Tolerance Types and Features of Intercultural Adaptation in International Students

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of the types of tolerance in correlation with the features of intercultural adaptation of the international students from different parts of the world. A total of 329 respondents took part in the research, including 175 young men and 154 women from five parts of the world: Latin America, Asia, the Arab Countries, Africa, and the Central Asian region. All the respondents were the first, second and third year students of the various departments of a multinational university.The level of tolerance was measured with the help of the express-questionnaire “The Index of Tolerance” by G.U.Soldatova, O.A.Kravtsova, O.Ye.Khukhlaev, L.A.Shajgerova. The Questionnaire of the adaptation of a person to the new socio-cultural environment (APSCE) by L.V.Yankovsky, in T.G.Stefanenko and M.S.Panov’s modified version, was used to define the features of intercultural adaptation of the international students. Using the factor and cluster analysis, we identified four types of tolerance among the international students: “Real tolerant”, “Tolerant in ethnic relations”, “Tolerant in social communications”, “Intolerant” students. The types of tolerance are related to the features of intercultural adaptation of the international students. The most significant difference is between the intercultural adaptation indicators of the “real tolerant” students and the students tolerant in social communication.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p625