DETERMINING THE CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND PSYCHO-SOCIAL NEEDES OF INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN NORTH CYPRUS /
ILERIOLUWA KAYODE AGBEDE ; SUPERVISOR, ASSIST. PROF. DR. AYŞE ÖZADA NAZIM
- 59 sheets; 30 cm +1 CD ROM
Thesis (MSc) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Social Work
The globalization of education has propelled an influx of international students seeking academic pursuits in diverse cultural landscapes. North Cyprus, with its burgeoning reputation as an educational hub, has become a magnet for students from various corners of the globe. The aim of this study was to investigate whether social support alleviated the impact of acculturative stress and reactions to living in Northern Cyprus, and to explore whether international students experienced more negative emotional responses than students from their home culture. This study designed as quantitative research method. A total of 370 students (141 female, 159 male) between 18- 40 of age ranges formed the sample of the study. The Demographic Information Form, Cross Sectional Adaptation Scale, Basic Psychology Need Scale was used as data collection instruments. The participants were asked to consider how social support, cultural distance, and acculturative stress combined to affect their emotional reactions. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS 26.0. Descriptive statistics are shown as mean, standard deviation, median, mode and percentage. Using the Chi-square test, differences in categorical variables were examined. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to verify the kurtosis and skewness coefficients after the scale scores were calculated to establish the normal distribution. The results showed that local students reacted more favorably to being in North Cyprus than foreign students. On the other hand, the findings do not indicate that social support acted as a moderator of international students' emotional reactions to living in the host culture or their acculturative stress. The results indicated that while being in a relationship, higher Turkish proficiency, unmet expectations and higher acculturative stress predicted more negative emotional reactions, while low financial satisfaction, low social support and unmet expectations predicted acculturative stress. These findings could assist academic institutions in developing initiatives that facilitate the psychological adaptation of international students, ultimately contributing to improved student retention.