Acculturation and adjustment among international college students: The moderating role of perceived second language proficiency

Abstract

Objectives: This study was aimed at examining the relationship between acculturation strategies and both psychological and socio-cultural adjustment, while concurrently assessing the moderating role of perceived second language proficiency. The premise was that proficiency in the host country’s language could potentially facilitate successful acculturative outcomes. Method: We used self-report measures to collect data on a sample of 237 international students in Los Angeles. A General Linear Model was applied for data analyses. Results: Overall, integration emerged as the most adaptive acculturation strategy, whereas marginalization was identified as the least adaptive. Noteworthy, moderating effects were observed in the relationships between marginalization and life satisfaction, integration and socio-cultural adjustment, assimilation and psychological problems, as well as socio-cultural adjustment. Conclusions: Our findings lend support to the Integration Hypothesis, highlighting that adopting integration is associated with superior adaptive outcomes, also pointing out that the pattern of associations between acculturation strategies and both psychological and socio-cultural adjustment could fluctuate depending on the level of perceived second language proficiency.

Keywords:

• Acculturation
• international students
• perceived second language proficiency
• psychological adjustment
• socio-cultural adjustment

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of Italy and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Kore University of Enna.

Data availability statement

Raw and derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.