Refining King and Baxter Magolda’s Model of Intercultural Maturity

Abstract

This study examined 110 intercultural experiences from 82 students attending six colleges and universities to explore how students’ interpretations of their intercultural experiences reflected their developmental capacities for intercultural maturity. Our analysis of students’ experiences confirmed as well as refined and expanded King and Baxter Magolda’s (2005) model, which mapped the development of intercultural maturity. In addition to affirming the overall developmental trajectory of intercultural maturity our data revealed additional developmental features within the initial, intermediate, and mature levels of the model. Furthermore, our analysis illuminated characteristics of transitional phases between levels of the model.

Development of the Global-Self Through Collegiate Recreational Sports

“…The markers of intercultural maturity, an indicator that a student has developed their global-self, are defined in King and Baxter Magolda's model of intercultural development (Baxter Magolda, 2003;King & Baxter Magolda, 2005;Perez, Shim, King, & Baxter Magolda, 2015). King and Baxter Magolda's (2005) model originally drew on Kegan's (1994) model of lifespan development, defining the three forms of intercultural skills required for the mature level of development as a "complex understanding of cultural differences (cognitive dimension), capacity to accept and not feel threatened by cultural differences (intrapersonal dimension) and capacity to function interdependently with diverse others (interpersonal dimension)" (p. 574).…”

“…The model took the three domains of development-cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal-and defined the stages students can achieve in these domains as initial, intermediate, and mature. The model included transitional phases between levels (Perez et al, 2015). While students may bring different backgrounds to their initial placement on the scale, the goal of intercultural development for Perez et al (2015) was for students to reach the mature level, characterized by the following attributes in Table 1.…”

“…Successful intercultural communication has many barriers, including language capabilities, social standing, perceived ability, gender dynamics, racial differences, and cultural variations (Athanasios, 2005;Duţă, 2014). To develop the skills needed to acquire the mature attributes Perez et al (2015) described as essential for improving understanding of cultural differences, and to overcome barriers to communication, it is important to have an intentional approach to program design and student learning. Understanding how students learn is the topic of the next section.…”

“…Paradoxically, despite being stereotyped, the females in the league demonstrated high self-awareness in their survey and interview responses, acknowledging in more than one case that they themselves had been guilty of stereotyping international students. Female participants brought multiple identities to this study and the overlap of gender, ethnicity, and nationality created many opportunities to develop the mature interpersonal competence for which Perez et al (2015) (p. 768). If the intent of the global-self is to view others as equally human, reducing the amount of gender stereotyping will need to improve.…”

“…Among other theories, practitioners will be able to apply Kuh's (1995) student engagement theory that out-of-the-classroom experiences help students gain interpersonal competence through peer interactions. Practitioners can also support students moving through Chickering and Reisser's (1993) developmental vectors and implement theories on intercultural development (Killick, 2015;Perez et al, 2015).…”