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Helping The Transition Through Building New Friendships: A Psychological Perspective On Supporting International Students' Acculturation And Social Integration, Clint E. Thomson May 2016

Helping The Transition Through Building New Friendships: A Psychological Perspective On Supporting International Students' Acculturation And Social Integration, Clint E. Thomson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the present research, I developed a program that paired newcomer international students with Canadian student mentors. These pairs met weekly throughout the year. Analysis of pilot quantitative data suggested international student participants did not experience changes in attitudes towards Canadian students or feelings of integration at university as they got to know their mentors, contrary to what I had initially hypothesized. After conducting focus group interviews and reforming the survey measures for the main study, I found that program participants experienced positive changes in sociocultural and psychological adaptation, and a reduction in acculturative stress over time. At the conclusion …


The Role Of Adult Attachment In International Students’ Acculturation Process, Miao Li Jan 2016

The Role Of Adult Attachment In International Students’ Acculturation Process, Miao Li

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

International students face a variety of challenges in their acculturation process. The acculturation process is a highly variable process that is influenced by the mediating and moderating effects of individual factors that exist prior to, or arise during, acculturation (Berry, 1997). Among the moderating personal factors existing prior to acculturation, adult attachment has received heightened attention as an important variable impacting the acculturation process and adaptation outcomes. Wang and Mallinckrodt (2006a) suggested that successful adaptation involves exploration of unfamiliar social situations that resemble the infants’ exploration of their physical surroundings. The acculturation process can be challenging and stressful because individuals …