and supplementary fit was represented by student–university goal alignment. The findings have implications for universities and practitioners in developing the necessary resources to support international students.

Interpersonal Mindfulness, Intergroup Anxiety, and Intercultural Communication Effectiveness Among International Students Studying in Russia

“…intercultural adjustment and communication (Chebotareva, 2011;Novikova and Novikov, 2015;Bierwiaczonek and Waldzus, 2016;Khukhlaev et al, 2020;Aresi et al, 2021;Bui et al, 2021;Pekerti et al, 2021;Mao et al, 2022). Therefore, an important task of psychological science is the search for basic psychological mechanisms of the effectiveness of intercultural communication and using them to support international students.…”

Persisting beyond acculturative barriers toward a baccalaureate degree: international, non-native-English-speaking student retention from year 1 to year 2 during a pandemic

“…In terms of university freshman persistence, this would involve the decision to leave school. Similar to Dentakos et al, other contemporary scholars have studied the connection between acculturation and adjustment (Bui et al, 2020;Yakunina et al, 2013).…”

“…I mined scholarly articles from the seminal works of prominent researchers (e.g., Spady (1970;1971); Tinto (1975Tinto ( , 1988Tinto ( , 1997Tinto ( , 1998Tinto ( , 2006Tinto ( , 2013Tinto ( , 2017; Astin (1985); Kuh et al (1991); Pike and Kuh, 2005) and more current scholars (e.g., Altbach (2010); Andrade (2007); Bui et al, (2020) and Mamiseishvili (2012) who have studied persistence and retention for over 50 years. I also consulted peer-reviewed journals obtained through EBSCO, Scholar One Search, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and ERIC databases as well as public reporting data.…”

“…Several researchers pointed out that poor English language proficiency threatened acculturation (Andrade, 2007;2008;Mamiseishvili, 2012;Reid & Dixon, 2012). Bui et al (2020) utilized the concept of "environmental fit" for adjustment purposes. The researchers captured whether or not fit enabled international students to assimilate successfully.…”

“…The international non-native-English-speaking student participants' reevaluation of their goals throughout their first year affirmed that they made the right decision in choosing WIT and ultimately persisting to Year 2. The first key finding leads to the potential for goal setting that relates to environmental fit, which falls under the SIM because the participants' goals lined up with the institution (Boyer & Sedlacek, 1988;Bui et al, 2020;Coertijens et al, 2017). Along with SIM, transitional theories also highlight the importance of goal setting to students' persistence (Chickering & Schlossberg, 1995;Nicholson, 1990).…”