1 research outputs found
“The Well-Adapted Immigrant”: Exploring the Relationship Between Acculturation and Wellbeing of International Students
No full textInternational student populations in Canada have grown significantly over the past 20 years. Throughout this growth, acculturation has remained the dominant framework for understanding cultural adaptation. Berry’s model of acculturation bases cultural negotiation on the maintenance and rejection of the home and host countries’ cultures; however, this study argues that researchers and service providers need to shift how we understand acculturation of international students. Acculturation is shown to involve both a degree of intentionality (or individual agency) and elements that are structural, and thus outside of an individual’s control. Furthermore, by measuring subjective wellbeing of participants, this study sought to determine the relationship between wellbeing and acculturation. All participants in this study demonstrated a high level of positive wellbeing. Instead of relating a specific acculturation strategy to positive wellbeing, I argue that a sense of belonging is the nexus between acculturation and wellbeing of international students
