Abstract
Acculturation is the process by which an individual adjusts to a new cultural environment. Recent research has highlighted the need to take a more ecological perspective towards acculturation, taking into account the wider context in which acculturation is enacted rather than focusing on individual-level phenomena. In this paper, we suggest the intergroup environment is important to successful acculturation, and the consequent strategies available for maintaining a positive social identity. This study examined the role of the Social Identity Theory strategies of social creativity and social mobility in the acculturation experiences of international students. In addition, the role of place identity, referring to an individual’s psychological connection to place, was also examined in terms of intergroup encounters. To better understand the role of social identity and place identity in acculturation, nine in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with international students studying at a UK-based higher education institution, exploring these students’ adjustment and place identity experiences. As these students transitioned into a new culture, they reported using strategies for the maintenance of a positive social identity based on social mobility and social creativity. Their sense of place identity was also implicated in these strategies. Over time, these strategies provided resources for the students to develop a bi-cultural identity. Findings extend our understanding of the psychological and social processes of acculturation by providing insight into the role of intergroup experiences in international students’ adjustment.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data
The recordings and transcriptions of the original interviews are not available due to confidentiality requirements. Selected, anonymised extracts from the interviews are available as illustrative of the analytic themes in Table 2. The interview protocol is provided as supplementary material
References
Amiot CE, Doucerain MM, Zhou B, Ryder AG (2018) Cultural identity dynamics: capturing changes in cultural identities over time and their intraindividual organization. Eur J Soc Psychol 48(5):629–644. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2355
Auburn T, Barnes R (2006) Producing place: a neo-Schutzian perspective on the ‘psychology of place’. J Environ Psychol 26(1):38–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2006.03.002
Bernado F, Palma-Oliveira J-M (2016) Urban neighbourhoods and intergroup relations: the importance of place identity. J Environ Psychol 45:239–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.01.010
Berry JW (2004) Acculturation. In: Spielberger CD (ed) Encyclopedia of applied psychology, vol 1. Academic Press, London, pp 27–34. ISBN 978-0-12-657410-4
Berry JW (2005) Acculturation: living successfully in two cultures. Int J Intercult Relat 29:697–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.07.013
Berry JW (2006) Stress perspectives on acculturation. In: Sam DL, Berry JW (eds) The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316219218
Brown R, Zagefka H (2011) The dynamics of acculturation: an intergroup perspective. Adv Exp Soc Psychol 44:129–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385522-0.00003-2
Brzozowska A, Postuła A (2019) Feel at home. Vietnamese immigrants in Poland. Space Cult. https://doi.org/10.1177/1206331219884499
Canter D (1977) The psychology of place. The Architectural Press, London. ISBN 0-85139-532-5
Cardenas D, de la Sablonniere R (2020) Participating in a new group and the identification processes: the quest for a positive social identity. Br J Soc Psychol 59:189–208. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12340
Chen CP (1999) Common stressors among international college students: research and counseling implications. J Coll Couns 2:49–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1882.1999.tb00142.x
Chow K, Healey M (2008) Place attachment and place identity: first-year undergraduates making the transition from home to university. J Environ Psychol 28:362–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.02.011
Cross JE (2015) Processes of place attachment: an interactional framework. Symb Interact 38(4):493–520. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.198
Devine-Wright P, Clayton S (2010) Introduction to the special issue: place, identity and environmental behaviour. J Environ Psychol 30:267–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(10)00078-2
De Vreeze J, Matschke C, Cress U (2018) Neither fish nor fowl: a perceived mismatch in norms and values between oneself, other students, and people back home undermines adaptation to university. Br J Soc Psychol 57(3):684–702. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12253
Di Masso A, Williams DR, Raymond CM, Buchecker M, Degenhardt B, Devine-Wright P, Hertzog A, Lewicka M, Manzo L, Shahrad A, Stedman R, Verbrugge L, von Wirth T (2019) Between fixities and flows: navigating place attachments in an increasingly mobile world. J Environ Psychol 61:125–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.01.006
Dixon J, Durrheim K (2004) Dislocating identity: desegregation and the transformation of place. J Environ Psychol 24:455–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.09.004
Doucerain MM (2018) Heritage acculturation is associated with contextual factors at four different levels of proximity. J Cross Cult Psychol 49(10):1539–1555. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118796976
Doucerain MM (2019) Moving forward in acculturation research by integrating insights from cultural psychology. Int J Intercult Relat 73:11–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2019.07.010
Droseltis O, Vignoles V (2010) Towards an integrative model of place identification: dimensionality and predictors of intrapersonal-level place preferences. J Environ Psychol 30:23–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2009.05.006
Fisher S, Murray K, Frazer NA (1985) Homesickness, health and efficiency in first year students. J Environ Psychol 5:181–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(85)80016-5
Fried M (1966) Grieving for a lost home: psychological costs of relocation. In: Wilson JQ (ed) Urban renewal: the record and the controversy. The M.I.T. Press, London, pp 359–379. ISBN 262 23018 6
Fried M, Gleicher P (1961) Some sources of residential satisfaction in an Urban Slum. J Am Inst Plan 27(4):305–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944366108978363
Gebhard JG (2012) International students’ adjustment problems and behaviors. J Int Stud 2(2):184–193
Gfellner BM, Cordoba AI (2011) Identity distress, psychosocial maturity, and adaptive functioning among university students. Identity: Int J Theory Res 11:136–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2011.540740
Guiffrida DA (2005) Toward a cultural advancement of Tinto’s theory. Rev High Educ 29:451–472. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2006.0031
Harrison P (2002) Educational exchange for international understanding. Int Educ 11(4):2–4
Jackson P, Penrose J (eds) (1993) Constructions of race, place and nation. University College of London Press, London. ISBN 978-0-8166-2505-5
Keil TF, Koschate M (2020) Variations in subjective definitions of everyday situations as intergroup contact. Br J Soc Psychol 59:965–991
Kende J, Baysu G, Van Laar C, Phalet K (2021) Majority group belonging without minority group distancing? Minority experiences of intergroup contact and inequality. Br J Soc Psychol 60:121–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12382
Komlova M, Pasupathi M, Wainryb C (2020) “Things like that happen when you come to a new country”: Bosnian refugee experiences with discrimination. Qual Psychol 7(1):93–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000127
Lewicka M (2011) Place attachment: how far have we come in the last 40 years? J Environ Psychol 31:207–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2010.10.001
Lomer S (2018) UK policy discourses and international student mobility: the deterrence and subjectification of international students. Glob Soc Educ 16(3):308–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2017.1414584
Lopez-Class M, Castro FG, Ramirez AG (2011) Conceptions of acculturation: a review and statement of critical issues. Soc Sci Med 72:1555–1562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.011
Manzo LC (2003) Beyond home and haven: toward a revisioning of emotional relationships with places. J Environ Psychol 23(1):47–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944(02)00074-9
Maundeni T (2001) The role of social networks in the adjustment of African students to British society: students’ perceptions. Race Ethn Educ 4(3):253–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320120073576
Mendoza C (2006) Transnational spaces through local places: Mexican immigrants in Albuquerque (New Mexico). J Anthropol Res 62:539–561. https://doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0062.405
Molinsky A (2007) Cross-cultural code switching: the psychological challenges of adapting behavior in foreign cultural interactions. Acad Manag Rev 32(2):622–640. https://doi.org/10.2307/20159318
Moore J (2000) Placing home in context. J Environ Psychol 20:207–217. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.2000.0178
Mori S (2000) Addressing the mental health concerns of international students. J Couns Dev 78:137–144. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb02571.x
Nguyen AM, Benet-Martínez V (2013) Biculturalism and adjustment: a meta-analysis. J Cross Cult Psychol 44:122–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022111435097
Oikonomidoy E, Williams G (2013) Enriched or latent cosmopolitanism? Identity negotiations of female international students from Japan in the US. Discourse: Stud Cult Politics Educ 34(3):380–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2012.717191
Pedersen PB (1991) Counselling international students. Couns Psychol 19:10–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000091191002
Proshansky HM (1978) The city and self-identity. Environ Behav 10(2):147–169
Proshansky HM, Fabian AK, Kaminoff R (1983) Place-identity: physical world socialization of the self. J Environ Psychol 3:57–83
Reicher SD (1984) The St. Pauls’ riot: an explanation of the limits of crowd action in terms of a social identity model. Eur J Soc Psychol 14:1–21
Reicher SD (2002) The psychology of crowd dynamics. In: Hogg MA, Tindale RS (eds) Blackwell handbook of social psychology: group processes. eISBN 9781405106535
Reicher SD, Spears R, Haslam AS (2010) The social identity approach in social psychology. In: Wetherell M, Mohanty CT (eds) The sage handbook of identities. Sage, London, pp 45–62. ISBN 9781412934114
Roccas S, Brewer MB (2002) Social identity complexity. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 6(2):88–106. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0602_01
Sam DL, Berry JW (2010) Acculturation: when individuals and groups of different cultural backgrounds meet. Perspect Psychol Sci 5(4):472–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610373075
Sandhu DS (1994) An examination of the psychological needs of the international students: implications for counselling and psychotherapy. J Int Adv Couns 17:229–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01407739
Seamon D (1993) Different worlds coming together: a phenomenology of relationship as portrayed in Doris Lessing’s Diaries of Jane Somers. In Seamon D (ed) Dwelling, seeing and designing: toward a phenomenological ecology. State University of New York Press, New York, pp 219–246. ISBN 0-7914-0277-6
Searle W, Ward C (1990) The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. Int J Intercult Relat 14:449–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(90)90030-Z
Sebastien L (2020) The power of place in understanding place attachments and meanings. Geoforum 108:204–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.11.001
Smith JA, Flowers P, Larkin M (2009) Interpretative phenomenological analysis: theory, method and research. Sage Publication Ltd, London. ISBN 9781412908344
Smith RA, Khawaja NG (2011) A review of the acculturation experiences of international students. Int J Intercult Relat 35:699–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.08.004
Tajfel H (ed) (1982) Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-24616-3
Tajfel H, Turner JC (1986) The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In: Worchel S, Austin WG (eds) Psychology of intergroup relations, 2nd ed. Nelson-Hall, Chicago, pp 7–24. ISBN 0830410759
Tuan Y (1977) Space and place: the perspective of experience. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. ISBN 0-8166-3877-2
Turner JC, Hogg MA, Oakes PJ, Reicher SD, Wetherell MS (1987) Rediscovering the social group: a self-categorization theory. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 063114806X
Turner JC (1999) Some current issues in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In: Ellemers N, Spears R, Doosje B (eds) Social identity: an introduction. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 6–34. ISBN 0631206906
Twigger-Ross CL, Uzzell DL (1996) Place and identity processes. J Environ Psychol 16:205–220. https://doi.org/10.1006/jevp.1996.0017
Vanbaelen R, Harrison J (2011) Good practices to ensure sustainable education for international students’ success. IEEE-IPCC 2011: Commun Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1109/IPCC.2011.6087216
Van Horne S, Lin S, Anson M, Jacobson W (2018) Engagement, satisfaction, and belonging of international undergraduates at U.S. Research Universities. J Int Stud 8:351–374. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1134313
Ward C, Kennedy A (1993) Psychological and socio-cultural adjustment during crosscultural transitions: a comparison of secondary students overseas and at home. Int J Psychol 28:129–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599308247181
Wei M, Liang Y-S, Du Y, Botello R, Li C-I (2015) Moderating effects of perceived language discrimination on mental health outcomes among Chinese international students. Asian Am J Psychol 6(3):213–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000021
West AL, Zhang R, Yampolsky M, Sasaki JY (2017) More than the sum of its parts: a transformative theory of biculturalism. J Cross Cult Psychol 48(7):963–990. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117709533
West AL, Zhang R, Yampolsky MA, Sasaki JY (2018) The potential cost of cultural fit: frame switching undermines perceptions of authenticity in Western contexts. Front Psychol 9: 2622. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02622
Wu H, Garza E, Guzman N (2015) International student’s challenge and adjustment to college. Educ Res Int. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/202753
Yan K, Berliner DC (2013) Chinese international students’ personal and sociocultural stressors in the United States. J Coll Stud Dev 54(1):62–84. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2013.0010
Yancey W (1976) Architecture, interaction, and social control: the case of large-scale public housing project. In: Proshansky HM, Ittelson WH, Rivlin LG (eds) Environmental psychology: people and their physical setting. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, pp 449–459. ISBN 0-03-089679-7
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. The research was completed as part of the first author’s Master’s programme of study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Kendal Mersh undertook the design, collection of data, analysis and manuscript writing. Timothy Auburn contributed to the overall supervision of the project, design, analysis and manuscript writing.
Corresponding author
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mersh, K., Auburn, T. The role of social identity strategies in the cultural transitions of international students: social creativity, social mobility and place identity. SN Soc Sci 1, 141 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00149-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00149-y