ETHNIC-COMMUNITIES WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY - AN EXAMINATION OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PERSONAL ADJUSTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

International students frequently encounter problems in adjusting to t heir new social environment when studying at American institutions of higher education. This paper contends that an important strategy used by international students in the adjustment process is to establish so cial relationships with other persons with a similar cultural backgrou nd or nationality and form ethnic communities within the context of th e university. Participation in such an ethnic community serves to buff er international students from problems associated with a lack of assi milation of American culture and an inability to effectively interact with Americans. This paper tests the conditional hypotheses that assim ilation of American culture and the establishment of social ties with Americans influence the personal adjustment of an international studen t, only when the student has not established strong ties with other pe ople from a similar cultural background. The number of strong ties est ablished with other coculturals was found to have the strongest relati onship with the personal adjustment of international students. The rel ationship between assimilation of American culture and personal adjust ment was found to be conditional on the number of strong ties establis hed with other coculturals whereas the establishment of strong ties wi th Americans was found to be independently related to personal adjustm ent.