ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AMONG INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS:

THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, OPTIMISM,

AND SELF-MONITORING

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

BUKET ALKIġ

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

JANUARY, 2014
Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

_________________________

Prof. Dr. Meliha AltunıĢık

Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Master of Science.

_________________________

Prof. Dr. Tülin Gençöz

Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully
adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science.

_________________________

Prof. Dr. Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu

Supervisor

Examining Committee Members

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Türker Özkan (METU, PSY) ___________________

Prof. Dr. Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu (METU, PSY) ____________________

Assist. Prof. Dr. Ozanser Uğurlu

(ĠNDA Çözüm Odaklı DanıĢmanlık ve Eğitim Merkezi) ____________________
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name : Buket AlkıĢ

Signature :

iii
 ABSTRACT

ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AMONG INTERNATIONAL

STUDENTS: THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE,
OPTIMISM, AND SELF-MONITORING

AlkıĢ, Buket
M. S., Department of Psychology
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu

January 2014, 108 pages

This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional

intelligence, optimism, self-monitoring, and acculturative stress among
international students who are studying in England and Turkey.
Specifically, the impact of emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-
monitoring levels of students on their perceived acculturative stress is
investigated. Confronting the challenges and environmental demands
require oneself to be emotionally strong. Thus, emotional intelligence is
expected to be a significant predictor of acculturative stress among
international students. Also, it is hypothesized that optimism levels of
students will be a significant predictor of acculturative stress among
international students. Finally, students in an environment that is so
different from their own culture will most probably try to monitor
themselves and will behave with accordance to social cues in their
current context. Accordingly, high self-monitoring will lead students‟
acculturative stress levels to decrease. Thus, it is hypothesized that self-
monitoring degree will have a significant impact on the level of

iv
acculturative stress. 98 students from England and 149 students from
Turkey aged between 17 and 39 (M = 23.74, SD = 3.88) participated to
the study. The survey is composed of demographic information sheet, the
Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (Wong & Law, 2002),the
Revised Self-monitoring Scale (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984), the Positive
Future Expectation Scale (Imamoglu, 2001) and Acculturative Stress
Scale for International Students (Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994). The results
of the hierarchical regression analysis revealed that emotional
intelligence on England sample, and optimism on Turkey sample was
found to be a significant predictor of acculturative stress among
international students. Additionally, among demographic variables, the
significant effect of residence time, and English proficiency was
demonstrated. No significant predictor power of self-monitoring was
determined on both samples.

Keywords: Acculturative Stress, Emotional Intelligence, Optimism,

Self-monitoring, International Students.

v
 ÖZ

ULUSLARARASI ÖĞRENCĠLERDE KÜLTÜRLEġME STRESĠ:

DUYGUSAL ZEKA, ĠYĠMSERLĠK VE KENDĠNĠ ĠZLEME
DEĞĠġKENLERĠNĠN ROLÜ

AlkıĢ, Buket
Yüksek Lisans, Psikoloji Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu

Ocak 2014, 108sayfa

ÇalıĢmanın amacı, Ġngiltere ve Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören uluslararası

öğrencilerde gözlemlenen kültürleĢme stresinin duygusal zeka, iyimserlik
ve kendini izleme değiĢkenleri ile olan iliĢkisini incelemektir. Daha
detaylı olarak, duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme
değiĢkenlerinin kültürleĢme stresini ne ölçüde yordayacağı araĢtırılmıĢtır.
Yeni bir kültüre giren öğrencilerin duygusal açıdan güçlü olmalarını
gerektiren pek çok zorlu durum vardır. Bu noktada duygusal zekanın,
kültürleĢme stresini anlamlı olarak yordayacağı öngörülmektedir. Öte
yandan bireyin geleceğe yönelik olumlu tutumu, pozitif beklentisi de
yaĢayacağı stresi etkileyecektir. Son olarak, öğrenciler kendi ülkelerinden
farklı bir ortama girdiklerinde, yeni kültüre adapte olabilmek için
kendilerini izleyecek ve davranıĢlarını içinde bulundukları yeni sosyal
ortama uydurmaya çalıĢacaklardır. Bireyin ne derece kendini izlediğinin
kültürleĢme stresi üzerinde anlamlı bir etkisinin olacağı öngörülmektedir.
AraĢtırmaya 17 ve 39 yaĢ aralığında (M = 23.74, SD = 3.88) Ġngiltere‟de
öğrenim gören 98, Türkiye‟den ise 149 öğrenci katılmıĢtır. Anket

vi
demografik bilgilerden oluĢan sorular ve dört ana ölçek kullanılarak
oluĢturulmuĢtur. HiyerarĢik regresyon analizinin sonuçları doğrultusunda
Ġngiltere örnekleminde duygusal zeka, Türkiye örnekleminde ise
iyimserlik kültürleĢme stresinin anlamlı yordayıcıları olarak
belirlenmiĢtir. Demografik değiĢkenler arasında ise Ġngilizce dil
becerisinin ve öğrenim görülen ülkedeki ikamet süresinin anlamlı
yordayıcılar olduğu anlaĢılmıĢtır. Kendini izleme değiĢkeninin uluslar
arası öğrencilerde gözlemlenen kültürleĢme stresi üzerinde anlamlı bir
etkisi bulunamamıĢtır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Uluslararası öğrenciler, KültürleĢme Stresi,

Duygusal Zeka, Ġyimserlik, Kendini- izleme.

vii
 To My Dear Family…

viii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr.
Nuray Sakallı-Uğurlu for her encouragement during my graduate education, and
for providing guidance to my research. Without her supportive personality, thesis
process would be harder for me. I would also like to thank to my Examining
Committee members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Türker Özkan and Assist. Prof. Dr. Ozanser
Uğurlu for their significant contributions and helpful feedbacks.

Also, I would like to extend my sincere appreciations to Prof. Dr. Bengi Öner-
Özkan, Prof. Dr. Olcay Ġmamoğlu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Türker Özkan, and Asst. Prof.
Dr. Banu Cingöz-Ulu for providing me valuable knowledge and support during my
graduate courses. As well, I would like to thank to Assist. Prof. Dr. Sevi Öz and
Assist. Prof. Dr. AvĢar Ardıç for their precious comments regarding my research.

Moreover, I would like to thank to my dear friends IĢınsu Engindeniz and Göksu
Çağıl Çelikkol for helping the data collection procedure in England. Also, I would
like to express my thanks to Bilge Yalçındağ from the International Cooperations
Office at METU for letting me to reach more international students in Turkey. I
would also like to thank to Fulya Kırımer and Fatih Özdemir, special moments
shared with them made my graduate course wonderful. Furthermore, I am very
grateful to Seçil Ömeroğlu for her moral support during my graduate program.

For patience and moral support that he provided, for making me smile at the most
difficult times, for caring me all the time… Special thanks go to Mert Ergörün.

ix
Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my precious parents Nihal ALKIġ and
Ahmet Suat ALKIġ for their both moral and financial support, and to my
wonderful brother Ġbrahim Mert ALKIġ for his unconditional love and standing by
me throughout my life. No words can describe how your love and support is
crucial for me.

x
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGIARISM………………………………………………………………..….iii

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….….iv

ÖZ…………………………………………………………………………..……vi

DEDICATION……………………………………………………………….…viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………….……ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………….…..xi

LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………….…xiv

LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………….…..xv

CHAPTER……………………………………………………………………..….1

1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………......1

1.1 General Introduction…………………………………………………….......1

1.2 Acculturative Stress………………………………………………………..5

1.3 Acculturative Stress on International Students…………………..………..10

1.4 Emotional Intelligence…………………………………………………….13

1.5 Optimism………………………………………………………………….16

1.6 Self-monitoring…………………………………………………………...18

1.7 The Aims and Hypotheses of the Present Study…………………...……..20

2. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………....25

2.1 Participants………………………………………………………………..25

2.2 Data Collection Instruments……………………………………………....28

2.2.1 Demographic Information Sheet……………………..………...........28

xi
 2.2.2 Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS)…....28

2.2.3 The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS)……....29

2.2.4 The Positive Future Expectations Scale………………………........30

2.2.5 The Revised Self-monitoring Scale……….……..………………....31

2.3 Procedure……………………………………………………………..…32

3. RESULTS……………………………………………………………………...33

3.1 Preliminary Analyses……………………………………………………...33

3.2 Descriptive Information about the Study Variables….…………..………..33

3.3 Gender Differences among Major StudyVariables…………………….….34

3.4 Mean Differences among Major Study Variables on Country Basis……...37

3.5 Correlations among Study Variables………………………………….......39

3.6 Correlations among Study Variables on Country Basis…..……………….42

3.7 Regression Analysis Regarding Research Questions…..……………….....46

3.7.1 Predicting Acculturative Stress by Emotional Intelligence,

Optimism, Self-monitoring, and Demographic Variables…………………....…..46

4. DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………..……..49

4.1 General Evaluations of the Research Findings………………………..…...49

4.1.1 Gender Differences among Major Study Variables…………………...50

4.1.2 Mean Differences among Major Study Variables on Country Basis....51

4.1.3 Correlations between Major Study Variables on Country Basis……...52

4.1.3.1 Correlations between Major Study Variables in England……......52

4.1.3.2 Correlations between Major Study Variables in Turkey………....56

4.1.4 Predictive Powers of Emotional Intelligence, Optimism,

and Self-monitoring………………………………..……….……….…..60
xii
 4.2 Contributions and Conclusions of the Thesis……………...………….….63

4.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research…..…………………...66

5. REFERENCES……………………………………………………………....68

6. APENDICES………………………………………………………………...80

A. INFORM CONSENT FORM…………………………………………….80

B. DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SHEET…………………………….81

C. THE WANG AND LAW EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SCALE…...82

D. THE POSITIVE FUTURE EXPECTATIONS SCALE……………….....83

E. REVISED SELF-MONITORING SCALE……………………………….84

F. ACCULTURATIVE STRESS SCALE FOR INTERNATIONAL

STUDENTS……………………………………………………………….85

G. ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL………………………………….…87

H. TÜRKÇE ÖZET……………………………………………………….….88

I. TEZ FOTOKOPĠSĠ ĠZĠN FORMU……………………………………….108

xiii
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLES

Table 2.1 Sample Characteristics………………………………………………….27

Table 3. 1 General Means and Gender Differences among Major Study
Variables……………………................................................................................. 36
Table3.2 General Means and Differences among Major Study Variables
On Country Basis…………………………………………………………………..38

Table 3.3 Correlations among Study Variables (General)………………………….

41

Table 3.4 Correlations among Study Variables (England)……………………........44

Table 3.5 Correlations among StudyVariables (Turkey)……………………………

45

Table 3.6 Regression Analyses for Variables Predicting Acculturative Stress.……….

48

xiv
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURES

Figure 1. Factors Affecting Acculturative Stress and Adaptation……... 9

xv
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 General Introduction

A Graduate student at University of Sussex: „„Foreign students are weird in

here. I felt so bad last night and went to the shared kitchen in order to find
some friends to talk with. Nobody. Nobody has asked me whether I am
okay… I feel so lonely in this town.‟‟ (Brighton, September 2012)

A Graduate student at Queen Mary University of London: „„I have

already missed my family and friends. Yes, everything seems perfect in here.
I finally have started my post graduate which I have been willing it so many
years, and London is a great city to live, I know. Still, my emptiness inside
cause bad thoughts and this makes me feel down all day long… I just want
this year of study to be finished as soon as possible.‟‟ (London, December
2012)

These statements are given by two of my closest friends who have gone to
study abroad to England in fall 2012. After their arrival to England, they have
told me their experiences and feelings about the new people and the new
environment around them. During that time, I heard so many sentences full of
pessimism from them, and I was quite surprised since I have known them as
self-assured individuals. Then I have wondered that which skills and abilities
would be helpful for an individual in order to experience a smooth adaptation
into a new culture.

Throughout the history, individuals have experienced acculturation for several

reasons. In our age, with the help of technological and institutional
improvements, migration of people has been increased. Some people want to

1
enhance their theoretical knowledge, while others are seeking new places to
discover for living. And also, some individuals are expatriating to other
countries for obligatory reasons. Whether the reason is for education,
exploring other cultures or any other motive, immigrating to a foreign country
will bring along so many complexities as a result of social contact with
different people from the host country. Interacting and trying to live with
foreign people whose attitudes, behaviors and habits may totally be different
from an individual‟s own cultural background is a difficult period. Through
this challenging acculturation process, people face so many unknowns which
accordingly lead acculturation stress (Yusoff & Chelliah, 2010). This kind of
stress causes negative feelings such as despair, anxiety and depression
(Wiliams & Berry, 1991). According to Bar-On (2006), in order to handle
with social, personal and environmental changes effectively, one should be
emotionally and socially intelligent. Within that period, it is crucial for the
individual to be optimistic and self-motivated. Thus, emotional intelligence as
an individual difference is a significant predictor of coping with social and
environmental demands, and its insufficiency may cause a lack of success in
stress tolerance (Bar-On, 2005). Additional to these individual traits, whether
someone exhibits behaviors that are socially approvable or behave
independently from cultural norms in his relationships with others may have a
determinative role within this period. At this point, self-monitoring may
become a crucial factor in predicting acculturative stress among people. In
general terms, self-monitoring is the process of controlling one‟s own
expressive behavior (Snyder, 1974). Individuals who are high in self-
monitoring are successful to control and change their external behaviors and
behave with accordance to social cues in their current context (Lennox, 1984).
Therefore, while entering a new culture, high self-monitoring may helpful for
individuals to experience a smooth social adaptation. Accordingly less
acculturative stress is predicted from high self-monitoring individuals.

2
To conduct a research on acculturation, international students may compose
an appropriate sample to examine acculturative stress in terms of experiencing
„culture shock‟ (Oberg, 1960) and trying to cope with demands and pressures
while studying in a different country. While starting to live in a new culture
which may totally different from his own country, an international student has
to adapt himself to the current environmental and social context (Poyrazli,
Thukral, & Duru, 2010). As Russell, Thomson, and Rosenthal (2008) stated,
appreciable research has been conducted regarding perceptions and
experiences of international students, however much is still unknown about
the relationship between the students‟ well-being and the experience of
acculturative stress. Studies of acculturative stress on international students
have been conducted in recent years however the research can be improved by
examining new variables. Regarding adjustment of international students into
a new culture, demographic variables such as age, gender, previous abroad
experience, social status level, length of stay in the host country (e.g., Berry,
Kim, Minde, & Mok, 1987), perceived language proficiency (e.g., Yeh &
Inose, 2003), cultural difference and distance between host and the origin
country (e.g., Sandhu, 1995) were found significant in predicting acculturative
stress. Also, academic success, cultural background, financial opportunities
and political views were determined as predictive variables regarding
acculturative stress (Pan, Wong, Chan, & Joubert, 2008). Some studies have
indicated that social support has a significant effect on the adjustment of
international students by lowering the level of depressive symptoms (Dao,
Lee, & Chang, 2007; Jackson, Ray, & Bybell, 2013). Voluntariness of
residency is another crucial factor that effects the stress of acculturation
(Berry, 1997).

Regarding sampling, almost all studies of acculturative stress on international

students were conducted within one country (Gebhard, 2012; Gonzales, 2006;
Otlu, 2010; Sirin, Ryce, Gupta, & Rogers-Sirin, 2013; Vergara, Smith, &
Keele, 2010; Yeh & Inose, 2003). From the beginning of the research on

3
acculturation of international students, most investigations were carried out in
America (e.g., Mori, 2000; Yeh & Inose, 2003). In recent years, some studies
were conducted in Eastern countries (e.g., Vergara, Smith, & Keele, 2010).
The present study aims to fill the gap in the literature by comparing different
countries. Two particular sample groups; international students who are
studying in England as a developed country, and those studying in Turkey
which is a developing country were selected in order to find out whether the
country of residency will play a significant role in predicting acculturative
stress among foreign students. If students will not differentiate on other study
variables as emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring,
significantly different levels of acculturative stress among international
students studying in England and Turkey will be explained by the social and
educational conditions of the selected countries.

Theoretically, further information is required in order to clarify the

relationship between acculturation and mental health. In this vein, various
cultures should be examined to enhance the acculturation research (Organista,
Organista, & Kurasaki, 2002). At this point, it is expected that the present
study will play a significant role in literature by examining two different host
countries. On the other hand, current acculturation literature needs more
research to infer which variables do effect acculturative stress most. In order
to explore the variables that explain more variance in predicting acculturative
stress, addition of emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring will
strength the previous findings and accordingly, will decrease the ambiguity in
the literature.

In addition, in terms of practice, studying on acculturative stress may provide

us a better understanding of the process of acculturation, and determining the
factors of stress during that period may help experts to solve the problems
experienced by students more confidently. As Organista and colleagues
(2002) have mentioned, better interventions may be constructed for giving to
transmigrating people in order to provide a healthy adjustment period.
4
Taken all together, the present study aims to examine the level of
acculturative stress among international students who are studying in Turkish
and English Universities, depending on the level of emotional intelligence,
optimism, and self-monitoring. Additionally, demographic variables such as
age, gender, country and city of residency, native country, class status,
residence time in the host country, friends whose nationality is same with
them, and also friends whose nationality is from the host country, and
perceived level of English language were included to the current study in
order to clarify if they really do effect acculturative stress or not.

Within the introduction section, theoretical background of the acculturation

research and the empirical findings regarding acculturative stress will be
introduced first. Then, the literature related to the emotional intelligence,
optimism, and self-monitoring will be presented. Finally, the aims and
hypotheses of the current study will be given.

1.2 Acculturative Stress

Before explaining the concept of acculturation, it is important to mention that

acculturation has been used interchangeably with the term assimilation
throughout the history though assimilation is only one type of acculturation
(Social Science Research Council, 1954; cited in Berry, 2005). According to
Sam (2006), it is crucial to make the distinction between assimilation and
acculturation since theory development process may be effected from the
synonymous use of two concepts. Assimilation is the modification of
individuals‟ values, habits, and attitudes in accordance with the cultural norms
of the host country. The process of assimilation requires the acceptance of
out-group, and as a result of this adoption, internal changes regarding cultural
norms of the host country may occur. On the other hand, acculturation does
not require internalization of values held by out-group members (Teske &
Nelson, 1974). In order to get rid of misunderstandings and to prevent
misinterpretations, Berry (1997) has used the term acculturation as the core

5
concept of the theory, and both socio-cultural and psychological processes
and outcomes of the cultural interaction were named as acculturation.

Acculturation research can be explained as examining intercultural contact in

societies in terms of processes and outcomes (Berry, Portinga, Segall, &
Dasen, 1992). The term acculturation was first formally introduced by
Redfield, Linton, and Herkovits (1936; cited in Sam 2006) as the situation of
continuous first-hand contact with people from another cultural group. As a
result of this social interaction, fundamental changes in the cultural
background of individuals will occur. As Sam (2006) has stated, in its
historical development process, changes as a consequence of social contact
between two cultural groups were mostly regarded as cultural changes,
therefore, acculturation was taken into consideration as a group-level fact by
some researchers (Redfield, Linton, & Herkovits, 1936; cited in Berry, 2005).
On the other hand, some scholars discussed that fundamental changes in
cultural patterns during the acculturation process can also occur at individual-
level (Berry, 2006; Broom & Kitsuse, 1955; Dohrenwend & Smith, 1962).
Two different levels of acculturation were differentiated by Graves (1967) as
group-level acculturation and psychological acculturation. Group-level
acculturation refers to the alteration of the original culture of the group as a
whole whereas psychological acculturation indicates the change of the
psychology of the individual. Also, Berry (1990) has classified the changes
that occur in both levels. According to him, social structure, economic system
or political views may be influenced by the host culture at the group level.
However, at the individual level, personal values, attitudes, behaviors and
even identities may change. That is to say, the changes occur as a result of
social interaction during acculturation should not be limited as only cultural
changes or behavioral shifts. As well as considering societal factors,
individual differences should be taken into regard in examining the
acculturative stress among individuals existing in a different cultural society.

6
In the period of acculturation, if a conflict occurs as a result of encountering
to adapt into a new cultural context, acculturative stress may occur.
Acculturative stress is the outcome that results from the individuals‟
experiences of facing with demands and problems during acculturation
process (Williams & Berry, 1991). It is the response of people to the life
experiences and events that are happening during the intercultural contact.
Usually, high levels of depression and anxiety are the indicators of people‟s
reactions during that process, however, the extent of difficulty of
acculturation varies among different individuals (Berry, 1997).

Berry (2006) has classified the factors affecting acculturative stress with a
figure which includes both group-level and individual-level variables. Also,
moderating factors prior to and during acculturation are presented within this
framework. As shown in Figure 1, on the group level, political situation,
economic condition, and demographic features of the society of origin and
also, social support, and attitudes of the society of settlement are crucial
factors that are affecting acculturative stress. On the individual-level, the
process as psychological acculturation from life experiences during
intercultural contact to adaptation is presented. Within the individual level,
factors that are moderating the relationship between acculturative stress and
adaptation are classified as prior to acculturation (e.g., age, gender, education,
religion, health, language, pre-acculturation experience, expectancies, and
cultural distance) and during acculturation (e.g., contact discrepancy, social
support, social attitudes, coping strategies, and acculturation strategies).

Thus, as it can be seen from Figure 1, the process of acculturation through

adaptation is influenced by moderating factors including both individual and
group level variables. Therefore, being adapted into a new culture is a highly
variational period. Depending on their degree, those moderating variables -as
prior to acculturation and during acculturation- can influence the flow process
of life events (Berry, 2006). To illustrate, during acculturation, perceiving a
stressor as a difficulty varies among individuals according to the individual
7
moderating variables such as age, gender, previous abroad experience,
education level and so on. For instance, an individual can judge an experience
as an opportunity instead of perceiving it as a problem in this process. In these
circumstances, according to Ward (1996), adjustment can be provided.
However, some individuals severely experience acculturation process and
perceive difficulties as impassable barriers. Then, as a result of the challenges
that rise from the intercultural contact, adjustment process lengthens, and
acculturative stress occurs.

As illustrated in the Figure 1 below, both group level and individual level
variables may influence the process of acculturation, and accordingly effect
acculturative stress among individuals. The present study focuses on certain
individual differences in explaining acculturative stress among students
studying abroad. In this vein, additional to the demographic variables,
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring as personality traits
were included to the current study in order to reveal the possible effect of
them on the stress of acculturation.

8
9

Figure 1: Factors affecting acculturative stress and adaptation (Berry, 2006, p.45)

9
1.3 Acculturative Stress on International Students

Regarding cultural transitions, Oberg (1960) has presented a fundamental

framework for the stages of responses of transmigrating people in the process
of acculturation. According to him, the first stage is called honeymoon which
refers feelings of enthusiasm. Second stage is the crisis also known as culture
shock where in the feelings of anxiety and fear reveals. Third stage is
recovery which includes culture learning and finally, last stage is adjustment
where the individual gain the competence in the new environment. In the light
of this framework, a lot of research was conducted regarding sojourner
students. For instance, Lysgaard (1955; cited in Ward, Bochner, & Furnham,
2001) has presented a U-curve model of cultural adjustment. According to his
study of Scandinavian Fulbright scholarship students in the United States, a
U-curve relationship between the time of residency and psychological
adaptation was demonstrated. The results of the study revealed that students
who stayed there for less than 6 months and more than 18 months were
significantly more adjusted than the ones who had resided for 6-18 months in
the United States. However, U-curve phenomenon was considered as an
overgeneralization by researchers in the course of time. In order to improve
the acculturation research, more research was conducted regarding sojourner
student adaptation and the studies were conflicted with the U-curve theory of
Lysgaard‟s (1955; cited in Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). Ward &
Kennedy (1996a) have conducted a longitudinal study with Malaysian and
Singaporean students. Students were first tested within a month and then 6
and 12 month periods of their arrival in New Zealand. In contrast to
Lysgaard‟s (1955; cited in Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) U-curve model
of adjustment, results indicated that the level of depression was significantly
higher at first arrival and at one year of residency. Another study of Ward and
Kennedy (1996b) was revealed that the level of psychological distress of the
international students was significantly greater in the initial time of residency
in the host country (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001). Taken all together,

10
U-curve phenomenon was perceived as inaccurate, thus researchers have
started to conduct more studies by adding various individual and group-level
variables for the intention of identifying the factors which may lead
acculturative stress among international students during acculturation.

In their examination of comparative studies, Berry, Kim, Minde, and Mok

(1987) reviewed 13 studies regarding acculturative stress. According to the
examination of three studies on international students, class status, cognitive
ability, previous abroad experience and interpersonal contact experiences
were identified as factors leading acculturative stress. Also, Yeh and Inose
(2003) conducted a research which examined the role of age, gender, English
fluency, social support, and social connectedness on 359 international
students. The results of the study indicated that English fluency, social
support satisfaction, and social connectedness were found significantly
associated with acculturative stress. Social support and English fluency were
also studied by Poyrazli, Kavanaugh, Baker, and Al-Timimi (2004). In their
study, age, gender, marital status, social support, ethnicity, academic success,
English proficiency, and social contact with friends were analyzed whether
they are correlated with acculturative stress or not. According to the results of
the study conducted on 141 international students, social support and English
proficiency were found negatively correlated to acculturative stress.
Moreover, Lee, Koeske, and Sales (2004) demonstrated the strong association
between acculturative stress and mental health, and found that social support
as a moderating variable was buffered the effect of stress on mental health
symptoms in such a way that higher levels of social support were led lower
levels acculturative stress. Also, while examining factors leading stress during
acculturation, Carroll and Ryan (2005) mentioned financial problems,
adapting into new weather, and feeling lonely as predictors of acculturative
stress.

Considerable research has conducted regarding the relationship between

acculturative stress and negative mental health symptoms. According to their

11
study conducted on international college students, Constantine, Okazaki, and
Utsi (2004) found that acculturative stress rises from psychological challenges
like depression. Similarly, Wei, Heppner, Mallen, Ku, Liao, and Wu (2007)
demonstrated the positive association between acculturative stress and
depression among 189 Chinese and Taiwanese students studying in the United
States. Also, Crocket, Iturbide, Stone, McGinley, Carlo, and Raffaelli (2007)
revealed the moderating effect of peer support between acculturative stress
and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, the study conducted by Thomson,
Rosenthal, and Russell (2006) investigated cultural stress among international
students attending an Australian University. The relationship between social
connectedness, lifestyle balance, and mental health of the students, and
cultural stress were analyzed. The results of the study indicated that cultural
stress is positively related to depression and anxiety.

Considering individual traits, a recent study conducted by Poyrazli, Thukral,

and Duru (2010) investigated the role of student sojourns‟ personality on
acculturative stress. International students in the United States were given a
questionnaire which was composed of a demographic information sheet, the
Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students, and the Big Five
Inventory. The results of the study revealed that neuroticism was significantly
associated to acculturative stress of international students. Another study
conducted by Vergara, Smith, and Keele (2010) demonstrated that there is a
negative relationship between emotional intelligence and acculturative stress.

In a recent study which was conducted in Turkey, the effect of gender,

acculturative stress, coping skills, cultural distance, and perceived social
support were investigated in order to predict college adjustment scores of
international students. The sample was composed of 170 international
students who were attended universities in Ankara. The results of the study
revealed that lower levels of acculturative stress lead more adjustment to
college which stresses the importance of decreasing acculturative stress

12
among international students in order to provide a healthy adjustment period
(Otlu, 2010).

As the literature given above indicates, various individual variables were

studied through the examination of acculturative stress among international
students. Though, in Turkey, emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-
monitoring as different individual variables were not studied with respect to
international students, and apart from Turkey, only few studies were
conducted regarding the relationship between the major study variables of the
current study and the acculturative stress among international students. The
present study aims to improve the research on acculturative stress by
examining different individual variables which were not emphasized enough
previously. The literature related to emotional intelligence, optimism, and
self-monitoring as independent variables of the present study is given next.

1.4 Emotional Intelligence

As it was mentioned by Berry (2006), as a result of the acculturation process

which arises from the experience of intercultural contact, individuals may face
negative experiences as stressors like scarce resources, hostile behaviors of
others, cultural distance, pre-acculturation, economic status, political context
and so on. Whether those are the factors at group level or individual level,
these kinds of variables will cause acculturative stress. Kosic (2006) has
mentioned that during the research on the stress of acculturation, social
factors were much more considered by researchers. However, in order to
examine acculturative stress among transmigrating people, individual
variables should also be taken into consideration as well as societal factors.
As Kosic (2006) has mentioned in her article; cultural self-awareness
(Furnham & Bochner, 1986), self-esteem (Kosic & Triandafyllidou, 2002;
Valentine, 2001), anxiety (Chataway & Berry, 1989), need for cognitive
closure (Kosic, Krunglanski, Pierro, & Manetti, 2004), locus of control (Ward
& Kennedy, 1992), self-monitoring (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984; Snyder, 1974),

13
and the „Big Five Traits‟ (e.g., Ward, Leong, & Low, 2004) were investigated
by researchers. At this point, since there are only few studies regarding it,
emotional intelligence as an individual difference is included to the present
study in order to explore whether it will predict acculturative stress among
international students or not.

As Mayer and Salovey (1997) mentioned, earlier in psychology, subjects were

divided into three fields: science of affect, behavior and cognition.
Intelligence was considered as the accurate operation of cognitive functions
which operates in the cognition area. Emotions, on the other hand, were
belonged to the affect area. Researchers then tried to combine these two parts
of psychology and during that investigation it was understood that emotional
intelligence as a new form of intelligence which refers to ability to perceive,
control, and regulate emotions, is different from the term of intelligence given
in the literature before. Therefore, apart from cognitive intelligence, a
different concept of emotional intelligence has been emerged to explain
individuals‟ adaptation for new social environments. In its most general sense,
as Salovey and Mayer (1990) states, emotional intelligence as a social
competence is the ability to monitor and operate one‟s own and other
individuals‟ emotions. This process involves an accurate appraisal and
expression, and effective regulation of emotions of one‟s own and others‟.
Also, emotional intelligence implies the use of feelings as emotions to
maintain a healthy mental life in a different social environment. That is to say,
emotional intelligence is a composition of the accurate perception of
emotions, understanding of emotions, using emotions in decision making
processes, and managing emotions to achieve goals in life. Thus, as a set of
these skills, emotional intelligence requires to regard feelings in problem
solving processes.

According to the literature, there is a significant association between

emotional intelligence and individuals‟ mental health. Evidence suggests that
high level of emotional intelligence leads better mental health status (Schutte,

14
Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2007). This important role of
emotional intelligence in providing a better health status was proved through
several studies. Research has indicated that emotional intelligence predicts
individuals‟ life satisfaction (Gannon & Ranzijn, 2005), cross-cultural
adjustment (Yoo, Matsumoto, & LeRoux, 2006), and coping strategies (Kim
& Agrusa, 2010). Emotional intelligence also moderates problem-solving
skills (Alumran & Punamaki, 2008). The important role of emotional
intelligence in providing a better cultural adjustment process was also
demonstrated in a recent study (Lin, Chen, & Song, 2012). The study was
conducted on 295 international students studying in Taiwan. The results of the
study showed that compared to those who had low emotional intelligence,
students with a higher level of emotional intelligence had a better cultural
adjustment process.

In terms of stress, the mediating role of emotional intelligence between stress

and mental health was indicated by Ciarrochi, Deane, and Anderson (2002).
According to their study, people who are better in managing others‟ emotions
reported less depression and hopelessness. Also, it was found that people who
have the ability to regulate their emotions were found to be healthier and
experience less stress than others (Pau & Croucher, 2003). Moreover, in
another study conducted by Forushani and Besharat (2011), a negative
relationship was found between emotional intelligence and perceived stress
among 150 female students attended a university in Persia.

Finally, Vergara, Smith, and Keele (2010) examined the predictors of

acculturative stress among international students. Additional to coping
responses and length of stay, emotional intelligence was investigated whether
it predicts acculturative stress or not. The participants of the study were 216
international students who were attended universities in Thailand. Ethnic
distribution was as follows: 58.33% Asians, 23.61% were Americans, and
18.05% were Europeans. The results of the study demonstrated that there is a
negative relationship between emotional intelligence and acculturative stress.

15
In other words, students who scored higher on emotional intelligence were
experienced less acculturative stress compared to those with lower emotional
intelligence.

According to these findings stated above, it can be said that having necessary
social and emotional skills are lessen the stress levels of the international
students, and provide a healthy adjustment process during acculturation. That
is to say, emotional intelligence is a significant predictor of perceived stress
among students studying abroad. The present study aims to improve research,
and indicate the positive effect of emotional intelligence on the stress of
acculturation among international students studying in Turkey.

1.5 Optimism

In recent years, optimism as an individual difference has attracted great

attention by researchers in explaining individuals‟ physical and mental health.
Considerable research has conducted in order to reveal the positive effect of
optimism on individuals‟ both physical (e.g., Nelson, Karr, & Goleman, 1994;
Robins, Spence, & Clark, 1991; Scheier & Carver, 1985) and psychological
well-being (e.g., Brisette, Scheier, & Carver, 2002; Carver & Gaines, 1987).
Moreover, in Turkey, a recent study conducted among undergraduate
university students demonstrated the positive correlation between optimism
and both general and mental health (Uğurlu, 2011).

In its most general sense, optimism is defined as the overall generalization of

positive expectancies for individuals‟ own future (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges,
1994). Individuals react differently to difficulties in life. Some of them affirm
negative life events with a great enthusiasm while others show pretty much
symptoms of depression and anxiety in confronting difficulties. In other
words, optimist individuals think that the future will bring positive outcomes,
and they will achieve their goals in life in one way or another. On the other
hand, pessimist individuals are more vulnerable to negative life events, and
they believe the future will be disappointing (Carver & Scheier, 2002).
16
However, as Seligman states, these are just beliefs, not facts (Seligman,
2002). Therefore, in order to get rid of negative emotional states such as
stress, anxiety, or depression which accordingly lead self-defeating behaviors,
it is important for an individual to realize the negative thoughts in his mind
are not the absolute facts (Carver & Scheier, 1998).

In terms of stress, it was demonstrated through several studies that there is a

negative relationship between optimism and psychological distress.
According to these studies which mostly conducted on health issues, it was
found that optimistic life orientation style leads lower levels of distress in face
of health problems such as breast cancer (Carver, Pozo, Harris, Noriega,
Scheier, Robinson, Ketcham, Moffat, & Clark, 1993), patients with HIV
(Ironson & Hayward, 2008) or infertility (Litt, Tennen, Affleck, & Klock,
1992). In all these medical situations, negative relationship between optimism
and psychological distress was revealed.

Regarding students, Aspinwall and Taylor (1992) conducted a research on

college adjustment by examining individual differences like optimism, self-
esteem, and psychological control. One of the significant results of the study
has indicated the positive effect of optimism on adjustment to college.
Moreover, in another study, anxiety, optimism, and academic achievement
were examined among 346 medical and engineering college students.
Regarding optimism, the results of the study showed that there was a negative
relationship between optimism and anxiety (Singh & Jha, 2013).

Finally, as regard to international students, Jackson, Ray, and Bybell (2013)

examined international students‟ depressive symptoms and socio-cultural
adjustment depending on self-esteem, hope, optimism, coping, acculturative
stress, and social support. The study was conducted among 70 international
students in the United States, and the results revealed that negative
relationship exists between optimism and symptoms of depression.

17
In the light of these findings, it can be said that, optimism as an individual
difference helps individuals by reducing levels of stress, anxiety, and/or
depression in face of stressful circumstances. Though, there is no study
examined the direct relationship between optimism and acculturative stress
among students studying abroad in Turkey. Therefore, it is wondered whether
being optimistic about future will be effect acculturative stress among
international students or not. In this vein, Positive Future Expectations Scale
(Imamoğlu, 2001) was included to the present study in order to clarify the
relationship between optimism and acculturative stress among students
studying abroad.

1.6 Self-monitoring

Learning and adapting into a new culture will be a problematic period

especially if there are non-compatible values held by the people or groups
from the host country (Berry, 2006). At this point, while trying to adjust into a
new environment -according to their extent of self-monitoring- individuals
may prefer to monitor themselves in order to be perceived socially approvable
(Snyder, 1974). Self-monitoring studies regarding education were mostly
conducted on students‟ problems such as integration to college (e.g. Guarino,
Michael, & Hocevar, 1998), educational improvement (Ghorbanshiroodi &
Khalatbari, 2010), or linguistic adaptation (Blank, Ziegler, & Bloom, 2012).
Though, self-monitoring was not studied among international students, and
the relationship between self-monitoring and acculturative stress of
international students‟ was not examined yet.

In order to clarify how self-monitoring levels of international students‟ can

predict their stress levels during acculturation, the trait of self-monitoring
should be clarified. Self-monitoring can be explained as the extent which
individuals are construct their expressive behaviors through socially
approvable cues in order to create a desired personality in the current social
environment (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984; Snyder, 1974). So, an individual can

18
decide to use one of the two sources while behaving in a new environment:
either according to his own existing tendencies or in accordance with the
environmental signs which are obtained through interpersonal relations
(Lennox, 1984). As Snyder (1979) states, high self-monitors are adaptive
individuals who can adjust their behaviors in order to be perceived as
appropriate in the current community since positive self-presentation is
crucial for these individuals. On the other hand, low self-monitors behave in
accordance with his inner tendencies and are not concerned with whether they
behave in direction of social norms or not.

Regarding adjusting into a new culture, no study was found in the literature
examining the effect of self-monitoring on acculturative stress. Though,
according to the results of a study (Mathis, 2009) which examined the
relationship between self-monitoring and cultural intelligence, a positive
relationship between self-monitoring and cultural intelligence was revealed.
The study was conducted among 226 volunteer U.S. citizens attended in
projects for an international philanthropic service organization in Belize. One
of the significant results of the study indicated that cultural intelligence scores
of high self-monitors had increased more in the course of time. In a similar
vein, it was indicated in the literature that high self-monitors are more able to
adapt to new cultures than who are low on self-monitoring (Harrison,
Chadwick, & Scales, 1996).

Thus, it can be claimed that self-monitoring is related to acculturation, and

higher levels of self-monitoring may predict lower levels of acculturative
stress since it may provide a better adjustment period. For this reason, self-
monitoring as an individual difference is included to the present study in order
to clarify the relationship between examining the self while behaving in a
different society and acculturative stress.

19
1.7 Aims and Hypotheses of the Present Study

The most fundamental aim of the current study is to understand the predictors
of acculturative stress among international students. In this vein, several
factors including both individual and group level variables were taken into
consideration while developing the present study, and according to the
preliminary examination of the literature, several gaps were detected.

First of all, as it has become more crucial in explaining individuals‟ well-

being in recent years, emotional intelligence should be examined on different
samples in order to support its beneficial outcomes, and lead counselors to use
it as a functional tool to help people in adjusting into a new culture. The
evidence suggests that emotional intelligence as an individual difference is
significantly, and negatively related to stress levels of individuals (Bar-on,
1997; cited in Vergara, Smith, & Keele, 2010) however, only few studies on
emotional intelligence were conducted on international students. Thus, it was
included to the current study in order to reveal the possible link between
emotional intelligence and acculturative stress among students studying
abroad.

Additionally, optimism was taken into regard since the author is personally
interested in this concept. In a similar vein -as it was mentioned before- the
positive effect of optimism on individuals‟ well-being in face of difficult life
events was demonstrated through several studies. Nevertheless, no study was
found which directly examines the relation between optimism and
acculturative stress among international students. Poyrazli, Thukral, and Duru
(2010) suggest that protective strategies should be adopted by higher
education institutions in order to reduce the stress during acculturation. For
this purpose, identification of the predictors of acculturative stress is crucial,
and different individual variables should be studied in the research of
acculturation. Since optimists are known as flexible individuals who can able
to find new solutions in confronting difficulties, optimism is included to the

20
present study in order to reveal the potential effect of optimism on the stress
of acculturation.

Furthermore, self-monitoring is taken into account while conducting

preparatory work on acculturative stress. As it was clarified in detail before,
the trait of self-monitoring helps individuals to present a positive and desired
identity in the eyes of people in society. Especially, if the individual exists in
a different community than his owns‟, self-monitoring can be used as an
operational tool to adjust into the new culture smoothly. In the present study,
it is wondered if self-monitoring levels of individuals will predict
acculturative stress. More specifically it is questioned whether self-monitoring
can reduce the stress during acculturation or not.

Additional to these three main variables of the study, age, gender, native
country, residence time, English proficiency, previous abroad experience, and
the number of friends of students both from the host country and the friends
whose nationality is same with them were asked to the participants in order to
reveal the possible effect of these factors on acculturative stress among
international students.

Last but not least, it is crucial to mention that all studies regarding
acculturative stress among international students were conducted within one
country. The current study aims to fill the gap by conducting the research on
different countries. Obtaining data from two countries which differ in terms of
level of development may provide us the necessary information to minimize
the problem of acculturative stress among international students. Specifically,
if data indicates that students experience less stress in the developed country
compared to those who are studying in a developing country, counselors and
institutions may adapt similar practices used in the developed countries in
order to reduce the stress of acculturation experienced by international
students. Besides, comparing two countries may enhance the quality of data,
and more individuals from different nationalities may have a chance to

21
 participate to the study. Consequently, various samples may provide the
information regarding the universality of emotional intelligence, optimism,
and self-monitoring. In other words, studying on different samples from
different cultural backgrounds may show us whether emotional intelligence,
optimism, and self-monitoring have significant positive effects on reducing
stress among individuals independent from their nationality. In this vein,
England as a developed country and Turkey as a developing country were
selected to find out whether strategies applied in developed countries have a
significant effect on reducing stress among students compared to a rather less
developed country, and also to find out whether the possible effects of
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring on acculturative stress
differ among individuals from different nationalities or not.

Taken all together, the research questions and hypotheses of the present study
are listed as follows:

1. What are the correlations among demographic variables, emotional

intelligence, optimism, self-monitoring, and acculturative stress among
international students studying in England and Turkey?

2. Is there a significant difference between being an international student in

England or in Turkey in terms of experiencing acculturative stress?

3. How do emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring predict the

acculturative stress among international students studying in England and
Turkey?

Hypothesis 1:

Since research findings revealed that both emotional intelligence and

optimism have positive effect on individuals‟ well-being, there would be
significant positive correlations between emotional intelligence and optimism.
And, with respect to its beneficial outcomes on individuals‟ both mental and
22
physical health, it is expected that emotional intelligence and optimism would
be negatively correlated to acculturative stress among international students.
Regarding self-monitoring, it would be negatively related to acculturative
stress.

With respect to demographic variables, it is assumed that native country,

residence time, English proficiency, and the social contact with friends as
operative variables related to acculturation would be significantly correlated
with acculturative stress among international students. Regarding nationality,
Poyrazli et al. (2010) revealed that students from different nationalities do
experience acculturative stress distinctly. More specifically, it was
demonstrated that African students were the ones experienced acculturative
stress most while students from European countries reported lowest levels of
acculturative stress. Hence, it is also expected in the present study that native
country of the students would be significantly correlated with the level of
stress during acculturation. As it was mentioned in the literature review of
acculturation, research results on time of residency were ambiguous regarding
adjusting into a new culture (Lysgaard, 1955; Ward & Kennedy, 1996a). In
the present study, it is assumed that short period of residency would result in
higher levels of stress among international students. Also, research on
acculturation has revealed that language barrier is one of the most crucial
problems during acculturation (e.g., Mori, 2000). Since English fluency
would be effect too many aspects of daily life such as academic performance
(Lin & Yi, 1997), interacting with people, and more importantly expressing
oneself, it is hypothesized that higher levels of reported English language
ability would predict lower levels of acculturative stress. Additionally, since
the literature suggests that social support has a positive effect on welfare of
international students during acculturation (Poyrazli, Kavanaugh, Baker, &
Al-Timimi, 2004), it is assumed that higher numbers of existing friends in the
host country would result in lower levels of acculturative stress during
acculturation.

23
Hypothesis 2:

Being an international student in England as a developed country would be

lead to lower levels of acculturative stress compared to students studying
abroad in a developing country as Turkey due to its improved social and
institutional opportunities.

Hypothesis 3:

Based on the examined literature in the introduction section, it is expected that

emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring would predict the
acculturative stress among international students. More specifically, it is
hypothesized that emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring
would result in lower levels of stress during acculturation among students
studying abroad.

24
 CHAPTER II

METHOD

2.1 Participants

The total number of the participants of the present study was 247 international
students (113 female, 134 male) aged between 17 and 39 (M = 23.74, SD =
3.88) who were attending international universities in England and Turkey. 98
of the participants were studying abroad in England, and 149 of them were
continuing their education in Turkey. Of all the participants, 104 students
(42.1 %) enrolled an undergraduate course, 90 students (36.4 %) were
attending a graduate course, and 29 of them (11.7 %) were studying for a PhD
degree. And, 24 of the participants (9.7 %) were continuing education
students attending language courses. The data were collected from
international universities in Turkey and England. The international students
attending Middle East Technical University (48.2 %), Ankara University (1.2
%), Bogazici University (0.4 %), Marmara University (6.1), and Istanbul
University (1.2) in Turkey, and students studying at University of the Arts
London (7.7 %), Queen Mary University (10.1 %), and University of Sussex
(21.9 %) in England participated in the current study. Students from a wide
variety of ethnicity was composed the sample of the study. 60 unique
countries were reported as native country by participants. Regarding residence
time, approximately half of the participants (44.5 %) were residing in the host
country for more than 12 months. 63 (25.5 %) of the students were reported
their time of residency as 6-12 months, and 57 (23.1 %) of them stated as 3-6
months. And, 17 (6.9 %) of the students studying abroad were residing in the
host country for less than 3 months. Finally, more than half of the participants
(61.9 %) have previous abroad experience, whereas 38.1 % of the students

25
were experiencing living in abroad for the first time. The sample
characteristics are presented in Table 2.1.

26
 Table 2.1 Sample Characteristics (N = 247 )
Demographic Variables Means/Frequencies
England Turkey Total
Country of Residency 98 149 247
Gender
Female 52 61 113
Male 46 88 134
Age 24.75 (SD = 3.70) 23.07 (SD = 3.87) 23.74 (SD = 3.88)
Native country
Europe 29 74 103
Asia 64 62 126
Africa 1 12 13
South America 2 0 2
Central and North America 2 1 3
City of Residency
Ankara 122 122
27

Istanbul 27 27
Brighton 54 54
London 44 44
Class Status
Undergraduate 11 93 104 104
Graduate 59 31 90 90
PhD 7 22 29 29
Continuing Education Student 21 3 24 24
Time of Residency
Less than 3 months 10 7 17 17
3-6 months 27 30 57 57
6-12 months 27 36 63 63
More than 12 months 34 76 110 110
Previous Abroad Experience
Yes 68 85 153 153
No 30 64 94 94

27
2.2 Data Collection Instruments

The survey filled out by international students was composed of a demographic

information sheet, the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students
(Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994) the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale
(Wong & Low, 2002), the Positive Future Expectations Scale (Imamoglu,
2001), and the Revised Self-monitoring Scale (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984). The
demographic information sheet and the scales used in the research are presented
in the Appendices section.

2.2.1 Demographic Information Sheet

Within the demographic information sheet, participants were asked to indicate

their age, gender, country and city of residency, and native country. Also class
status, residence time in the host country, friends whose nationality is same
with them, and also friends whose nationality is from the host country were
asked to the participants. Finally, in order to assess their perceived level of
English language proficiency, 3-item test was given to the participants within
the demographic information sheet. The test was also used in previous studies
(e.g.,Yeh & Inose, 2003) to evaluate the English language ability of
international students. The items of the test were as follows: „What is your
present level of English fluency?‟, „How often do you communicate in
English?‟, and „How comfortable are you communicating in English?‟

2.2.2 Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS)

The 36-item ASSIS was developed by Sandhu and Asrabadi (1994) in order to
assess stress levels of international students while adjusting to a new cultural
environment. The ASSIS was composed of 7 subscales as follows: perceived
discrimination (e.g., Others are biased toward me), homesickness (e.g., I feel
sad living in unfamiliar surroundings), perceived hate (e.g., People from some
ethnic groups showed hatred toward me nonverbally), fear (e.g., I frequently

28
 relocate for fear of others), stress due to change/culture shock (e.g., Multiple
pressures are placed upon me after migration), guilt (e.g., I feel guilty that I am
living a different lifestyle here), and miscellaneous (e.g., I feel intimidated to
participate in social activities). The total score of the ASSIS which ranges from
36 to 180 was recommended to use in assessing acculturative stress by the
developers of the scale. 5 point Likert type response format was used for the
scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Not sure, 4 = Agree, 5 =
Strongly agree). Higher scores indicate higher levels of acculturative stress.

It was stated that ASSIS has a high internal consistency ranging from .87 to .95
(Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994; Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1998; cited in He, Lopez, &
Leigh, 2012). In the present study, the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient for 36
items was found to be .92. Regarding subscales, the Cronbach‟s alpha
coefficients of perceived discrimination, homesickness, perceived hate, fear,
stress due to change/culture shock, guilt, and miscellaneous were found to be
.80, .69, .78, .78, .50, .28, and .75 respectively. Based on countries, coefficients
of subscales were found to be .83, .69, .79, .71, .37, .15, and .80 respectively in
England. Regarding Turkey, the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients were found to be
.79, .68, .77, .80, .55, .33, and .74 respectively. Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient for
total scale was found to be .93 for England, and .92 for Turkey.

Since the Cronbach alpha coefficients of two subscales namely as stress due to
change and guilt were too low, they were eliminated from the scale while
conducting regression analyses for the sake of data quality. Hence, in the
present study, ASSIS was composed of five subscales as perceived
discrimination, homesickness, perceived hate, fear, and miscellaneous.

2.2.3 The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS)

The WLEIS was developed by Wong and Law (2002) to assess emotional
intelligence of individuals. Primarily, the scale was constructed to be used in
management and leadership studies. However, Wang, Kim, and Ng (2012) then
demonstrated the viability of WLEIS in research studies on international
29
students by examining the factorial and item-level invariance of the scale in a
sample composed of international students. Later on, the scale was adopted in
several studies regarding students studying abroad (e.g., Lin, Chen, & Song,
2012). The WLEIS is composed of 16 items, and 4 subscales of the WLEIS are
as follows: self-emotion appraisal (SEA), others‟ emotion appraisal (OEA), use
of emotion (UOE), and regulation of emotion (ROE). SEA is the ability to
understand one‟s own emotions (e.g., I have a good sense of why I have certain
feelings most of the time). OEA is the ability to sense surrounding others‟
emotions (e.g., I always know my friends‟ emotions from their behavior). UOE
is using emotions in decision making, and also problem solving processes (e.g.,
I always set goals for myself and then try my best to achieve them). And, ROE
is the ability to manage emotions in order to prevent negative psychological
states such as stress or depression (e.g., I am able to control my temper and
handle difficulties rationally). All items were rated on a 5-point Likert-type
response format (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Not sure, 4 = Agree,
5 = Strongly agree), and higher scores indicate higher levels of emotional
intelligence.

Wong and Law (2002) stated the coefficient alphas for the 4 subscales (SEA,
OEA, UOE, and ROE) as .89, .88, .76, and .85 respectively. In the present
study, the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients for SEA, OEA, UOE, and ROE were
found to be .79, .79, .78, and .84 respectively. And, high reliability of the total
scale was revealed with a Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient of .82. According to the
data collected in England, Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients of four subscales of
WLEIS were found to be .75, .70, .67, and .75 respectively, and the coefficient
for 16 items is found to be .78. In Turkey, coefficients were .81, .84, .83, and
.79 respectively, and the total reliability score was .83 for all items.

2.2.4 The Positive Future Expectations Scale

In order to assess students‟ optimism levels, the Positive Future Expectations

Scale composed of 5 items developed by Imamoglu (2001) was used in the

30
present study. A sample item for the scale is „I believe that I will achieve my
goals in one way or other‟. Only item 4 was a reverse coded item (see
Appendix D). All items were rated on 5-point Likert type response format
ranging from „strongly disagree‟ to „strongly agree‟, and higher means indicate
higher level of optimism.

The Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient for the 5-item scale was found to be .85
(Imamoglu, 2001; cited in Imamoğlu & Güler, 2007). The reliability of the
Positive Future Expectation Scale is also achieved in the current study with a
Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient of .83. On country basis, the Cronbach‟s alpha
coefficient is found to be .80 for the data collected in England, and .84 for the
data gathered in Turkey.

2.2.5 The Revised Self-monitoring Scale

13-item, 2-factor Revised Self-monitoring Scale was constructed by Lennox

and Wolfe (1984) in order to assess individuals‟ sensitivity to others‟
expressive behaviors, and the ability to present a desired self according to
surrounding social cues. The two subscales were named as „sensitivity to
expressive behavior of others‟ (e.g., I am often able to read people‟s true
emotions correctly through their eyes) and „ability to modify self-presentation‟
(e.g., In social situations, I have the ability to alter my behavior if I feel that
something else is called for). Item 9 and 12 were required reverse coding (see
Appendix E). All items were rated on a 5 point scale ranging from „strongly
disagree‟ to „strongly agree‟, and higher scores indicate higher levels of self-
monitoring.

The coefficient alpha was found to be .70 for the subscale „sensitivity to
expressive behavior of others‟, and .77 for the „ability to modify self-
presentation‟. The Cronbach‟s alpha for the total scale was .75 (Lennox &
Wolfe, 1984). In the present study, the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients for the
subscales „sensitivity to expressive behavior of others‟ and „ability to modify
self-presentation‟ were .72 and .65 respectively. The reliability of the total scale
31
was found to be acceptable with a Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient of .74.
Reliability analyses based on countries showed that reliability coefficients of
„sensitivity to expressive behavior of others‟ and „ability to modify self-
presentation‟ were .60 and .40 for England, and .77 and .72 for Turkey. The
Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients for total 13 items were found to be .58 and .79
respectively.

2.3 Procedure

Prior to data collection, permission was taken from METU Human Subjects
Ethics Committee (HSEC). Then, data were collected from international
students (N = 247) studying in various universities in Ankara, Istanbul,
Brighton, and London. Participants filled out the questionnaire package in their
classrooms. Middle East Technical University students received bonus points
for their final grades by completing survey though, all other participants filled
out the survey without any personal gain. Some part of the data from Middle
East Technical University was collected through a web based survey. For this
purpose, international students were reached through the International
Cooperations Office at METU.

At the beginning of the survey, an informed consent form was presented to the
participants in order to clarify the aim and content of the research, and a
signature was requested in order to indicate their voluntary participation to the
study. Additionally, contact information of researcher was given within the
informed consent in case of any further question regarding the study. The
sequence of the measures involved in survey was as follows: Informed consent
form, demographic information sheet, the WLEIS, the Positive Future
Expectations Scale, the Revised Self-monitoring Scale, and the ASSIS. It took
approximately 15 minutes for participants to complete the survey.

32
 CHAPTER III

RESULTS

3.1 Preliminary Analyses

Before starting to conduct main analyses, data file was screened in order to
check the accuracy of entered data. To ensure the honesty of data, descriptive
statistics were analyzed, and missing values were detected. Since the number of
missing values was less than 5% of the whole sample, mean substitution was
done, and missing responses were replaced by item mean scores. Then,
normality, linearity, and homoscedasticity assumptions were checked by
examining the skewness and kurtosis values, P-P Plots, Q-Q Plots, scatterplots,
and boxplots. All assumptions were assumed to be met. Afterwards, univariate
and multivariate outliers were controlled, and two outlier cases were removed
in order to enhance the quality of data. After ensuring the accuracy of data,
main analyses were performed with 245 participants.

Within this chapter, descriptive information regarding the study variables will
be given first. Then, correlations among the study variables, and regression
analyses with respect to hypotheses of the research will be presented.

3.2 Descriptive Information about the Study Variables

Firstly, it should be mentioned that for each scale, the possible minimum mean
score of variables could be 1 indicating the minimum agreement with the
statements, and the possible maximum mean score could be 5 referring to
strong agreement with the statements of the scale. However, only for the
ASSISS, the total score which ranges from 36 to 180 were computed to assess
acculturative stress among international students, and higher scores indicated
higher levels of acculturative stress. Results of the present study revealed that

33
participants had moderately high scores on emotional intelligence (M = 3.74,
SD = .47). With respect to subscales of emotional intelligence scale, mean
scores of self emotional appraisal, others emotional appraisal, use of emotion,
and regulation of emotion were 3.87 (SD = .70), 3.72 (SD = .70), 3.80 (SD =
.75), and 3.56 (SD = .79) respectively. Participants had also high scores on
optimism (M = 4.02, SD = .65). Regarding self-monitoring, moderate scores
were reported by the participants (M = 3.49, SD = .44). Mean score for the
subscale of sensitivity to expressive behaviors of others was 3.53 (SD = .58),
and for ability to modify self presentation, mean score was 3.45 (SD = .50).
Finally, participants had reported moderate levels of acculturative stress with a
mean of 82.54 (SD = 21.12) meaning that students studying abroad experienced
acculturative stress to some extent. With respect to subscales of the ASSIS,
participants had moderate scores on perceived discrimination which could be
ranged between 1 and 40 (M = 18.35, SD = 5.60). Similarly, mean score on
homesickness which could be ranged between 1 and 20 was moderate with a
mean of 11.08 (SD = 3.34). Regarding perceived hate which could be indicated
as between 1 and 25, slightly low scores were reported (M = 11.11, SD = 4.05).
Participants could be indicated their feeling of fear as between 1 and 20. The
mean score of fear was 7.93 (SD = 3.09) implying that students reported
slightly lower levels of fear. The mean score of stress due to change composed
of 3 items could be ranged between 1 and 15, and results showed that
participants reported moderate scores on culture shock with a mean of 7.13 (SD
= 2.40). Finally, the mean score of guilt which was assessed via two items was
4.04 (SD = 1.73) which can be regarded as slightly low since scores of the
participants were ranged between 1 and 10.

3.3 Gender Differences among Major Study Variables

Independent sample t-tests were performed in order to compare mean scores of

females and males regarding study variables. Regarding all significant findings
of the analyses, males scored higher than females on major study variables. As
table 3.1 presents, men (M = 3.81, SD = .50) scored higher on emotional

34
intelligence than women (M = 3.65, SD = .42, t (243) = -2.77, p< .01).
Specifically, men scored higher on SEA, UOE, and ROE than women. In other
words, men‟s ability to understand own emotions (SEA)(M = 3.97, SD = .74)
was higher than women (M = 3.75, SD = .62; t (243) = -2.39, p < .05). Also,
men (M = 3.90, SD = .71) showed more ability in using emotions than women
(M = 3.68, SD = .77; t (243) = -2.24, p < .05). Similarly, higher scores were
reported by men (M = 3.69, SD = .80) on regulation of emotion than women (M
= 3.40, SD = .75; t (243) = -2.95, p < .01). Regarding OEA, there was not a
significant effect of gender (t (243) = .76, n.s). In a similar vein, with respect to
optimism, men (M = 4.13, SD = .65) had higher scores than women (M = 3.87,
SD = .61; t (243) = -3.18, p < .01).

Regarding self-monitoring, there was not a significant difference between men

and women (t (243) = -.47, n.s). Also, no gender difference was observed on
acculturative stress among men and women (t (243) = 1.21, n.s).

35
 Table 3.1 General Means and Gender Differences among Major Study Variables
General Females Males t
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Emotional intelligence 3.74 .47 3.65 .42 3.81 .50 -2.77 **
Self-emotion appraisal 3.87 .70 3.75 .62 3.97 .74 -2.39 **
Others‟ emotion appraisal 3.72 .70 3.75 .55 3.69 .80 -2.76 **
Use of emotion 3.80 .75 3.68 .71 3.90 .77 -2.24 **
Regulation of emotion 3.56 .79 3.40 .75 3.69 .80 -2.95 ***
Optimism 4.02 .65 3.87 .61 4.13 .65 -3.18 ***
Self-monitoring 3.49 .44 3.47 .37 3.50 .48 -2.48 **
36

Sensitivity to expressive behavior of others 3.53 .58 3.50 .50 3.56 .63 - .79
Ability to modify self-presentation 3.45 .50 3.45 .47 3.45 .52 -2.30 **
Acculturative stress 82.54 21.12 84.31 19.11 81.08 22.62 -1.21 **
Perceived discrimination 18.35 5.60 18.74 5.54 18.02 5.64 -1.00 **
Homesickness 11.08 3.34 11.36 3.07 10.84 3.53 -1.21 **
Perceived hate 11.11 4.05 11.41 4.03 10.86 4.06 -1.06 **
Fear 7.93 3.09 8.31 2.91 7.61 3.20 -1.76 **
Stress due to change 7.13 2.40 7.14 2.29 7.11 2.50 -2.08 **
Guilt 4.04 1.73 3.99 1.59 4.08 1.84 -2.40 **
** p < .01, * p < .05

36
3.4 Mean Differences among Major Study Variables on Country Basis
In order to examine the differences between Turkey and England, further
analyses were performed on two countries with regard to study variables.
Regarding emotional intelligence, optimism, self-monitoring, and
acculturative stress as the major study variables, significant differences were
revealed between England and Turkey. More specifically, participants from
England reported lower levels of emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-
monitoring (M = 3.60, SD = .40; M = 3.80, SD = .60; M = 3.40, SD = .33
respectively) compared to the participants from Turkey (M = 3.80, SD = .51, t
(243) = -3.50, p < .01; M = 4.20, SD = .65, t (243) = -4.46, p < .01; M = 3.60,
SD = .50, t (243) = -3.25, p < .01 respectively). Moreover, higher
acculturative stress levels were reported by participants from England (M =
87.20, SD =20.70) compared to participants of Turkey (M =79.60, SD =20.90,
t (243) = 2.78, p < .01). With respect to subscales of acculturative stress,
significant differences were revealed on perceived hate, fear, stress due to
change, and guilt. Specifically, participants from England were reported
higher scores on perceived hate (M = 12.04, SD =4.04), fear (M = 8.96, SD
=2.88), stress due to change (M = 7.59, SD =2.24), and guilt (M = 4.33, SD
=1.59) than participants from Turkey (M = 10.50, SD = 4.00, t (243) = 2.93, p
< .01; M = 7.28, SD = 3.06, t (243) = 4.30, p < .01; M = 6.83, SD = 2.47, t
(243) = 2.45, p < .05, M = 3.85, SD = 1.80, t (243) = 2.13, p < .05
respectively). Further information regarding general means and differences
among study variables can be gathered from Table 3.2.

37
 Table 3.2 General Means and Differences among Major Study Variables on Country Basis
General England Turkey t
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
Emotional intelligence 3.74 .47 3.60 .40 3.80 .51 -3.50 **
Self-emotion appraisal 3.87 .70 3.80 .60 3.90 .76 -1.50 **
Others‟ emotion appraisal 3.72 .70 3.56 .62 3.80 .76 -3.00 **
Use of emotion 3.80 .75 3.66 .65 3.90 .80 -2.60 **
Regulation of emotion 3.56 .79 3.50 .65 3.60 .80 -1.60 **
Optimism 4.02 .65 3.80 .60 4.20 .65 -4.46 **
Self-monitoring 3.49 .44 3.40 .33 3.60 .50 -3.25 **
38

Sensitivity to expressive behavior of others 3.53 .58 3.40 .50 3.60 .62 -2.23 *
Ability to modify self-presentation 3.45 .50 3.40 .36 3.50 .57 -2.82 **
Acculturative stress 82.54 21.12 87.20 20.70 79.60 20.90 -2.78 **
Perceived discrimination 18.35 5.60 18.28 5.33 18.40 5.79 -.15 **
Homesickness 11.08 3.34 11.50 3.14 10.83 3.45 -1.50 **
Perceived hate 11.11 4.05 12.04 4.04 10.50 4.00 -2.93 **
Fear 7.93 3.09 8.96 2.88 7.28 3.06 -4.30 **
Stress due to change 7.13 2.40 7.59 2.24 6.83 2.47 -2.45 **
Guilt 4.04 1.73 4.33 1.59 3.85 1.80 -2.13 **
** p < .01, * p < .05

38
3.5 Correlations among Study Variables

In order to find out the associations among research variables, Pearson

correlation coefficients were computed. In this vein, demographic variables as
age, gender, residence country, native country, class status, previous abroad
experience, the number of friends from participants‟ own country and friends
whose nationality is same with the participants, and English proficiency were
included to the analysis. Emotional intelligence, optimism, self-monitoring,
and subscales of acculturative stress (perceived discrimination, homesickness,
perceived hate, fear, stress due to change, and guilt) were the major study
variables included to the correlation analysis.

Among demographic variables, gender was significantly, and negatively

associated with class status (r = -.15, p< .05), and positively associated with
residence time, emotional intelligence, and optimism (r = .17, p< .01; r = .17,
p< .01; r = .20, p< .01 respectively). Age was significantly, and positively
correlated with class status (r = .49, p< .01), and negatively associated with
residence country (r = -.21, p< .01). Also, there was a significant negative
association between age and the number of friends whose nationality is from
the host country (r = -.16, p< .05) which can be interpreted as individuals had
tended to make less number of friends as their age increase. Regarding
residence time, it was significantly, and positively associated with the number
of friends from participants‟ own country (r = .21, p< .05), the number of
friends whose nationality is from the host country (r = .27, p< .05), perceived
hate(r = .14, p< .05), and fear (r = .13, p< .05). In addition to the number of
friends, the feeling of fear and perceived discrimination raises as the residence
time increase. Also, the results of the correlation analysis revealed that
English proficiency was significantly, and positively associated with
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring (r = .27, p< .01; r =

39
.26, p< .01; r = .23, p< .01 respectively). On the other hand, there was a
significant negative correlation between English proficiency and subscales of
acculturative stress as perceived discrimination, perceived hate, fear, and
stress due to change (r = -.18, p< .05; r = -.31, p< .01; r= -.30, p< .01; r = -
.13, p< .05 respectively). It seems that as the ability of English language
improves, individuals tended to report less levels of acculturative stress.
Further information regarding correlations among demographic variables can
be gathered from Table 3.3.

With respect to major study variables, emotional intelligence was found to

have significant positive correlations with optimism (r = .50, p< .01) and self-
monitoring (r = .51, p< .01). On the other hand, as expected, emotional
intelligence was significantly, and negatively associated with four subscales
of acculturative stress as perceived discrimination, perceived hate, fear, and
stress due to change (r = -.17, p< .01; r = -.22, p< .01; r = -.22, p< .01; r = -
.14, p< .05 respectively).

Optimism was significantly, and positively associated with self-monitoring (r

= .34, p< .01), and negatively correlated with perceived discrimination,
perceived hate, fear, and stress due to change (r = -.26, p< .01; r = -.25, p<
.01; r = -.27, p< .01; r = -.20, p< .01 respectively). As consistent with the
hypotheses, optimism was found to be negatively associated with
acculturative stress.

Moreover, significant negative correlations were revealed between self-

monitoring, and the subscales of acculturative stress as perceived hate (r = -
.14, p< .05) and fear (r = -.17, p< .01). As expected, correlation analysis
demonstrated that acculturative stress lessens as the level of self-monitoring
increase.

For further information, correlations among subscales of acculturative stress

can be seen from Table 3.3.

40
 Table 3.3 Correlations among Study Variables(General)
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
1. Gender -
2. Age .00 -
3. Residence country .11 -.21** -
4. Native country -.08 .03 .09 -
5. Class -.15* .49** -.47** -.04 -
6. Residence time .17** .01 .18** -.06 -.12 -
7. Abroad experience .04 -.02 .13* -.03 -.11 .11 -
8. Friends A .11 -.09 .02 -.16* .01 .21* .14* -
9. Friends B .02 -.16* .33* .07 -.15* .27* .01 .10 -
10. English proficiency .05 -.06 .31** .13* -.19** .07 -.05 -.17** .19** -
41

11. EI .17** .01 .21** .00 -.11 .05 .04 .03 .05 .27** -
12. Optimism .20** .00 .28** .06 -.11 -.08 .07 .05 .05 .26** .50** -
13. Self-monitoring .03 .01 .19** .12 -.12 .06 .08 .04 -.02 .23** .51** .34** -
14. Perceived discrimination -.06 -.04 .01 .05 -.04 .12 .08 .07 -.02 -.18* -.17** -.26** -.04 -
15. Homesickness -.08 -.08 -.10 .01 -.08 .05 -.01 .11 -.02 -.11 -.06 -.11 .10 .36** -
16. Perceived hate -.07 .00 -.18* .09 .04 .14* .00 .12 -.01 -.31** -.22** -.25** -.14** .66** .40** -
17. Fear -.11 -.05 -.27** -.04 .08 .06 .03 .14* -.09 -.30** -.22** -.27** -.17** .65** .36** .58** -
18. Stress due to change -.01 .05 -.16** .00 .03 .13* .03 .10 -.13* -.13* -.14* -.20** -.10 .57** .50** .52** .48** -
19. Guilt .03 -.07 -.14** -.01 .01 .09 -.06 -.04 .03 -.11 -.13 -.12 .01 .33** .48** .45** .36** .36** -
* Correlation significant at the .05 level (2-Tailed). **Correlations significant at the .01 level (2-Tailed).
Note: Friends A=Friends from individuals‟ own country. Friends 2=Friends whose nationality is from of that place. EI=Emotional intelligence. Scores rated on 5-point Likert scale 1=strongly disagree 5=strongly agree.

41
3.6 Correlations among Study Variables on Country Basis

Data collected from England showed that gender is significantly, and

negatively correlated with class status (r = -.25, p< .05) and positively
associated with the number of friends from individuals‟ own country (r = .28,
p< .01). The correlations between gender and other study variables were non-
significant in England. Though, data gathered from Turkey revealed
significant, and positive correlations between gender and residence time,
English proficiency, emotional intelligence, and optimism (r = .21, p< .05; r =
.25, p< .01; r= .27, p< .01; r = .32, p< .01 respectively). In England, there was
a significant, and positive correlation between the number of friends whose
nationality was same with the individuals‟ and homesickness (r = .21, p< .05),
perceived hate (r = .31, p< .01), fear (r = .30, p< .01), and stress due to
change(r = .26, p< .05) which showed that making more friends from an
individuals‟ own country increased the level of acculturative stress among
international students studying in England. Though, in Turkey, the number of
friends had no significant correlations with acculturative stress. In a similar
vein, in England, residence time as a demographic variable was significantly,
and positively correlated with three subscales of acculturative stress as
perceived discrimination (r = .26, p< .05), perceived hate (r = .28, p< .01),
and fear (r = .25, p< .05) indicating that acculturative stress increased among
students studying in England as the residence time lengthen. On the other
side, in Turkey, residence time was significantly, and positively correlated
with the number of friends whose nationality was same with the students (r =
.17, p< .05), the number of friends whose nationality was Turkish (r = .24, p<
.01), and level of English proficiency (r = .26, p< .01) stating that as residence
time increased, students studying in Turkey tended to make more friends both
from Turkey and whose nationality was same with them. Also, English
proficiency of students studying in Turkey improved as time goes by. Further
information regarding correlations among demographic variables based on
England and Turkey can be gathered from Table 3.4 and Table 3.5.

42
With respect to major study variables, in both set of data, emotional
intelligence was significantly, and positively associated with optimism (r =
.46, p< .01; r = .48, p< .01 respectively) and self-monitoring (r = .49, p< .01;
r = .50, p< .01 respectively). Significant, and negative correlations between
emotional intelligence and the subscales of acculturative stress as perceived
discrimination, perceived hate, fear, and stress due to change (r = -.31, p< .01;
r = -.35, p< .01; r= -.29, p< .01; r = -.27, p< .01 respectively) were detected in
England, however, data collected from Turkey showed that emotional
intelligence was not associated with acculturative stress. Therefore, regarding
the international students studying in England, as their level of emotional
intelligence increased, the stress level of acculturation decreased.

Optimism was significantly, and positively associated with self-monitoring in

both sets of data (r= .27, p< .01; r = .32, p< .01 respectively). However,
optimism was significantly, and negatively correlated with different subscales
of acculturative stress in data sets. In England, optimism was negatively
correlated with perceived discrimination (r= -.28, p< .01), perceived hate (r= -
.36, p< .01), and stress due to change (r= -.22, p< .05), while in Turkey, there
were negative correlations among optimism and perceived discrimination (r=
-.27, p< .01), homesickness (r= -.18, p< .05), and fear (r= -.24, p< .01). As a
result it can be said that, optimism helped students to deal with the stress of
acculturation and consequently, students with higher levels of optimism
reported lower levels of acculturative stress in both England and Turkey.

43
 Table 3.4 Correlations among Study Variables (England)
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1. Gender -
2. Age .04 -
3. Native country -.04 .01 -
4. Class -.25* .17 -.04 -
5. Residence time .09 -.09 -.06 -.27** -
6. Abroad experience .01 -.16 .06 -.18 .04 -
7. Friends A .28** -.08 -.02 -.01 .26* .05 -
8. Friends B -.14 -.18 -.11 -.13 .22* -.09 .11 -
9. English proficiency -.13 -.11 -.09 -.25* .10 .01 -.12 .14 -
10. EI -.08 -.06 .04 .02 -.07 .04 -.05 -.02 .23* -
44

11. Optimism -.05 .07 -.07 -.11 -.23* -.01 -.02 -.07 .26* .46** -
12. Self-monitoring -.08 .02 .00 .03 -.04 -.01 .00 -.13 .13 .49** .27** -
13. Perceived discrimination .04 -.03 .11 .06 .26* -.08 .18 .08 -.22* -.31** -.28** -.11 -
14. Homesickness -.07 .02 .12 -.18 .05 -.09 .21* -.03 .12 -.02. .09 .12 .28** -
15. Perceived hate .02 .06 .14 .07 .28** -.13 .31** .09 -.27** -.35** -.36** -.18 .78** .42** -
16. Fear .01 -.07 .11 .09 .25* -.01 .30** .05 -.16 -.29** -.16 -.08 .67** .34** .64** -
17. Stress due to change .04 .02 .16 -.14 .18 -.04 .26* -.09 -.08 -.27** -.22* -.03 .57** .53** .63** .54** -
18. Guilt -.02 -.09 .06 .04 .15 -.17 .08 .12 -.10 -.10 -.07 .03 .43** .35** .54** .43** .40** -
* Correlation significant at the .05 level (2-Tailed). **Correlations significant at the .01 level (2-Tailed).
Note: Friends A=Friends from individuals‟ own country. Friends 2=Friends whose nationality is from of that place. EI=Emotional intelligence. Scores rated on 5-point Likert scale 1=strongly disagree 5=strongly agree.

44
 Table 3.5 Correlations among Study Variables (Turkey)
Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1. Gender -
2. Age .02 -
3. Native country -.11 .06 -
4. Class -.01 .65** -.01 -
5. Residence time .21* .14 -.10 .14 -
6. Abroad experience .03 .11 -.06 .02 .12 -
7. Friends A .02 -.10 -.22** .00 .17* .20* -
8. Friends B .08 -.04 .06 .09 .24** .00 .10 -
9. English proficiency .25** .17* .07 .14 .26** -.09 .01 .07 -
10. EI .27** .11 -.02 -.06 .06 .01 .07 -.02 .16* -
45

11. Optimism .32** .05 .04 .09 -.07 .06 .09 -.03 .10 .48** -
12. Self-monitoring .05 .06 .12 -.09 .06 .09 .05 -.07 .24** .50** .32** -
13. Perceived discrimination -.13 -.05 .06 -.12 .03 .17* .00 -.10 -.11 -.11 -.27** -.01 -
14. Homesickness -.07 -.17* .02 -.11 .08 .05 .05 .04 -.16 -.05 -.18* .13 .40** -
15. Perceived hate -.09 -.10 .13 -.12 .11 .12 .00 .03 -.15 -.11 -.12 -.09 .61** .37** -
16. Fear -.14 -.14 -.03 -.14 .02 .10 .05 -.05 -.22** -.12 -.24** -.15 .68** .35** .51** -
17. Stress due to change -.01 .01 .01 .02 .15 .10 .01 -.09 -.03 -.04 -.13 -.09 .58** .48** .43** .42** -
18. Guilt .08 -.12 .00 -.12 .09 .03 -.10 .05 -.05 -.10 -.09 .04 .29** .53** .38** .30** .32** -
* Correlation significant at the .05 level (2-Tailed). **Correlations significant at the .01 level (2-Tailed).
Note: Friends A=Friends from individuals‟ own country. Friends 2=Friends whose nationality is from of that place. EI=Emotional intelligence. Scores rated on 5-point Likert scale 1=strongly disagree 5=strongly agree.

45
3.7 Regression Analysis Regarding Research Questions

The aim of the present study is to understand the predictors of acculturative

stress among international students studying in England and Turkey. In this
vein, in order to reveal the possible predictive power of emotional
intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring, and also demographic variables
on acculturative stress, hierarchical regression analyses were performed
separately for England and Turkey. Demographic variables which were found
to have significant associations with major study variables were included to
the analyses. Accordingly, to evaluate their predictive power on acculturative
stress; age, gender, residence time, individuals friends whose nationality is
same with them, English Proficiency, and previous abroad experience as
demographic variables, and emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-
monitoring as the major study variables were entered to the equation in two
stages to asses acculturative stress among international students.

3.7.1 Predicting Acculturative Stress by Emotional Intelligence,

Optimism, Self-monitoring, and Demographic Variables

In the first stage, age, gender, residence time, the number of individuals‟
friends whose nationality is same with them, English proficiency, and
previous abroad experience as demographic variables were entered to the
equation. According to the results of the hierarchical regression analysis,
when scores of the participants from England were examined, R was
significantly different from zero at first step (R2 = .24, F(6, 89) = 4.70,
p<.001, ΔR2 =.24), Adjusted R2 was .19 indicated that 19 of the variance was
explained significantly. Among demographic variables, residence time (β =
.22, p < .05) and English proficiency (β = -.36, p < .01) significantly predicted
acculturative stress. In the second model, acculturative stress was significantly
predicted by emotional intelligence (β = -.26, p < .05).

46
According to the results of the hierarchical regression analysis conducted on
participants from Turkey, R was significantly different from zero at first step
(R2 = .11, F(6, 142) = 2.77, p<.05, ΔR2 =.11), and adjusted R2 was .07
indicating that only 07% of the variance was accounted for the variation on
acculturative stress by included variables in Turkey. Of all demographic
variables, residence time was found to be a significant predictor of
acculturative stress (β = .17, p < .05). Though, it should be noted that
previous abroad experience and English proficiency were found to be
marginally significant in explaining the stress of acculturation (β = .15, p =
.07; β = -.14, p = .08 respectively). In the second model, optimism predicted
acculturative stress significantly (β = -.26, p < .01). The results of the
analyses were presented in Table 3.6.

Since residence time was found to be a significant predictor of explaining

acculturative stress among international students, further analyses performed
separately for England and Turkey to test Lysgaard‟s (1955; cited in Ward,
Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) U-curve theory regarding residence time. In this
vein, univariate analysis of variance was conducted to clarify the effect of
residence time on acculturative stress in less than 6 months, 6-12 months, and
more than 6 months conditions. According to the results, there was a
significant effect of residence time on acculturative stress for three conditions
on England sample [F(2,93) = 4.08, p < .05)], but not in Turkey [F(2,146) =
1.97, p = .14)]. Regarding England sample, consistent with the findings of U-
curve theory, students reported lower levels of acculturative stress at their first
arrival to host country and up to 6 months (M = 79.81). Between sixth and
twelfth months, higher levels of acculturative stress were reported by students
(M = 92.52). After twelfth month, stress levels were reduced again (M =
91.24).

47
Table 3.6 Regression Analyses for Variables Predicting Acculturative Stress

Acculturative Stress
England Turkey
Variables β β
Step 1
Age -.04 -.14
Gender -.09 -.15
Residence Time .22* .17*
Friends A .13 -.05
Abroad Experience -.12 .15
English Proficiency -.36** -.14
Step 2
Emotional intelligence -.26* .01
Optimism -.06 -.26**
Self-monitoring .07 .03
R2 .31 .16
Adjusted R2 .23 .10
F change 2.68 2.83
Significant F change .05 .04

**p<.01, *p<.05
Note: Friends A: Friends from individuals' own country.

48
 CHAPTER IV

DISCUSSION

The main purpose of the present study was to reveal the possible factors that
lead to acculturative stress among international students. In this vein,
additional to demographic variables, the predictive powers of emotional
intelligence, optimism, and self monitoring were examined. Moreover, data
were collected from two countries in order to compare whether studying a
developed country as an international student will be effect acculturative
stress or not. For this purpose England as a developed country and Turkey as
a developing country were selected for the research.

In this section, the findings of the study will be evaluated with respect to the
hypotheses of the current study, and the connection between the results and
the literature will be discussed first. Then, the significance and contributions
of the present research will be mentioned. Finally, limitations regarding the
study and future research suggestions will be presented.

4.1 General Evaluations of the Research Findings

Before evaluating the research findings, descriptive characteristics of the

major study variables should be stated. Regarding emotional intelligence,
participants had moderately high scores indicating that most of the
participants have the necessary skills to observe and manage their own and
others‟ emotions in their social relations with others. Participants had also
high scores on optimism which shows that students mostly regard their future
as positive and bright. Regarding self-monitoring, moderate levels were
reported by participants. Finally, moderate levels of acculturative stress were
reported by participants showed that international students had experienced
acculturative stress to a certain extent.
49
Within the scope of this section, gender differences regarding the whole
sample will be noted first. Then, in order to compare the international students
studying in England and Turkey, research findings will be given on the basis
of residence country. Country based mean differences among major study
variables will be discussed and afterwards, country based correlations among
study variables will be examined in detail. Finally, predictive power of
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring on country basis will be
presented.

4.1.1 Gender Differences among Major Study Variables

Independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare male and female

participants. According to the significant findings, males scored higher than
females on emotional intelligence, and optimism. However, there was no
significant effect of gender on the level of self-monitoring, and experiencing
acculturative stress among international students.

Regarding emotional intelligence, women generally score higher than men

(e.g., Sutarso, 1999). Though, in contrast to the perception of women as being
more capable on experiencing and expressing their emotions, males scored
higher on emotional intelligence than females in the present study. It is known
that females experience all kinds of emotions -even negative ones- very
intensely (Grossman & Wood, 1993), and literature suggests that women
generally score higher than men on emotional intelligence (e.g., Van Rooy,
Dilchert, Viswesvaran, & Ones, 2006). On the other hand, as Fernández-
Berrocal, Cabello, and Castillo (2012) stated, various demographic variables
may effect the relationship between gender and emotional intelligence. To
illustrate, in their study, age as a mediator variable substantially decreased, or
totally disappeared the gender differences on emotional intelligence. In a
similar way, age or other demographic variables might effected the
relationship between gender and emotional intelligence, and consequently
50
females might be reported lower on emotional intelligence in the present
study.

Also, men scored higher than women on optimism. As Sing and Jha (2013)
stated males and females differ on optimism in different subjects. For
instance, men were found to be more optimistic on financial issues (Chang,
Tsai, & Lee, 2010; Jacobsen, Lee, Marquering, & Zhang, 2010), and marriage
and divorce (Lin & Raghubir, 2005). In a similar way, male students are more
optimistic about their future in a new social environment rather than females
in the current research. Thus, it can be concluded that males also tend to think
more positive in face of social and environmental changes.

4.1.2 Mean Differences among Major Study Variables on Country Basis

When mean differences among major study variables based on England and
Turkey were examined, international students in England reported lower
levels of emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring compared to
the students studying in Turkey. Moreover, higher acculturative stress levels
were reported by students from England compared to students studying in
Turkey. If students were not differentiated on other major study variables as
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring, the difference between
the scores of students on experiencing acculturative stress could be explained
by the social and environmental characteristics of the residence country. For
instance, one possible explanation of the fact that an international student
experiences less acculturative stress in Turkey could be the collectivist
cultural structure of Turkey. To illustrate, international students studying in
Turkey might be perceived more social support from their peers at university
or they might be experienced more assistance in their relationships with other
individuals in daily life. As the author of the thesis personally experienced, in
England, if you do not specifically tend to make contact with others, people
rather choose to protect the personal distance. It may be due to their respect

51
for other individuals‟ life though, in Turkey, anyone can start a conversation
without any specific reason, and obviously in a new social environment, these
kinds of attempts would help students‟ adjustment period, and would be
lessen their stress of acculturation. Nevertheless, research findings show that
international students in England and Turkey were also scored significantly
different on major study variables. International students who were studying
in England rated lower on emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-
monitoring, and accordingly experienced higher levels of acculturative stress.
In Turkey, higher scores were reported by students on emotional intelligence,
optimism, and self-monitoring, and also they have experienced lower levels of
acculturative stress. As it was hypothesized, higher levels of emotional
intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring led students to experience less
acculturative stress.

Henceforth, in order to clarify how major study variables and also certain
demographic variables had influenced the level of acculturative stress, the
correlations between major study variables on country basis will be discussed.

4.1.3 Correlations between Study Variables on Country Basis

Age, gender, native country, class status, residence time in the host country,
friends whose nationality is same with students, and also friends whose
nationality is from the host country, previous abroad experience, and
perceived English proficiency were included to the correlation analysis in
order to clarify the predictors of acculturative stress among international
students.

4.1.3.1 Correlations between Study Variables in England

When correlations between study variables examined in England, among

demographic variables, residence time, friends from individuals‟ own country,
52
and English proficiency had significant associations with major study
variables. More specifically, residence time found to be negatively correlated
with optimism, and positively correlated with certain subscales of
acculturative stress as perceived discrimination, perceived hate, and fear. The
results showed that as the time of residency in the host country increase, the
positive thoughts about future decrease, and the stress of acculturation raises.
As it was mentioned in the introduction section, contradictory results were
generated in the literature regarding the effect of residence time on
acculturative stress. First, Lysgaard (1955; cited in Ward, Bochner, &
Furnham, 2001) has presented a U-curve model of cultural adjustment stating
that international students experience more psychological adaptation between
their first arrival to host country and up to 6 months and also, after 18 months
the adaptation is significantly high compared to the time period between 6-18
months. On the other hand, some studies showed that experienced stress of
the international students was significantly higher in the initial time of
residency in the host country (e.g., Ward & Kennedy, 1996b). Current
research generated similar results with Lysgaard‟s (1955; cited in Ward,
Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) U-curve theory in such a way that as the time
progressed, the level of acculturative stress of students has raised.
Among demographic variables, friends from individuals‟ own country had
also significant positive correlations with homesickness, perceived hate, fear,
and stress due to change as subscales of acculturative stress. It is known that
social support lowers depressive symptoms (e.g., Crockett et al., 2007). Thus,
it is expected that as the social connectedness with peers or family members
increase, stress levels lessen. Though, in the current study, positive correlation
was found between the number of friends whose nationality is same with
students and acculturative stress. However, it should be noted that those
friends had came from individuals‟ own country. Feeling socially connected
to friends would lessen acculturative stress however, limiting the connections
by only communicating with peers whose nationality is same with the

53
individual would probably make the adjustment process more difficult. As
Pedersen (1991) stated, one of the most crucial problem that international
students face is the lack previously received social support. Losing the social
support of significant others increases the stress due to change. At this point,
it became crucial for international students to make more friends from the
host country, and also they should try to come closer with students came from
other countries. Trying to communicate with host nationals and other
international students would probably lessen stress levels by providing the
necessary information regarding the new social environment, and also
communicating not only co nationals but also students who had came from
other countries would lessen the perceived stress by knowing that other
students experience similar emotions as feeling alone, homesickness and so
on.

English Proficiency was another demographic variable which had significant

associations with major study variables. On England sample, English
proficiency was found to be significantly and positively correlated with
emotional intelligence, optimism, and negatively associated with two
subscales of acculturative stress as perceived discrimination and perceived
hate. As consistent with the previous research findings (e.g.,Yeh & Inose,
2003), higher proficiency on English language led lower levels of
acculturative stress. On the other hand, according to the present research,
English proficiency was found to be positively correlated with emotional
intelligence and optimism. The reason for that may be due to the self
confidence that the ability on English language had bring along. An individual
who is capable of understanding others and also, is able to express his/her
own emotions fluently in the valid language would improve his/her self-
assurance and accordingly, negative feelings associated with acculturation
would lessen. At this point, in order to improve students‟ English language
ability, free short term language courses can be provided for students by

54
institutions. On the other hand, students personally should make an attempt to
improve their language ability, for instance by communicating individuals
from the host country.

Regarding major study variables, emotional intelligence was found to be

significantly, and positively associated with optimism and self-monitoring,
and negatively associated with four subscales of acculturative stress:
perceived discrimination, perceived hate, fear, and stress due to change. The
strong association between emotional intelligence and optimism was expected
since the stress reducing effect of the two variables was demonstrated in the
literature as previously mentioned. Similarly, as it was hypothesized, higher
levels of emotional intelligence was associated with higher levels of self-
monitoring. Similar findings were stated in the literature indicating the
significant correlation between managing emotions and changing behaviors
according to environmental cues in new social contexts (e.g., Jordan,
Ashkanasy, Härtel, & Hooper, 2002). The most notable finding of the
correlation analysis regarding major study variables was the significant
negative association between emotional intelligence and four subscales of
acculturative stress. The negative relationship between emotional intelligence
and acculturative stress was demonstrated by Vergara et al. (2010) though the
study was conducted in Thailand which is a developing country. As a
developed country, students who scored higher on emotional intelligence
were also experienced less acculturative stress compared to those with lower
emotional intelligence in England. Thus, it can be concluded that independent
from the country of residency in terms of development, having necessary
emotional skills will help international students to reduce the stress of
acculturation.

With respect to optimism, it was significantly and positively correlated to

self-monitoring, and as expected, negatively associated with three subscales

55
of acculturative respectively as perceived discrimination, perceived hate, and
stress due to change. The psychological distress reducing effect of optimism
among international students was once proved by Jackson et al. (2013) by
indicating the negative relationship exists between optimism and symptoms of
depression. The results of the current study were in line with the previous
findings, and higher optimism levels were led students‟ acculturative stress to
be lowered in the present study.

Finally, there was no significant correlation between self-monitoring and

acculturative stress. One possible explanation for this result could be that as
an individualist culture, an individual do not have to behave in accordance
with environmental social cues. In other words, there would be less social
pressure when an international student behaves according to his/her own
beliefs in an individualist community as England. Therefore, managing
behaviors according to current social environment or behaving in a free
manner did not differ in England in terms of experiencing acculturative stress.
However, it should be mentioned that regarding England sample, the
Cronbach‟s alpha coefficients for total 13 items of the Revised Self-
monitoring Scale were found to be .58 which is not acceptable. Due to this
low reliability coefficient, results with respect to self-monitoring should be
examined cautiously. Though -as it will be noted later- self-monitoring was
not found significantly associated with acculturative stress on Turkey sample
too.

4.1.3.2 Correlations between Study Variables in Turkey

According to the correlation analysis conducted on sample from Turkey,

gender was found to be significantly associated with emotional intelligence as
consistent with the results of independent sample t-tests which were
conducted to reveal gender differences among major study variables. Males

56
scored significantly higher on emotional intelligence compared to females in
Turkey, but no significant difference was determined in England. As
previously mentioned, other demographic variables such as age, previous
abroad experience, or English proficiency might influenced the relationship
between gender and emotional intelligence. As Poyrazli et al. (2010) suggests,
since the literature has generated contradictory results regarding the effect of
gender on acculturative stress, further research should be conducted on gender
differences with respect to acculturation, and also the relationship should be
examined by including various demographic variables (Fernández-Berrocal et
al., 2012).

Regarding age, Yeh & Inose (2003) and Poyrazli et al. (2010) did not find any
significant correlation between acculturative stress and age. In the current
study significant correlation was revealed between age and homesickness as a
subscale of acculturative stress indicating that as age increase the stress of
acculturation lessens based on the sample of international students studying in
Turkey. Though, in order to clarify the possible predictive power of age, more
research should be conducted.

Among demographic variables, previous abroad experience was significantly,

and positively correlated with perceived discrimination. This rather low
correlation could be explained by the personal experiences of students in their
previous abroad experience. To illustrate, if a student exposed to a negative
event such as showed hatred or some kind of discrimination due to his/her
cultural background before in another country, that student will probably be
more vulnerable to discrimination and accordingly, will report higher on
perceived discrimination. Consequently, positive correlation between
previous abroad experience and acculturative stress emerged in the current
research, and students who had previous abroad experience reported higher
levels of acculturative stress.

57
Finally, similar to the England sample, English proficiency was significantly,
and positively associated with emotional intelligence and self-monitoring, and
negatively correlated with fear as a subscale of acculturative stress. Lin and
Yi (1997) stated that the lack of English language ability would result in a
difficulty to adjust a new environment. Thus, as previously noted, expressing
the self fluently, and also understanding others accurately in a new social
environment led to lower levels of acculturative stress on Turkey sample too.
When correlations between major study variables were examined, emotional
intelligence was significantly, and positively associated with optimism and
self-monitoring. As it was previously noted, significant correlations between
these three variables were due to the similar constructs that they are referring.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive and manage one‟s own and
others‟ emotions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990), and „„emotions belong to the
second, so-called affective sphere of mental functioning, which includes the
emotions themselves, moods, evaluations, and other feeling states, including
fatigue or energy‟‟ (Mayer & Salovey, 1997, p.4). On the other hand,
optimism as generalized positive expectancies for individuals‟ own future
(Scheier et al., 1994) requires positive thinking which is strongly associated
with controlling and operating emotions. In a similar way, the strong
association between emotional intelligence and self-monitoring could be
explained by the necessary requirements of these two constructs. In such a
way that emotional intelligence requires to perceive and control emotions and
similarly, self-monitoring necessitates perceiving social cues in the
environment and managing behaviors according to those cues.

In contrast to sample from England, emotional intelligence was not

significantly correlated with subscales of acculturative stress in Turkey.
Instead, optimism was found to be significantly, and negatively associated
with three subscales of acculturative stress respectively as perceived
discrimination, homesickness, and fear. Optimism was once studied with

58
respect to socio-cultural adjustment and depressive symptoms of international
students studying in United States, and negative relationship between
optimism and symptoms of depression was demonstrated but no significant
association between optimism and socio-cultural adjustment was revealed
(Jackson et al., 2013). In the present study, results revealed that optimism is
correlated with the stress of acculturation on Turkey sample. Therefore, as it
was hypothesized, positive thinking led students‟ acculturative stress levels to
be lowered.

Regarding self-monitoring, in contrast with the hypothesis of the current

study, it was not significantly correlated with acculturative stress as similar to
England sample. As a similar construct with acculturative stress, Mathis
(2009) studied cultural intelligence which refers to the ability to adjust
quickly and smoothly with experiencing less stress (Brislin, Worthley, &
Macnab, 2006), and its correlation with self-monitoring on volunteer U.S.
citizens attended in projects for an international organization in Belize.
Results of the study demonstrated that there is a positive relationship between
cultural intelligence and self-monitoring. Also, Kosic, Manetti, and Sam
(2006) revealed the significant positive relationship between self-monitoring
and socio-cultural and psychological adaptation in their study which was
conducted on Polish immigrants. In the light of the findings of the literature, it
was hypothesized that self-monitoring will also play a significant role in
reducing the stress of acculturation among students who are studying abroad.
Though, in the present study, self-monitoring was not found to be
significantly correlated with acculturative stress on both samples.

59
4.1.4 Predictive Powers of Emotional Intelligence, Optimism, and Self-
monitoring on Country Basis

Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for samples from England

and Turkey separately in order to clarify the predictive power of demographic
variables, emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring on
acculturative stress among international students. Among demographic
variables, only the factors which have significant associations with major
study variables were included to the analyses. Therefore, in the last instance,
to clarify their predictive power on acculturative stress; age, gender, residence
time, individuals friends whose nationality is same with them, English
Proficiency, and previous abroad experience as demographic variables, and
emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring as the major study
variables were entered to the equation in two stages to assess the predictors of
acculturative stress among international students.

For both samples from England and Turkey, R was significantly different
from zero indicating that the set of independent variables included to the
analysis significantly predicted acculturative stress that international students
experienced. Though, not all the unique contributions of independent
variables were significant. In fact, among major study variables, only
emotional intelligence on England sample, and optimism on Turkey sample
uniquely predicted the variance on acculturative stress.

Regarding demographic variables, residence time uniquely predicted

acculturative stress on both samples. However, English proficiency had
predictive power only on England sample. With respect to residence time,
hierarchical regression analysis results revealed that as time of residency
increase, acculturative stress levels also increase in both samples. In order to
find out whether the results were consistent with Lysgaard‟s (1955; cited in

60
Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) U-curve model of cultural adjustment
stating that international students experience more psychological adaptation at
their first arrival to host country, and after 18 months the adaptation is
significantly high compared to the time period between 6-18 months,
univariate analysis of variance was conducted separately for England and
Turkey. Results revealed that acculturative stress levels significantly differed
for three conditions of residence time respectively as less than 6 months, 6-12
months, and more than 12 months for students studying in England, but the
effect of residence time was not found to be significant on Turkey sample.
The international students participated to the present study were student
sojourns. As Ward et al. (2001) defined, sojourners stay in new social
environments for a short period of time, and as they relocate voluntarily,
going back to home is a planned action in their future. In line with these
characteristics of sojourners, results are non-contradictory. As student
sojourns, they are full of enthusiasm at their first arrival, and these highly
motivated individuals cannot wait to explore the new social world that they
are finally in. Therefore, the stress they experience at initial time of relocation
is rather low. As time goes by, the reason for increased stress levels when
confronting with difficulties of adjustment may due to students‟ individual
differences. As the present study has revealed, emotional intelligence and
optimism have significant predictive power on acculturative stress which will
be discussed later.

Regarding English proficiency, it has significantly predicted acculturative

stress among international students studying in England, but not in Turkey.
Obviously, a lack of success in English language ability in a place where
English is the native language led students to experience more stress since
English is spoken not only in classrooms, but also in daily life with host
nationals in England. Regarding Turkey, English proficiency was not found to
be a significant predictor of acculturative stress. As Yeh and Inose (2003)

61
stated, one of the most important reasons that the low English proficiency
causes higher levels of stress during acculturation is the difficulties that
students experience while interacting with host nationals -for instance asking
for assistance- in their daily lives. Since the native language is not English,
students not experienced these kinds of stressors regarding language barriers
in Turkey, and consequently English proficiency was not found to be a unique
contributor of explaining acculturative stress on Turkey sample.

Among major study variables, emotional intelligence has a significant

predictive power on acculturative stress among international students in
England. This is a significant finding since the negative relationship between
emotional intelligence and acculturative stress (Vegara et al., 2010) or cross-
cultural adjustment (Lin et al., 2012) among international students was
studied only in Eastern cultures. The present study revealed the positive effect
of emotional intelligence on reducing acculturative stress among international
students in England as a Western culture. Therefore, apart from cultural
differences of the host country, the findings of the current research
strengthened the presumption of universal positive effect of emotional
intelligence on lowering acculturative stress among international students.

As Mayer and Salovey (1997) stated, emotional intelligence is a different

concept apart from cognitive intelligence, and it is a useful construct to
explain individuals‟ adaptation for new social environments. As a social
competence of monitoring and operating one‟s own and other individuals‟
emotions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990), it was hypothesized that emotional
intelligence would help international students to experience a smooth
adaptation process and accordingly, report lower levels of acculturative stress
in a new cultural environment. More specifically, as an individual who can
able to control and manage his/her and also others‟ emotions, and proficient
on using emotions in social relations and finally, regulating emotions to

62
achieve personal goals like adjusting to the new cultural setting would lessen
the stress of acculturation. In line with the expectations of the present study,
being emotionally strong led students to experience less acculturative stress
and consequently, emotional intelligence was identified as a predictor of
acculturative stress among international students.

Finally, optimism was found to be a significant predictor of acculturative

stress among international students in Turkey. Specifically, as it was
hypothesized, higher levels of optimism led lower levels of acculturative
stress. With regard to international students, the role of optimism was once
studied by Jackson et al. (2013), and negative relationship between optimism
and symptoms of depression was demonstrated among students studying
abroad in United States. In the light of the findings in the literature, it was
expected that optimism which helps individuals to think that the future will
bring positive outcomes would also help international students to perceive the
difficulties that rise during acculturation process as opportunities, but not
stressors. As expected, the present study revealed the positive effect of
optimism on reducing the stress of acculturation among students studying
abroad in Turkey. Therefore, similar to emotional intelligence, optimism has a
significant stress reducing power on international students.

Before concluding the thesis, it should be noted that individuals from 58

unique countries participated to the current study thus the sample was not
composed of homogeneous groups of people. At this point, results should be
evaluated cautiously due to the heterogeneity of the sample of the research.

4.2 Contributions and Conclusions of the Thesis

Organista et al. (2002) suggested further information was required to clarify

the effect of acculturation on individuals‟ mental health, thus various cultures

63
should be examined with respect to acculturation research. Besides, different
individual variables should be taken into consideration in order to improve the
literature. At this point, it is believed that current study enhanced the
acculturation literature by analyzing two different countries, and also by
considering different individual variables such as emotional intelligence,
optimism, and self-monitoring which were not directly examined in relation
with acculturative stress among international students in Turkey before.

One of the most significant findings of the current study is the higher levels of
acculturative stress reported by students studying abroad in England
compared to the students studying in Turkey. In line with the expectations,
lower levels of emotional intelligence, optimism, and self-monitoring were
reported by international students in England which demonstrates the stress
reducing effect of the major study variables of the present study.

Regarding significant predictors, emotional intelligence was found to be a

unique contributor in explaining the variance in acculturative stress in
England. Aforementioned, the relationship between emotional intelligence
and acculturative stress among students studying abroad was never studied in
a Western culture, thus the findings of the current research demonstrated that,
apart from cultural differences of the host country, the significant effect of
emotional intelligence on lowering acculturative stress among international
students is supported not only in Eastern cultures, but also in Western
countries. At this point, strengthening students‟ emotional and social skills
may provide them a healthy adjustment period, and accordingly may lower
their acculturative stress while confronting difficulties during acculturation. In
this vein, training programs that improve students‟ emotional intelligence can
be constructed to help students studying abroad by making them emotionally
and socially strong while trying to adapt into the new social environment.

64
Moreover, despite the fact that the negative relationship between optimism
and psychological distress was revealed through several studies on different
groups of people as mentioned before, the connection between optimism and
acculturative stress among international students was not examined directly in
the literature. Therefore, current study supported that optimistic life
orientation style has a significant effect on reducing stress among students
studying abroad as a different sample, and strengthened the universal positive
effect of optimism on psychological well-being. That is to say, similar to
emotional intelligence, optimism helps individuals to experience less stress
during coping with difficulties in face of social changes. At this juncture,
interventions developed by institutions may help international students to
experience a smooth adaptation into a new culture. For instance, workshops
can be organized to give students an insight regarding the benefits of
optimism. Accordingly, it may help students to gain the adequate positive
thinking skills, and make them feel less stressed during coping with social and
environmental demands.

Taken all together, the present study stressed the importance of emotional
intelligence and optimism as the variables of positive psychology on
international students as a different sample which experience social change
for a certain period of time. The findings of the current research give an
insight on the importance of the positive psychology as a science which helps
individuals to be happier and more productive in their lives (Snyder, Lopez, &
Pedrotti, 2011) on confronting with difficulties which rise during social and
environmental changes. In other words, the stress of acculturation which rises
in face of difficulties during the acculturation process can be dealt with
emotional intelligence and optimism as the variables of positive psychology.
Supportive findings with regard to beneficial outcomes of the variables of
positive psychology should give rise to our thoughts regarding inner peace

65
and well-being could be provided by positive thinking, and enjoying the
present moment.

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.

If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.” (Lao Tzu)

4.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

There are few limitations of the present study which should be taken into
consideration while examining the findings. First of all, a self-report
questionnaire was used in the research. Though self-report measures are easy
to use, especially if samples of the research are from different countries,
social desirability bias might be led students to hide their real attitudes to a
certain extent. Moreover, some part of the data was collected via internet.
Therefore, it is not known that whether students completed the survey with
full concentration or not. Besides, since the options are limited in self-report
measures, students might not be expressed their specific feelings regarding
acculturation. Therefore, future research studies may add open-ended
questions into the questionnaires to gain more information regarding
international students‟ acculturation problems. Phrases of students can
provide us a better understanding of their feelings and experiences which may
cause acculturative stress.

Secondly, a broader picture of acculturation process can be provided by

longitudinal studies since acculturating is a continuing process. Thus, since
the process is still ongoing while studying on acculturation, longitudinal study
designs which examine the whole period of students‟ education to the end can
provide more clarified information regarding the factors that lead
acculturative stress.

66
Finally, in order to improve acculturation research, re-entry process to the
home country can be studied since it is another version of acculturation.
Research revealed that an array of difficulties was experienced by
international students after their departure from the host country (Ward et al.,
2001). At this point, future research can focus on the adjustment process of
international students‟ during re-entry period.

67
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 APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

INFORM CONSENT FORM

The purpose of the study is to understand the predictors of acculturation

stress among international students. Specifically, the effect of emotional
intelligence, future expectations, and level of self-monitoring on acculturation
will be examined. Participation will require approximately15 minutes to complete
the questionnaire. You may refuse to answer any question on the survey if it
makes you feel uncomfortable. Your participation in this study is completely
voluntary, and you may choose to withdraw at any time without penalty.
Information you provide will remain confidential and your identity will not be
revealed.

Your participation will make a significant contribution to my study thus,

please be honest and confident in responding and also, feel free to contact me if
you have any comments, questions or concerns with the study. You can also
request a copy of the results, I will be happy to share them with you. Thank you
in advance for your participation. Please sign the following statement.

‘The aim of this research has been explained and I voluntarily agree to participate in this
study. I have been informed that information and results obtained in this survey will
potentially contribute to a future publication in literature.’

Signature: Date:

CONTACT INFORMATION
Buket ALKIŞ
e-mail: [email protected]
phone: +90532 162 1789
80
 APPENDIX B

DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SHEET

Gender:  Female  Male Age: ____________

Current country of residence: _____________ Current city of residence:

______________

Native country: __________________________

Class status: Undergraduate  Graduate PhD Continuing Education Student

Other____

Name of School: _________________________

How long have you been residing in the host country?

 Less than 3 months  3-6 months 6-12months  More than 12 months

Do you have previous abroad experience?  Yes  No

How many friends do you have who had came from your own country?
 Less than 3  3-6  More than 6
How much time do you spend with them? Less  Average  Much

How many friends do you have in the host country whose nationality is from of
that place?
 Less than 3  3-6  More than 6
How much time do you spend with them? Less  Average  Much

Language
English is my native language
I learned English as a second language in my native country

What is your present level of English fluency?

Low  Below average Average  Above average  High

How comfortable are you communicating in English?

Not at all  Slightly  Moderately  Very  Extremely

How often do you communicate in English?

 Very rarely Rarely  Occasionally  Frequently  Very frequently

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 APPENDIX C

THE WONG AND LAW EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SCALE

(Wong & Law, 2002)

Please indicate your level of agreement for each statement by placing the
number on the line preceding that item. Since there is no right or wrong
answer, it is kindly requested from you to be honest in your responding.

1 2 3 4 5
(Strongly disagree) (Disagree) (Not sure) (Agree) (Strongly
Agree)

______ 1. I have a good sense of why I have certain feelings most of the time.
______ 2.I have good understanding of my own emotions.
______ 3.I really understand what I feel.
______ 4.I always know whether or not I am happy.
______ 5. I always know my friends‟ emotions from their behavior.
______ 6. I am a good observer of others‟ emotions.
______ 7. I am sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others.
______ 8. I have good understanding of the emotions of people around me.
______ 9. I always set goals for myself and then try my best to achieve them.
______ 10. I always tell myself I am a competent person.
______ 11. I am a self-motivated person.
______ 12. I would always encourage myself to try my best.
______ 13. I am able to control my temper and handle difficulties rationally.
______ 14. I am quite capable of controlling my own emotions.
______ 15. I can always calm down quickly when I am very angry.
______ 16. I have good control of my own emotions.

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 APPENDIX D

THE POSITIVE FUTURE EXPECTATIONS SCALE

(Imamoglu, 2001)

Please indicate your level of agreement for each statement by placing the
number on the line preceding that item.

1 2 3 4 5
(Strongly disagree) (Disagree) (Not sure) (Agree) (Strongly
Agree)

______ 1. I am quite optimistic about my future.

______ 2. I believe that I will achieve my goals in one way or other.
______ 3. I am optimistic about actualizing the things I want to do in the future.
______ 4.I can be considered pessimistic about my personal future.
______ 5. Although there may be some difficulties, I look positively to the future.

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 APPENDIX E
REVISED SELF-MONITORING SCALE (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984)

Please indicate the strength of your agreement for each statement by

placing the number on the line preceding that item.
1 2 3 4 5 (Strongly
disagree) (Disagree) (Not sure) (Agree) (Strongly Agree)

______ 1.In social situations, I have the ability to alter my behavior if I feel that
something else is called for.

______ 2. I am often able to read people's true emotions correctly through their eyes.

______ 3. I have the ability to control the way I come across to people, depending on
the impression I wish to give them.

______ 4. In conversations, I am sensitive to even the slightest change in the facial

expression of the person I'm conversing with.

______ 5. My powers of intuition are quite good when it comes to understanding

others' emotions and motives.

______ 6. I can usually tell when others consider a joke to be in bad taste, even
though they may laugh convincingly.

______ 7. When I feel that the image I am portraying isn't working, I can readily
change it to something that does.
______ 8.I can usually tell when I've said something inappropriate by reading it in
the listener's eyes.

______ 9. I have trouble changing my behavior to suit different people and different
situations.
______ 10. I have found that I can adjust my behavior to meet the requirements of
any situation I find myself in.

______ 11. If someone is lying to me, I usually know it at once from that person's
manner of expression.
______ 12. Even when it might be to my advantage, I have difficulty putting up a
good front.

______ 13. Once I know what the situation calls for, it's easy for me to regulate my
actionsaccordingly.
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 APPENDIX F

ACCULTURATIVE STRESS SCALE FOR INTERNATIONAL

STUDENTS
(Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994)

Please indicate your agreement with each statement by placing the

number on the line preceding that item.

1 2 3 4 5

(Strongly disagree) (Disagree) (Not sure) (Agree) (Strongly Agree)

______ 1. Homesickness bothers me.

______ 2. I feel uncomfortable to adjust to new foods.
______ 3. I am treated differently in social situations.
______ 4. I feel rejected when people are sarcastic toward my cultural values.
______ 5. I feel nervous to communicate in English.
______ 6. I feel sad living in unfamiliar surroundings.
______7. I fear for my personal safety because of my different cultural background.
______ 8. I feel intimidated to participate in social activities
______ 9. Others are biased toward me.
______ 10. I feel guilty to leave my family and friends behind.
______ 11. Many opportunities are denied to me.
______ 12. I feel angry that my people are considered inferior here.
______ 13. Multiple pressures are placed upon me after migration.
______ 14. I feel that I receive unequal treatment.
______ 15.People from some ethnic groups show hatred toward me nonverbally.
______ 16. It hurts when people do not understand my cultural values.

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______ 17. I am denied what I deserve.
______ 18. I frequently relocate for fear of others.
______ 19. I feel low because of my cultural background.
______ 20. I feel rejected when others don‟t appreciate my cultural values.
______ 21. I miss the people and country of my national origin.
______ 22. I feel uncomfortable to adjust to new cultural values.
______ 23. I feel that my people are discriminated against.
______ 24. People from other ethnic groups show hatred toward me through their actions.
______ 25. I feel that my status in this society is low due to my cultural background.
______ 26. I am treated differently because of my race.
______ 27. I feel insecure here.
______ 28. I don't feel a sense of belonging (community) here.
______ 29. I am treated differently because of my color.
______ 30. I feel sad to consider my people's problems.
______ 31. I generally keep a low profile due to fear from some other ethnic groups.
______ 32. I feel some people don't associate with me because of my ethnicity.
______ 33. People from some other ethnic groups show hatred toward me verbally.
______ 34. I feel guilty that I am living a different lifestyle here.
______ 35. I feel sad leaving my relatives behind.
______ 36. I worry about my future for not being able to decide whether to stay here, or go back.

86
 APPENDIX G

ETHICS COMMITTEE APPROVAL

87
 APPENDIX H

TÜRKÇE ÖZET

ULUSLARARASI ÖĞRENCĠLERDE KÜLTÜRLEġME STRESĠ:

DUYGUSAL ZEKA, ĠYĠMSERLĠK VE KENDĠNĠ ĠZLEME
DEĞĠġKENLERĠNĠN ROLÜ

KültürleĢme, bireyler tarafından tarih boyunca çeĢitli sebeplerden

dolayı deneyimlenmiĢtir. Günümüzde, gerek teknolojinin ilerlemesi
gerekse enstitülerin sağladığı olanaklar ile kiĢilerin baĢka ülkelere
süreli ya da süresiz göçü hızla artmaktadır. Kimi bireyler,
eğitimlerini ilerletmek, kimileri yeni yerler keĢfetmek, kimileri ise
zorunlu birtakım sebeplerden dolayı farklı ülkelere göç etmektedir.
Sebebi ne olursa olsun, yeni bir sosyal ortama girmek beraberinde
birtakım zorluklar getirmektedir. Göç eden birey için, tutum ve
davranıĢları kendi kültürel alt yapısından farklı olan yabancı
insanlarla sosyal etkileĢime girmek ve onlarla yaĢamaya çalıĢmak
zor bir süreç olacaktır ve bu süreçte karĢılaĢılan zorluklar kiĢinin
kültürleĢme stresinin artmasına sebebiyet verecektir (Yusoff ve
Chelliah, 2010). Bu tür stres, kaygı, umutsuzluk, depresyon gibi
olumsuz duygulanımlara yol açabilir (Wiliams ve Berry, 1991).
Bar-on (2006), bireyin sosyal, kiĢisel ve çevresel değiĢimlerle baĢa
çıkabilmesinin, sosyal ve duygusal anlamda zeki olması ile
mümkün olabileceğini söyler. Bu süreçte iyimser bir yapıya sahip
olmak da oldukça önemlidir. Bu anlamda duygusal zeka, bireysel
bir farklılık olarak, kiĢinin sosyal değiĢimlerde karĢılaĢılan
zorlukların üstesinden gelebilmesinde belirleyici olacaktır (Bar-on,
2005). Duygusal zeka ve iyimserlik değiĢkenlerine ek olarak,

88
kiĢinin yeni girdiği bir sosyal ortamda etrafındaki sosyal ipuçlarına
göre mi davranacağı yoksa kendi düĢünce ve tutumlarına göre mi
hareket edeceği yaĢayacağı stres seviyesini etkileyebilir. Bu
noktada kendini izleme değiĢkeninin, kültürleĢme stresinin
yordanmasında önemli bir faktör olacağı düĢünülmektedir. Snyder
(1974), kendini izleme değiĢkenini kiĢinin davranıĢlarını kontrol
etme süreci olarak tanımlar. Kendini izleme özelliği yüksek olan
bireyler davranıĢlarını kontrol edebilme ve çevresel ipuçları
doğrultusunda davranıĢ sergileyebilme konusunda baĢarılılardır
(Lennox, 1984). Bu anlamda, yeni bir kültürel ortama giren
bireylerin kendini izleme seviyeleri, yüksek ihtimalle adaptasyon
seviyelerine iĢaret edecektir. Sonuç itibarı ile kendini izleme
seviyesi yüksek olan bireylerin, sosyal adaptasyon süreçlerinin
hızlanacağı düĢünülerek, daha düĢük seviyelerde kültürleĢme stresi
yaĢayacakları öngörülmektedir.

Russell, Thomson, ve Rosenthal‟ın (2008) belirttiği gibi,

uluslararası öğrencilerin kültürleĢme sürecindeki algı ve
deneyimleri ile ilgili olarak çok sayıda çalıĢma yürütülmüĢ olmakla
birlikte, öğrencilerin iyilik hali ve kültürleĢme stresi arasındaki
iliĢki tam anlamıyla açıklığa kavuĢmamıĢ bulunmaktadır. Son
yıllarda uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresi ile
ilgili araĢtırmaların sayısı artmaktadır ancak, kültürleĢme stresine
neden olan faktörlerin netleĢtirilmesi adına farklı değiĢkenlerin
incelendiği daha çok çalıĢma yürütülmelidir. Uluslararası
öğrencilerin uyum süreci ile ilgili olarak, yaĢ, cinsiyet, önceki
yurtdıĢı deneyimi, sosyal statü seviyesi, göç edilen ülkede geçirilen
zaman (Berry, Kim, Minde, ve Mok, 1987), Ġngilizce dil becerisi
(Yeh ve Inose, 2003), anavatan ile göç edilen ülke arasındaki
kültürel farklılıklar (Sandhu, 1995) gibi birtakım demografik

89
değiĢkenler daha önce incelenmiĢ ve bu değiĢkenlerin kültürleĢme
stresi üzerinde etkili oldukları belirtilmiĢtir. Ayrıca, akademik
baĢarı, kültürel altyapı, ekonomik durum, siyasi görüĢ gibi
değiĢkenlerde kültürleĢme stresi üzerinde belirleyici değiĢkenler
olarak etiketlenmiĢlerdir (Pan, Wong, Chan, ve Joubert, 2008). Öte
yandan, sosyal destek değiĢkeni de uluslararası öğrencilerin uyum
sürecinde ortaya çıkan depresif belirtilerin azalmasında önemli bir
faktör olarak belirlenmiĢtir.

Uluslararası öğrencilerde kültürleĢme stresi ile ilgili çalıĢmaların

hepsi tek bir ülke bazında incelenmiĢtir (Gebhard, 2012; Gonzales,
2006; Otlu, 2010; Sirin, Ryce, Gupta, ve Rogers-Sirin, 2013;
Vergara, Smith, ve Keele, 2010; Yeh ve Inose, 2003). ÇalıĢmanın
en önemli amaçlarından biri uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı
kültürleĢme stresi bakımından farklı ülkeleri karĢılaĢtırmaktır. Bu
amaçla, geliĢmiĢ bir ülke olarak Ġngiltere ve geliĢmekte olan bir
ülke olması bakımından Türkiye, veri toplanacak ülkeler olarak
belirlenmiĢtir. Diğer değiĢkenler üzerinde anlamlı fark
göstermeyen öğrenciler, kültürleĢme stresi bakımından anlamlı
farklılıklar ortaya koyarsa, bu durum ülkelerin geliĢmiĢlik
seviyeleri ile açıklanacaktır.

KültürleĢme ve zihin sağlığı arasındaki iliĢkinin aydınlatılması

adına daha fazla bilgiye ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Bu amaçla, farklı
ülkelerde kültürleĢmeye iliĢkin çalıĢmaların yürütülmesi
gerekmektedir (Organista, Organista, ve Kurasaki, 2002).
AraĢtırmayı iki farklı ülkede gerçekleĢtirecek olması bakımından,
çalıĢmanın literatürde önemli bir rol oynayacağı düĢünülmektedir.
Öte yandan, Türkiye‟de daha önce uluslararası öğrencilerin
yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresinin ölçülmesinde araĢtırılmamıĢ olması

90
bakımından, duygusal zeka, iyimserlik, ve kendini izleme
değiĢkenlerinin çalıĢmaya dahil edilmiĢ olmasının, kültürleĢme
konusunda literatürün geliĢmesini sağlayacaktır. Tüm bunlar göz
önünde bulundurulduğunda, çalıĢmanın amacı Ġngiltere ve
Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı
kültürleĢme stresinin duygusal zeka, iyimserlik, ve kendini izleme
değiĢkenlerine bağlı olarak incelenmesi olarak özetlenebilir. Ek
olarak, yaĢ, cinsiyet, uyruk, algılanan Ġngilizce dil becerisi, göç
edilen ülkedeki arkadaĢ sayısı, önceki yurtdıĢı deneyimi gibi
demografik değiĢkenlerde çalıĢmaya eklenmiĢtir.

Kültürleşme Stresi

KültürleĢme üzerine yapılan araĢtırmalar toplumlardaki

kültürlerarası iletiĢimin süreç ve sonuçlarını inceler (Berry,
Portinga, Segall, ve Dasen, 1992). Farklı kültürler ile etkileĢime
girildiğinde bir çeliĢkinin ortaya çıkması durumunda ise
kültürleĢme stresi yaĢanır. Bir baĢka deyiĢle kültürleĢme stresi,
bireyin baĢka bir kültüre adaptasyon sürecinde karĢısına çıkan
güçlüklere verdiği tepkidir (Williams ve Berry, 1991). Bu tepki
genellikle kaygı ve depresyon Ģeklinde kendini göstermekle
birlikte, kültürleĢme sürecinde yaĢanan stres seviyesi kiĢilere göre
farklılık göstermektedir (Berry, 1997). Berry‟nin (2006)
sınıflandırdığı üzere, kültürleĢme stresine yol açan faktörler grup
düzeyinde ve bireysel düzeyde olmak üzere iki sınıfta incelenebilir.
Grup düzeyinde politik durum, ekonomik durum, ait olunan
kültürün demografik özellikleri gibi birtakım değiĢkenler rol
alırken, birey düzeyinde yaĢ, cinsiyet, eğitim seviyesi gibi faktörler
kültürleĢme stresini etkilemektedir. Bu anlamda denebilir ki her
bireyin yeni bir sosyal ortamda yaĢayacağı kültürleĢme stresi, gerek

91
grup düzeyindeki gerekse bireysel düzeyde bahsedilen faktörlere
göre farklılık gösterecektir. Bir bireyin engel olarak algıladığı bir
durum karĢısında baĢka bir birey -yukarıda bahsedilen faktörlere
bağlı olarak- farklı bir duruĢ sergileyerek o durumu kendisi için bir
olanak olarak algılayabilir. ÇalıĢmada, kültürleĢme sürecinde
bireysel farklılıkların etkisi incelenecek, kültürleĢme stresinin
yaĢanmasında duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme
değiĢkenlerinin rolü araĢtırılacaktır.

Uluslararası Öğrencilerde Kültürleşme Stresi

Uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresi araĢtırmacılar

tarafından farklı değiĢkenler ele alınarak incelenmiĢtir. ÇalıĢmalar
yaĢ, cinsiyet, Ġngilizce dil becerisi (Yeh ve Inose, 2003), göç edilen
ülkede kalınan süre (Lysgaard, 1955; Aktaran Ward, Bochner, ve
Furnham, 2001), sosyal destek (Poyrazli, Kavanaugh, Baker, ve Al-
Timimi, 2004), finansal sorunlar (Carroll ve Ryan, 2005), büyük
beĢ kiĢilik özelliği (Poyrazli, Thukral, ve Duru, 2010) gibi
değiĢkenlerin kültürleĢme stresine etkisini incelemiĢtir.

Duygusal zeka

Duygusal zeka, en genel ifadesi ile bireyin kendi ve etrafındaki

insanların duygularını algılayabilmesi ve bunları kontrol edebilmesi
ilkelerini barındıran bir sosyal yetkinlik olarak tanımlanmaktadır
(Salovey ve Mayer, 1990). Bu özellik, duyguların doğru biçimde
değerlendirilmesi ve dıĢa vurumu, aynı zamanda amaçlar
doğrultusunda düzenlenmesi ve kullanımı ile ilgilidir. O halde
denebilir ki duygusal zeka, duyguların doğru biçimde
algılanmasını, karar verme süreçlerinde uygun kullanımını ve

92
amaçlara ulaĢmada kontrol altına alınmasını gerektirir. Duygularını
bu ilkeler doğrultusunda yönetebilen kiĢiler, farklı sosyal ortamlara
girdiklerinde kolaylık yaĢayacaklardır. Duygusal zekanın
uluslararası öğrencilerde gözlemlenen kültürleĢme stresi üzerindeki
etkisini inceleyen tek çalıĢma, Vergara, Smith ve Keele‟ye (2010)
ait olan ve bulguların duygusal zekası yüksek olan öğrencilerin
daha düĢük seviyede kültürleĢme stresi yaĢadığına iĢaret eden
çalıĢmasıdır. Türkiye‟de ise duygusal zekanın uluslararası
öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresi üzerine etkisinin
incelendiği herhangi bir çalıĢmaya rastlanmamıĢtır. Bu anlamda
bireysel bir farklılık olarak duygusal zekanın çalıĢmaya
eklenmesinin, literatüre önemli katkı sağlayacağı düĢünülmektedir.

İyimserlik

Ġnsan yaĢamın içerisindeki olaylara farklı tepkiler verebilmektedir.

Örneğin, kimileri en olumsuz deneyimleri bile pozitif düĢünceleri
ile olumlarken, kimileri geleceğin kendilerine kötü olaylar
sunacaklarını varsayarlar. Ġyimser kiĢiler hayatta istedikleri her
Ģeye bir Ģekilde ulaĢacaklarından emindir, öte yandan kötümser
bireyler geleceği umutsuz algılarlar. Bu noktada iyimserlik,
bireylerin geleceğe yönelik olumlu beklentilerini ifade etmektedir
(Scheier, Carver, ve Bridges, 1994). Son yıllarda iyimserlik,
bireylerin hem fiziksel hem de zihinsel iyilik hallerini açıklamada
önemli bir faktör haline gelmiĢtir (Brisette, Scheier, ve Carver,
2002; Carver ve Gaines, 1987; Nelson, Karr, ve Goleman, 1994;
Robins, Spence, ve Clark, 1991; Scheier ve Carver, 1985; Uğurlu,
2011).

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Pek çok çalıĢma aracılığı ile stres ve iyimserlik arasındaki negatif
iliĢki ortaya konmuĢtur (Carver, Pozo, Harris, Noriega, Scheier,
Robinson, Ketcham, Moffat, ve Clark, 1993; Ironson ve Hayward,
2008; Litt, Tennen, Affleck, ve Klock, 1992). Öğrencilerle ilgili
olarak, Aspinwall ve Taylor (1992) bir grup öğrencinin
üniversiteye adaptasyon süreçlerinde iyimserlik değiĢkeninin
adaptasyon üzerindeki olumlu etkisi belirtmiĢlerdir. Öğrenciler
üzerinde gerçekleĢen bir baĢka çalıĢmada ise iyimserliğin, kaygı
düzeyi ile de negatif iliĢkili olduğu saptanmıĢtır (Sing ve Jha,
2013). Uluslararası öğrenciler ile ilgili olarak ise iyimserlik ve
depresyon belirtileri arasında negatif yönlü iliĢki bulunduğu
belirtilmiĢtir (Jackson, Ray, ve Bybell, 2013). Bahsedilen
çalıĢmaların bulguları doğrultusunda görülmektedir ki iyimserlik,
stres ve kaygı seviyelerinin düĢürülmesinde oldukça etkilidir. Buna
rağmen, literatürde uluslararası öğrencilerde gözlemlenen
kültürleĢme stresi ile iyimserlik arasındaki iliĢkiyi inceleyen
herhangi bir çalıĢmaya rastlanmamaktadır. Bu noktada,
iyimserliğin uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresine
etkisinin incelenmesi amacı ile iyimserlik değiĢkeni bu çalıĢmanın
kapsamına alınmıĢtır.

Kendini-izleme

Yeni bir kültüre adaptasyon dönemi zorlu bir süreçtir. Özellikle

içinde bulunulan yeni sosyal çevrede bireyin kendi kültürü ile
bağdaĢmayan değerlerin varlığı söz konusu ise bu süreç daha da
sancılı hale gelebilir (Berry, 2006). Bu noktada kiĢiler, kendilerini
izleyerek içine girilen yeni kültürde uyumlu bir birey izlenimi
yaratmaya çalıĢabilirler (Snyder, 1974). Bir baĢka ifade ile bireyler
yeni kültüre uyum sağlayabilmek için kendini izleme değiĢkenini

94
 bir araç olarak kullanabilirler. KiĢinin davranıĢlarını etrafındaki
sosyal ipuçlarına göre düzenlemesi olarak ifade edebileceğimiz
kendini izleme değiĢkeninin öğrencilerin üniversiteye uyum
sürecinde karĢılaĢtıkları zorluklara olan etkisi daha önce
incelenmiĢtir (Blank, Ziegler, ve Bloom, 2012; Ghorbanshiroodi ve
Khalatbari, 2010; Guarino, Michael, ve Hocevar, 1998) fakat
literatürde bu değiĢkenin uluslararası öğrencilerde gözlemlenen
kültürleĢme stresini nasıl etkilediğini inceleyen herhangi bir
çalıĢma bulunmamaktadır. Bu noktada, kendini izleme
seviyelerinin farklı kültürlerde öğrenim gören öğrencilerin
kültürleĢme sürecinde yaĢayacakları stres seviyelerini açıklamada
önemli bir faktör olacağı düĢünülmektedir.

Bu bilgiler ıĢığında, çalıĢmanın ana amacı, duygusal zeka,

iyimserlik ve kendini izleme değiĢkenlerinin uluslararası
öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresini nasıl etkilediğini ortaya
koymaktır. Bu ana değiĢkenlere ek olarak, birtakım demografik
değiĢkenlerin bu süreçte nasıl rol oynayacağı da araĢtırılacaktır.
ÇalıĢmanın verileri Ġngiltere ve Türkiye‟deki üniversitelerden
toplanmıĢtır. Burada amaç, geliĢmiĢlik bakımından farklı
seviyelerde olan ülkelerde öğrenim gören öğrencilerin, kültürleĢme
stresi bakımından farklılaĢıp farklılaĢmayacaklarını ortaya
koymaktır. Farklı ülkelerde öğrenim gören uluslararası öğrencilerin
stres seviyelerinde anlamlı farklar gözlemlenirse bu sonuç ülkelerin
sahip olduğu sosyal, eğitimsel ve çevresel koĢullar ile
açıklanacaktır. O halde, çalıĢmanın hipotezleri Ģu Ģekilde
sıralanabilir:

1. Demografik değiĢkenler, duygusal zeka, iyimserlik, kendini izleme

ve kültürleĢme stresi arasındaki korelasyonlar nelerdir?

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2. Ġngiltere ve Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören uluslararası öğrenciler
kültürleĢme stresi bakımından anlamlı ölçüde farklılaĢacak mıdır?
3. Duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme değiĢkenleri,
uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresini ne ölçüde
yordayacaktır?

Yöntem

AraĢtırmaya Ġngiltere‟de öğrenim gören 98, Türkiye‟de öğrenim

gören 149 olmak üzere toplam 247 uluslararası öğrenci (113 kız,
134 erkek) katılmıĢtır. Veri toplama aracı olarak kullanılan anket,
demografik değiĢkenlerin ölçüldüğü form, Wong ve Law Duygusal
Zeka Ölçeği (Wong ve Low, 2002), Olumlu Gelecek Beklentisi
Ölçeği (Imamoglu, 2001), DüzenlenmiĢ Kendini Ġzleme Ölçeği
(Lennox ve Wolfe, 1984) ve Uluslararası Öğrenciler için
KültürleĢme Stres Ölçeği‟nden (Sandhu ve Asrabadi, 1994)
oluĢmaktadır.

Demografik değiĢkenlerin oluĢturduğu formda yaĢ, cinsiyet,

öğrenim görülen ülke, ev sahibi ülkede geçirilen zaman, ev sahibi
ülkede sahip olunan arkadaĢ sayısı, aynı uyruktan sahip olunan
arkadaĢ sayısı, önceki yurtdıĢı deneyimi, algılanan Ġngilizce
becerisi gibi değiĢkenler yer almaktadır.

Öğrencilerin kültürleĢme stres seviyelerini ölçmek amacıyla

Uluslararası Öğrenciler için KültürleĢme Stres Ölçeği (Sandhu ve
Asrabadi, 1994) kullanılmıĢtır. Stres seviyeleri 5‟li ölçek
kullanılarak ölçülmüĢtür. (1 = kesinlikle katılmıyorum, 5 =
kesinlikle katılıyorum). Ölçeğin geliĢtiricileri, kültürleĢme stresinin
belirlenmesinde 36 ile 180 arasında değiĢebilecek olan toplam

96
skorun kullanılmasını önermektedir. Dolayısıyla öğrencilerin ne
düzeyde kültürleĢme stresi yaĢadıkları 36 maddeye verilen
puanların toplamı üzerinden belirlenmektedir. 36 maddeden oluĢan
ölçeğin 7 farklı alt faktörü için iç tutarlılık katsayısı sırası ile Ģu
Ģekildedir: algılanan ayrımcılık (.80), vatan hasreti (.69), algılanan
nefret (.78), korku (.78), kültür Ģoku (.50), suçluluk duygusu (.28)
ve çeĢitli (.75). 36 maddeden oluĢan ölçeğin tamamının iç tutarlılığı
ise .92 olarak hesaplanmıĢtır. Ülke bazında incelendiğinde ise iç
tutarlılık katsayıları Ġngiltere için sırasıyla .83, .69, .79, .71, .37, .15
ve .80; Türkiye için ise .79, .68, .77, .80, .55, .33 ve .74 olarak
kaydedilmiĢtir. Ölçeğin tamamının güvenirlik katsayıları ise
Ġngiltere için .93, Türkiye için ise .92 olarak belirlenmiĢtir. Ölçeğin
kültür Ģoku ve suçluluk duygusu adlı iki alt ölçeğinin iç tutarlılık
katsayıları düĢük olduğundan ölçekten çıkarılmıĢlar.

Uluslararası öğrencilerin duygusal zeka düzeylerini belirlemek

amacı ile Wong ve Law Duygusal Zeka Ölçeği (Wong ve Low,
2002) kullanılmıĢtır. Ölçek 4 faktör ve 16 maddeden oluĢmakta,
5‟li ölçek üzerinde cevaplanmaktadır (1 = kesinlikle katılmıyorum,
5 = kesinlikle katılıyorum). Ölçeğin güvenirlik katsayısı .82 olarak
belirlenmiĢtir. Ülke bazında ise, iç tutarlılık katsayıları Ġngiltere
için .78, Türkiye için ise .83 olarak hesaplanmıĢtır.

Öğrencilerin iyimserlik seviyelerini ölçmek amacıyla Imamoglu

tarafından geliĢtirilen 5 maddelik Olumlu Gelecek Beklentisi
Ölçeği (Imamoglu, 2001) kullanılmıĢtır. Maddelerin 5‟li ölçek
üzerinde cevaplandırıldığı formatta 1 en düĢük seviyede, 5 ise en
yüksek düzeyde iyimserliği ifade etmektedir. AraĢtırmada ölçeğin
güvenirlik katsayısı .83 olarak hesaplanmıĢtır. Ġngiltere‟den

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toplanan data için .80, Türkiye için ise .84 ölçeklerin güvenirlik
katsayıları olarak kaydedilmiĢtir.

Ġçinde bulunulan yeni kültürde öğrencilerin ne ölçüde kendilerini

izlediklerini tespit etmek amacıyla DüzenlenmiĢ Kendini Ġzleme
Ölçeği (Lennox ve Wolfe, 1984) çalıĢmaya eklenmiĢtir. 2 faktör ve
13 maddeden oluĢan ölçek, 5‟li yanıt formatı üzerinden
ölçülmüĢtür (1 = kesinlikle katılmıyorum, 5 = kesinlikle
katılıyorum). AraĢtırmada ölçeğin güvenirlik katsayısı .74
bulunurken, bu değer Ġngiltere için .58, Türkiye için ise .79 olarak
hesaplanmıĢtır.

Demografik değiĢkenlerin yer aldığı form ve 4 ana ölçeğin

oluĢturduğu anket formu, ODTÜ Ġnsan AraĢtırmaları Etik Kurulu
tarafından gerekli onay alındıktan sonra öğrencilere ulaĢtırılmıĢtır.
Verilerin büyük kısmı öğrencilerin anket formunu sınıf ortamında
doldurması ile elde edilirken, bir kısım öğrenci anketin internet
üzerinden oluĢturulan versiyonunu tamamlamıĢtır. Bu süreçte
Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören uluslararası öğrencilere, ODTÜ‟de
bulunan Uluslararası ĠĢbirliği Ofisi tarafından ulaĢılmıĢtır.

Bulgular

AraĢtırmanın verileri t-testi, korelasyon ve hiyerarĢik regresyon

analizleri ile incelenmiĢtir. Öncelikle toplam veriler üzerinden
cinsiyet farklılıklarına bakılmıĢ, daha sonra ülke bazında
değiĢkenler üzerindeki farklılıklar incelenmiĢtir. Benzer Ģekilde,
korelasyon ve hiyerarĢik regresyon analizleri de Ġngiltere ve
Türkiye için ayrı ayrı yürütülmüĢtür.

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KültürleĢme stresi bakımından cinsiyet farklılıkları incelendiğinde,
erkeklerin (M = 3.81, SD = .50) duygusal zeka değiĢkeni üzerinde
kız öğrencilere (M = 3.65, SD = .42, t (243) = -2.77, p< .01) oranla
daha yüksek skorlar elde ettiği görülmektedir. Benzer biçimde
erkeklerin (M = 4.13, SD = .65) kız öğrencilere (M = 3.87, SD =
.61; t (243) = -3.18, p < .01) oranla daha iyimser olduğu
anlaĢılmaktadır.

Uluslararası öğrencilerin bağımlı ve bağımsız değiĢken puanlarının

ortalamaları ülke bazında incelendiğinde, Ġngiltere ve Türkiye‟de
öğrenim gören öğrenciler arasında anlamlı farklılıkların olduğu
görülmektedir. Ġngiltere‟de okuyan uluslararası öğrencilerin
duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme seviyeleri Türkiye‟de
okuyan öğrencilere göre anlamlı derecede düĢüktür. KültürleĢme
stresi bakımından ise, Ġngiltere‟de öğrenim gören öğrenciler,
Türkiye‟de okuyan öğrencilere göre anlamlı derecede yüksek stres
seviyeleri bildirmiĢtir. Görülmektedir ki, çalıĢmanın ana bağımsız
değiĢkenleri olan duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme
değiĢkenleri üzerinde belirtilen yüksek skorlar, düĢük seviyede
kültürleĢme stresinin yaĢanmasını sağlamıĢtır.

ÇalıĢmanın değiĢkenleri arasındaki iliĢkileri daha detaylı olarak

anlamak amacıyla korelasyon sonuçları incelenmiĢtir. Ġngiltere‟de,
demografik değiĢkenler arasında, ev sahibi ülkede geçirilen zaman,
aynı uyruktan olan arkadaĢ sayısı ve algılanan Ġngilizce becerisi
bağımlı ve bağımsız değiĢkenler ile anlamlı korelasyonlar
göstermiĢtir. Türkiye‟de ise yaĢ, cinsiyet, önceki yurtdıĢı deneyimi
ve algılanan Ġngilizce becerisinin çalıĢmanın ana değiĢkenleri ile
anlamlı ölçüde iliĢkili olduğu gözlemlenmiĢtir. Tüm değiĢkenler

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arasındaki korelasyonlar Tablo 3.4 ve Tablo 3.5‟de detaylı olarak
incelenebilir.

Son olarak, çalıĢmanın bağımsız değiĢkenlerinin kültürleĢme

stresini ne ölçüde yordadığını anlamak amacıyla hiyerarĢik
regresyon analizi uygulanmıĢtır. Bu aĢamada, korelasyon
analizlerinde çalıĢmanın bağımlı ve bağımsız değiĢkenleri ile
anlamlı iliĢkiler gösteren demografik değiĢkenler regresyon
analizine eklenmiĢtir. Dolayısıyla, birinci blokta demografik
değiĢkenler olarak yaĢ, cinsiyet, öğrenim görülen ülkede geçirilen
zaman, öğrencilerin kendi uyruklarından olan arkadaĢ sayısı,
algılanan Ġngilizce becerisi ve önceki yurtdıĢı deneyimi, ikinci
blokta ise çalıĢmanın bağımsız değiĢkenleri olan duygusal zeka,
iyimserlik ve kendini izleme değiĢkenleri analize dahil edilmiĢtir.
Demografik değiĢkenler arasında ev sahibi ülkede geçirilen
zamanın hem Ġngiltere‟de (β = .22, p < .05) hem de Türkiye‟de (β
= .17, p < .05) uluslararası öğrencilerde gözlemlenen kültürleĢme
stresini anlamlı ölçüde yordadığı tespit edilmiĢtir. Öte yandan,
algılanan Ġngilizce becerisi yalnızca Ġngiltere‟de (β = -.36, p < .01)
kültürleĢme stresini anlamlı olarak yordamıĢtır. Bağımsız
değiĢkenler incelendiğinde ise Ġngiltere‟de duygusal zeka (β = -.26,
p < .05), Türkiye‟de ise iyimserlik (β = -.26, p < .01) uluslar arası
öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresini açıklamada anlamlı
değiĢkenler olarak belirlenmiĢtir. HiyerarĢik regresyon analizinin
sonuçları Tablo 3.6‟da sunulmaktadır.

Tartışma

Kız ve erkek öğrencileri karĢılaĢtırmak amacıyla yürütülen t-testi

sonuçlarına göre erkeklerin kız öğrencilere göre anlamlı ölçüde

100
daha yüksek duygusal zeka ve iyimserlik seviyelerine sahip olduğu
görülmüĢtür. Literatürde, duygusal zeka ile ilgili olarak kızların
duygusal anlamda daha yetkin oldukları çalıĢmalarla kanıtlanmıĢtır
(Sutarso, 1990). Öte yandan, birtakım demografik değiĢkenlerin
cinsiyet ile duygusal zeka arasındaki iliĢkiyi etkilediği de
bilinmektedir. Örneğin bir çalıĢmada yaĢ değiĢkeni duygusal
zekanın alt faktörleri üzerindeki cinsiyet etkilerini azaltmıĢ, kimi
durumda tamamen ortadan kaldırmıĢtır (Fernández-Berrocal,
Cabello, ve Castillo, 2012). Bu çalıĢmada da yaĢ ya da diğer
demografik değiĢkenler cinsiyet faktörü ile duygusal zeka
arasındaki iliĢkiyi etkilemiĢ, dolayısıyla kız öğrencilerin daha
düĢük seviyelerde duygusal zeka skoruna sahip olmalarına neden
olmuĢ olabilir. Cinsiyet ile iyimserlik arasındaki iliĢki ile ilgili
olarak kız ve erkeklerin farklı konularda iyimserlik gösterdiği
bilinmektedir. Literatürde erkeklerin daha çok finansal konularda
veya evlilik ve boĢanma gibi konularda daha iyimser olduğuna
iĢaret eden çalıĢmalara rastlanmaktadır (Chang, Tsai, ve Lee, 2010;
Lin ve Raghubir, 2005). AraĢtırmada erkek öğrencilerin daha
iyimser olmaları, sosyal ve kültürel değiĢimler karĢısında da kız
öğrencilere oranla geleceğe iliĢkin daha pozitif düĢüncelere sahip
olduklarına iĢaret etmektedir. Kendini izleme ve kültürleĢme stres
seviyeleri bakımından kız ve erkek öğrenciler arasında anlamlı bir
fark gözlemlenmemiĢtir.

Daha önce belirtildiği gibi, uluslararası öğrencilerin bağımlı ve

bağımsız değiĢken puanlarının ortalamaları ülke bazında anlamlı
farklılıklar göstermektedir. Ġngiltere‟de öğrenim gören öğrenciler
Türkiye‟de okuyan öğrencilere göre daha düĢük oranda duygusal
zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme seviyeleri belirtmiĢ, buna
müteakip daha yüksek seviyelerde kültürleĢme stresi yaĢadıkları

101
ortaya konmuĢtur. ÇalıĢmanın baĢında varsayıldığı üzere yüksek
seviyelerdeki duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini izleme,
kültürleĢme stresinin azalmasına neden olmuĢtur.

Ġngiltere‟den toplanan veriler üzerinde gerçekleĢtirilen korelasyon

analizlerinin sonuçları incelendiğinde, demografik değiĢkenler
arasında, ev sahibi ülkede geçirilen zaman, aynı uyruktan olan
arkadaĢ sayısı ve algılanan Ġngilizce becerisinin bağımlı ve
bağımsız değiĢkenler ile anlamlı korelasyonlar gösterdiği
görülmektedir. Daha detaylı olarak, ev sahibi ülkede geçirilen
zaman iyimserlik ile negatif, kültürleĢme stresinin alt
faktörlerinden algılanan ayrımcılık, algılanan nefret ve korku ile
pozitif iliĢkili olduğu ortaya konmuĢtur. Görülmektedir ki, öğrenim
görülen ülkede geçirilen zaman arttıkça geleceğe yönelik olumlu
tutumlar azalmakta, kültürleĢme stresi ise artmaktadır. Ev sahibi
ülkede geçirilen zaman ile kültürleĢme stresi arasındaki iliĢki daha
önce pek çok çalıĢma ile incelenmiĢ ancak literatür çeliĢkili
sonuçlar doğurmuĢtur. AraĢtırmanın sonuçları U-eğrisi teorisini
ortaya koyan Lysgaard‟ın (1955; Aktaran Ward, Bochner, ve
Furnham, 2001) sonuçlarını desteklemektedir. Öyle ki, öğrencilerin
kültürleĢme stres seviyeleri ev sahibi ülkeye gelinen ilk zaman
diliminde düĢük fakat zamanla artan bir nitelik göstermektedir.
Ayrıca, aynı uyruktan olan arkadaĢ sayısı da kültürleĢme stresinin
alt faktörleri olan vatan hasreti, algılanan nefret, korku ve kültür
Ģoku ile pozitif iliĢkili bulunmuĢtur. Literatürde sosyal desteğin
depresyon belirtilerini düĢürdüğü kanıtlanmıĢtır (Crocket, Iturbide,
Stone, McGinley, Carlo, ve Raffaelli, 2007). Bu çalıĢmada ise
öğrencilerin kendileri ile aynı uyruktan olan arkadaĢlarının
kültürleĢme stres seviyelerini artırdığı gözlemlenmiĢtir.
Görülmektedir ki, farklı bir kültürde bulunurken sosyal iliĢkileri

102
yalnızca iç grup ile sınırlandırmak stres seviyelerinin artmasına
neden olmuĢtur. Bu noktada, uluslararası öğrenciler, yalnızca kendi
uyruklarından olan kiĢiler ile değil, farklı ülkelerden gelen
öğrenciler ve hatta ev sahibi ülkenin vatandaĢları ile de iletiĢim
kurmalıdır. Farklı kültürlerden gelen öğrencilerle sosyal iliĢkiler
kurmaları, kiĢilerin içinde bulundukları durumda yalnız
olmadıklarını görmelerini sağlayacaktır. Dolayısıyla yalnızlık,
korku gibi birtakım olumsuz duyguları diğer ülkelerden gelen
öğrencilerin de yaĢadığını idrak etmeleri, öğrencilerin yaĢayacağı
stres seviyelerinin azalmasına neden olacaktır. Ayrıca algılanan
Ġngilizce becerisi, duygusal zeka ve iyimserlik ile pozitif,
kültürleĢme stresinin alt faktörleri olan algılanan ayrımcılık ve
algılanan nefret ile negatif iliĢkili bulunmuĢtur. Bu noktada
araĢtırma, literatürde belirtilen sonuçlara uygun biçimde (Yeh ve
Inose, 2003) algılanan Ġngilizce becerisinin kültürleĢme stresini
azalttığını bir kez daha ortaya koymuĢtur. Öyle ki, içinde
bulundukları kültürde kendilerini ifade etmekte en önemli araç olan
Ġngilizce konusunda yetersiz olan öğrencilerde kültürleĢme
stresinin arttığı gözlemlenmiĢtir. ÇalıĢmanın bağımlı ve bağımsız
değiĢkenleri arasındaki korelasyonlar analiz edildiğinde ise,
varsayıldığı üzere, duygusal zeka ve iyimserliğin, kültürleĢme
stresi ile negatif iliĢkili olduğu ortaya konmuĢtur. Bunlar ile ilgili
tartıĢma regresyon analiz sonuçları kısmında ele alınacaktır.

Türkiye‟de ki korelasyonlar incelendiğinde ise yaĢ, cinsiyet, önceki

yurtdıĢı deneyimi ve algılanan Ġngilizce becerisinin çalıĢmanın ana
değiĢkenleri ile anlamlı ölçüde iliĢkili olduğu ortaya konmuĢtur.
Daha detaylı olarak, cinsiyet ve duygusal zeka arasında pozitif
yönlü bir iliĢki olduğu saptanmıĢtır. Daha önce cinsiyet farklılıkları
incelenirken belirtildiği üzere, erkek öğrencilerin kız öğrencilere

103
nazaran daha yüksek seviyelerde duygusal zekaya sahip oldukları
görülmüĢtür. Bu, literatürdeki sonuçlar ile bağdaĢmayan bir
bulgudur. Bu noktada, yaĢ ya da diğer demografik değiĢkenlerin
cinsiyet ve duygusal zeka arasındaki iliĢkiyi etkilemiĢ olabileceği
düĢünülmektedir. YaĢ ile kültürleĢme stresinin bir alt faktörü olan
vatan hasreti arasında da negatif iliĢki gözlemlenmiĢtir. Denebilir
ki, yaĢ ilerledikçe kültürleĢme stresi azalmaktadır. Ne var ki
literatür yaĢın kültürleĢme stresine olan etkisi ile ilgili çeliĢkili
sonuçlar doğurmuĢtur. Bu noktada yaĢın etkisinin incelendiği farklı
çalıĢmalar yürütmek, kültürleĢme araĢtırmalarını geliĢtirmek adına
yerinde olacaktır. ÇalıĢmada önceki yurtdıĢı deneyimi ve
kültürleĢme stresinin alt faktörü olan algılanan nefret arasında
pozitif yönlü bir iliĢki saptanmıĢtır. Bu bulgu, daha önce
yurtdıĢında bulunmuĢ kiĢilerin ayrımcılık konusunda daha hassas
olmaları durumundan kaynaklanıyor olabilir. Son olarak, Ġngiltere
örneklemine benzer biçimde, Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören uluslar
arası öğrencilerde, algılanan Ġngilizce becerisi ile kültürleĢme
stresinin bir alt faktörü olan korku arasında negatif yönlü iliĢki
gözlemlenmiĢtir. Daha önce belirtildiği üzere, kiĢinin geçerli dilde
kendisini ifade edebilmesi, aynı Ģekilde baĢkalarının ifadelerini
düzgün biçimde anlayabilmesi, yaĢayacağı kültürleĢme stresinin
azalmasını sağlayacaktır.

HiyerarĢik regresyon analizlerinin sonuçlarına göre ev sahibi

ülkede geçirilen zaman her iki örneklem grubunda da kültürleĢme
stresinin anlamlı yordayıcısı olarak belirlenmiĢtir. Bu noktada
belirtilmelidir ki, Ġngiltere ve Türkiye‟de öğrenim gören
uluslararası öğrenciler bu ülkelerde geçici olarak ikamet
etmektedir. Gönüllü olarak farklı bir kültüre girmenin ve bir süre
sonra kendi ülkelerine dönecek olmalarının bilinci ile öğrencilerin

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ilk zamanlarda yaĢadıkları stres seviyeleri az miktardadır. Zaman
ilerledikçe, kültürleĢme stresinde gözlemlenen artıĢın sebebi
bireysel farklılıklar olabilir. Bu çalıĢmanın da ortaya koyduğu
üzere, bireysel farklılıklar olarak duygusal zeka ve iyimserlik,
uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresinin
açıklanmasında önemli faktörler olarak belirlenmiĢtir. Demografik
değiĢkenler arasında algılanan Ġngilizce becerisi yalnızca Ġngiltere
örnekleminde kültürleĢme stresini açıklamada anlamlı bir faktör
olarak kaydedilmiĢtir. Açıktır ki, Ġngilizcenin ana dil olduğu yeni
bir sosyal ortamda, düĢük seviyede dil becerisi kültürleĢme
stresinin artmasına sebep olmuĢtur. Zira Ġngilizce yalnızca okul
içerisinde değil, günlük hayatta ülkenin vatandaĢları ile iletiĢime
geçerken de kullanılmaktadır. Bu süreçlerde kendini istediği gibi
ifade edemeyen ve baĢkalarının ifadelerini düzgün biçimde
anlayamayan kiĢinin yüksek seviyelerde kültürleĢme stresi
belirtmesi akla uygundur. Ana değiĢkenler arasında duygusal zeka
Ġngiltere‟de kültürleĢme stresinin anlamlı yordayıcısı olarak
belirlenmiĢtir. Varsayıldığı üzere duygusal anlamda güçlü olmak,
öğrencilerin yaĢadığı stres seviyesinin azalmasına neden olmuĢtur.
Duygusal zeka ile kültürleĢme stresi arasındaki iliĢki daha önce
Doğu‟da incelenmiĢ ve ikisi arasındaki negatif iliĢki ortaya
konmuĢtur (Vergara, Smith, ve Keele, 2010). Bu anlamda
araĢtırmanın bulgusu, duygusal zeka ile kültürleĢme stresi
arasındaki negatif yönlü iliĢkiyi bir Batı toplumunda ortaya
koyması bakımından önemlidir. O halde, ev sahibi ülkenin kültürel
farklılıklarından bağımsız olarak, duygusal zeka stres seviyelerinin
azalmasında önemli bir rol oynamaktadır. Son olarak iyimserlik
Türkiye‟de uluslar arası öğrencilerin yaĢadığı kültürleĢme stresini
açıklamada önemli bir faktör olarak etiketlenmiĢtir. Literatürde
iyimserlik ile uluslararası öğrencilerin kültürleĢme stresi arasındaki

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iliĢki daha önce incelenmemiĢtir. Bu anlamda araĢtırma, insanların
geleceğe olumlu yaklaĢımını ifade eden iyimserliğin farklı bir
kültürde öğrenim gören kiĢilerin yaĢayacağı stresi azaltmada rol
oynadığını ortaya koyması bakımından literatüre önemli bulgular
sunmuĢtur.

AraĢtırmanın, iki farklı ülkeyi analiz etmesi ve Türkiye‟de daha

önce uluslar arası öğrencilerin kültürleĢme stresi ile doğrudan
iliĢkili olarak incelenmeyen duygusal zeka, iyimserlik ve kendini
izleme değiĢkenleri gibi bireysel farklılıkları göz önünde
bulundurması bakımından kültürleĢme çalıĢmalarına önemli bir
katkı sağladığı düĢünülmektedir. ÇalıĢma farklı kültürlerde
öğrenim gören öğrencilerin yaĢadığı stresi azaltmada pozitif
psikolojinin değiĢkenleri olan duygusal zeka ve iyimserliğin
önemini vurgulamıĢtır. AraĢtırmanın bulguları, insanların daha
mutlu ve daha üretken olmalarını sağlayan pozitif psikoloji
biliminin (Snyder, Lopez, ve Pedrotti, 2011), bireylere sosyal ve
kültürel değiĢimler esnasında karĢılaĢtıkları zorluklar karĢısında da
büyük yardımının olduğunu kanıtlamıĢtır. ÇalıĢmanın bulgularının
ıĢığında denebilir ki, yeni bir sosyal ve kültürel çevrede öğrenim
gören uluslararası öğrencilerin yaĢayacağı kültürleĢme stresi,
pozitif psikolojinin değiĢkenleri olan duygusal zeka ve iyimserlik
ile azaltılabilir.

Son olarak belirtmek gerekir ki, kültürleĢme devam eden bir

süreçtir. Bu anlamda, öğrencilerin eğitim süreçlerini baĢından
sonuna kadar gözlemleyen boylamsal çalıĢmalar kültürleĢme
stresine neden olan faktörler hakkında daha derin bilgi sunabilir.
Öte yandan pek çok araĢtırma uluslararası öğrencilerin vatanlarına
döndükten sonra da birtakım zorluklar deneyimlediklerine iĢaret

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etmektedir (Ward, Bochner, ve Furnham, 2001). Bu noktada,
kültürleĢmenin farklı bir versiyonu olarak, öğrencilerin eve dönüĢ
sürecinin incelenmesinin, kültürleĢme araĢtırmalarının geliĢimine
önemli katkı sağlayacağı düĢünülmektedir.

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 APPENDIX I

TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU

ENSTİTÜ

Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü

SosyalBilimlerEnstitüsü X

UygulamalıMatematikEnstitüsü

EnformatikEnstitüsü

Deniz BilimleriEnstitüsü

YAZARIN

Soyadı : AlkıĢ

Adı : Buket
Bölümü : Psikoloji

TEZİN ADI (Ġngilizce) : ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AMONG

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE, OPTIMISM, AND SELF-MONITORING

TEZİN TÜRÜ : Yüksek Lisans X Doktora

1. Tezimin tamamından kaynak gösterilmek Ģartıyla fotokopi alınabilir. X

2. Tezimin içindekiler sayfası, özet, indeks sayfalarından ve/veya bir
bölümünden kaynak gösterilmek Ģartıyla fotokopi alınabilir.
3. Tezimden bir (1) yıl süreyle fotokopi alınamaz.

TEZİN KÜTÜPHANEYE TESLİM TARİHİ:

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