Aculturación de estudiantes extranjeros Estrategias de aculturación y adaptación psicológica y sociocultural de estudiantes extranjeros en la Argentina

Abstract

Sobre la base del modelo de Berry se diseñó un estudio que tenía como objetivo analizar las estrategias aculturativas empleadas por un grupo de estudiantes extranjeros que habían migrado para realizar estudios universitarios en la Argentina. Se analizó el grado de éxito alcanzado en la implementación de dichas estrategias analizando la adaptación psicológica, la sociocultural, la académica, la satisfacción vital y la discriminación percibida. Se tomó en cuenta la perspectiva del migrante y la de los miembros de la cultura huésped. Participaron del estudio dos muestras de estudiantes universitarios (125 estudiantes extranjeros de diferentes carreras universitarias y 121 estudiantes universitarios argentinos). Los instrumentos utilizados fueron las formas real e ideal de la Encuesta de Estrategias Aculturativas de Berry (1997), una escala de discriminación percibida, una escala de adaptación psicológica, una escala de adaptación sociocultural y una de adaptación académica diseñadas ad-hoc y la escala de satisfacción con la vida (Diener, Emmons, Larsen & Griffin, 1985). Los resultados señalan que la estrategia preferida es la integración y la menos utilizada la de marginalización. Tanto la percepción del migrante como la del estudiante huésped coinciden respecto del uso de la estrategia aculturativa preferida. La integración es la estrategia que trae mejores resultados adaptativos. Aquellos que optaban por el estilo integrativo eran los migrantes que percibían mayor satisfacción con la vida y un mejor ajuste a la vida académica en general.

At present the number of foreign university student is one of the largest in modern history. It has been characterized as those who reside voluntarily and temporarily abroad in order to participate in educational exchange with the intention of returning to their country once they have achieved the purpose of their trip. These kinds of student have been classified as sojourn - ers (temporary residents) and they are people who migrate from one cultural context for a relatively long time (6 months to 5 years). In the last decade Argentina start hosting a large amount of foreign university students, attracted by the language, the favorable economic conditions and the prestige of universities in Latin America. University students have to deal with a psychological phenomenon called acculturation and it is the process of psy - cholog ical and cultural change resulting from intercultural contact. Adaptation to this event can be either psychological or cultural. The psycholog - ical is relat ed to the well-being experienced as a result of cultural contact. Cultural adaptation in - volves the implementation of social skills need ed to function effectively within a complex cultur al environment. Based on acculturation Berry´s model a study was designed to test the accul - turative strategies applied by a group of foreign students who had migrated to carry on university studies in Argentina. Berry propose two separate dimensions: (1) immigrants feel their cultural identity and customs as valuable enough to keep them in the host society (maintenance) and (2) relationships with other people or groups in society are truly valuable to identified and encour - ag ed (participation). These dimensions lead to four acculturation strategies. (a) Integration: the mi - grant try to maintain their cultural heritage and also maintains contact with the dominant cultural group. (b) Assimilation: the individual does not retain their native culture and attempts to maintain contact only with dominant culture members. (c) Marginalization: occurs when the migrant has no interest or ability to pursue their native culture and it is unlikely to come into contact with the host culture. (d) Separation: this occurs when the migrant is able to maintain their original culture but avoid or cannot have interaction with the dominant group. We analyzed the degree of suc - cess achieved in implementing these strategies, assessing the psychological and sociocultural ad - justment, academic achievement, life satisfaction, and perceiv ed discrimination. It also was taken into account the perspective of the members of the host culture. This study involved two samples of university students (125 students of different nation alities and 121 Argentine university students). The instruments used were: Acculturative Strategies Survey (real and ideal forms - Berry, 1997), a scale of perceived discrimination, a psychological adjustment scale, a scale of adaptation sociocultural adaptation designed ad-hoc academic, and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The results indicate that the most preferred strategy is the integration and the least used was marginalization. The acculturation process is carri ed out taking into account aspects of both cultures. Perceptions of university students and members of the host culture are congruent. Integration is the strategy that brings better adaptive results. Migrants who opted for the integrative strategy perceived more life satisfaction and a better adjustment to academic life. By contrast, students who chose to retain only aspects relating to their cultural identity and avoid contact with the host culture (separation) are those with less sociocultural adaptation and also feel discriminated as a cultural group. Findings presented are important because the research using Berry´s model in Latin American population is scarce. There are also few investigations analyzing differential perceptions taking into account not only the point of view of the minority group (migrant population) but also the majority group (host culture).