Exploring Cultural Identity, Personality, and Social Exposure Correlates to College Women’s Intercultural Competence

Abstract

College students' intercultural competence (ICC) has become a focus of many higher education institutions. Yet, more work can be done to explore what variables play a role in this complex and multifaceted process. The current study investigated the association between the outcomes (i.e., cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains of ICC), cultural identity (i.e., majority group and international status), personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and intellect/imagination), and social exposure (i.e., racial/ethnic and international diversity of friendships) for a culturally diverse sample of 179 incoming college women. After controlling for the cultural identity, personality traits, and social exposure variables, majority group status and intellect/imagination significantly predicted students' openness to considering varied cultural perspectives (i.e., cognitive knowing). Findings indicated that White students had higher scores on the Cognitive Knowing subscale of ICC compared with students of Color. In addition to social cultural exposure, conscientiousness remained as a significant predictor of cognitive knowledge (i.e., factual knowledge, understanding, and awareness of various cultures) after controlling for all the other variables in the model. Extraversion and neuroticism persisted as a significant predictor of the intrapersonal identity and self-awareness component of ICC. Next, agreeableness and racial/ethnic diversity of friendships were key predictors of intrapersonal affect or cultural-emotional intelligence and attunement. Intellect/imagination, racial/ ethnic, and international diversity of friendships all significantly predicted interpersonal sociocultural interaction. Finally, agreeableness and racial/ethnic diversity of friendships was linked with the social responsibility component of intercultural competence. The findings and their implications for higher education are discussed.

Digital socialization of students by means of educational media

“…To be more precise, cognitive and congruent criteria are aimed at forming the information and media competence of students; conative, constructive, and comic are aimed at forming the communication competence; creative and constructive are aimed at forming the technical competence; conformal is aimed at forming the consumer competence of schoolchildren. The presented types of competencies, in their entirety, determine the level of digital competence, that is, "the readiness and ability of a person to apply info-communication technologies confidently, effectively, critically, and safely in different spheres of life (information environment, communications, consumption, and technosphere) [5]. In turn, digital competence, along with cultural practices, online risks, online space characteristics, the concept of a digital personality, and the quality of digital world relations, determines the main areas of change and development vectors of digital socialization.…”

“…Digital socialization is considered to be a feature of a new form of socialization of a modern person, which reflects both the process of social adaptation and integration of a person in the context of digitalization of the life of society and the process of gaining new social experience based on online contexts by a person, as well as the use of information and communication technologies that form the so-called "digital identity". The digital identity, in turn, is the result of the digitization of personal data, individual needs, activities, relationships, biography, and habits [5]. The process of integration of the digital and real persons is inevitable.…”

“…The process of integration of the digital and real persons is inevitable. The main sources of development and factors of digital socialization are the Internet, which is a "habitat" and a "significant mediator between the child and the environment", as well as digital devices, which are "cultural tools that contribute to the emergence of new forms of activity, cultural practices, phenomena, and meanings" [5]. In other words, "Internet socialization", "cyber socialization", and "digital socialization" become synonyms.…”

Untitled

“…Different research also demonstrated that personality characteristics influence intercultural partnerships, in addition to the language difference between local and foreign students (Aydın, 2020). Personality as a predictor of the intercultural competence of college students was investigated by Peifer and Yangchen (2017). Extraversion and agreeability were perceived to be essential variables of social interaction in their research.…”

Agricultural Leadership Development Program Participant Personality and Demographic Characteristics: An Empirical Analysis

“…Personality helps to understand many phenomena experienced in both educational and applied circumstances. Important topics such as managing conflict (e.g., Tehrani & Yamini, 2020) and creating inclusive environments (e.g., Peifer & Yangchen, 2017) can all be linked to underlying personality dispositions. For example, if it is known that a person is highly compliant or passive, questions can be posed allowing them to have a voice.…”