Sociocultural Adaptation of International Students in the United States of America

Abstract

This study examines the sociocultural adaptation of international graduate-level students (N = 56) at a Southwestern university in the United States (US). The participants were divided into three groups based on the length of duration in the US since arrival – 1-6 months, 7-12 months, and more than 1 year. The Revised Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS-R) was used to measure firstly, the overall adaptation of international students, and secondly, the scores received on the five subscales of the inventory – interpersonal communication (IC), academic/work performance (AP), personal interests and community involvement (PI), ecological adaptation (EA), and language proficiency (LP). The overall adaptation score received was compared to Lysgaard’s U-curve model of adaptation (1955) to examine whether adaptation occurs the same way with a modern population. The scores indicated statistically insignificant results between the three groups of students on overall adaptation as well as among four out of the five subscales. Ecological adaptation showed statistically significant differences between the two groups being the US the longest, 7-12 months and more than 1 year.