How cultural adaptation influence professional belief andcareerdevelopment of Chinese students in UMN?
Introduction
The influence ofcultural diversityis some of the most critical issues facing the United States today. Census data show that the non-white population is rapidly increasing – this is a huge reserve of human potential, which makes the multicultural focus a top priority for vocationaleducationand development.
These diverse cultural groups include some international students coming to the United States to take advantage of higher education opportunities. After completing their studies, many of these students choose to stay in the United States in order to pursue work and buildfamily.
The career development and consulting needs of this multicultural workforce are very different from the established norms. It is important to understand and solve their needs for the country’s cultural and psychological adjustment. Therefore, counselors and professional professionals in universities and workplaces need to have specific cultural information and skills that contribute to effective vocational education/consulting.
Most of the differences between cultures come from various worldviews that people hold. Lee and Rice (2007) and Dee and Henkin (1999) point out that in this society, the worldview of racial and ethnic minorities is different from that of European Americans.
The worldview contains all cultural norms, customs, folk cultures and cultural adaptation behaviors that are passed on to future generations in an identifiable group. Values, interests, family and interpersonal relationships largely depend on these worldviews, and these worldviews are assumed to influence career choices.
The worldview of ethnic minority customers will influence their career decisions in ways that may differ from most people. In order to provide culturally appropriate services, professional professionals in universities and workplaces must have a keen understanding of the team’s worldview.
In order to understand more about the concept of worldview related to career development, Marsella and Leong (1995) suggest positioning individual clients in the continuum of nationalcultural identityand determining the relative importance of individual or cultural characteristics to individuals.
For example, when a person is fully integrated into society, interest/preference may be more relevant to career development. However, for a more traditional individual, cultural influence may play a more important role in career development. Marsella and Leong (1995) suggest that career counseling for different customers should consider three factors: cross-cultural similarities, and culturally unique aspects that influence members and personal characteristics.
Another way to better understand the worldview is to study the individual’s level of cultural adaptation. Marsella and Leong (1995) pointed out that cultural adaptation has become an important variable in psychological research because it helps to highlight and explain the huge heterogeneity existing in ethnic/ethnic immigrant groups. Cultural adaptation levels have been found to influence psychological and physicalhealthvariables, including work values, career orientation, and career choices (Kubat ; Kuruuzum, 2009).
In short, with the increase in the multicultural nature of the U. S. labor force, it has become imperative to appropriately address the unique career development needs of customers from different ethnicities. Marasella and Leong (1995) indicate that by understanding the customer’s worldview, unique career development needs can be met.
Research on ethnic identity and cultural adaptation can help to learn a worldview. Many international students are looking for jobs in the United States, which is a factor in increasing the multicultural workforce. For this reason, using this population for world outlook (cultural adaptation and ethnic identity) and career development studies will be particularly useful.
Therefore, this study examines the relationship between professional beliefs and cultural adaptation levels of international students from China. It has been found that cultural adaptation and career development may be related to several other important factors, for example, People’s specific nationality: Even if they come from the same continent, the cultural adaptability of people from different countries is also different (Jacob ; Greggo, 2001); People’s age: Age is positively related to professional identity (ie older people may have stronger professional identity).
The negative correlation between age and cultural adaptation indicates that it is difficult for older people to adhere to the norms of the newculture(Suinn, Ahuna ; Khoo, 1992, 1995; Shufen ; Brown, 2001); Level of education: Interestingly, studies by Shu Fen and Brown (2001) show that education levels are negatively correlated with cultural adaptation.
This suggests that better-educated individuals may not be comfortable, and vice versa. Term of residence in the United States: There is a negative correlation between the length of residence in the United States and cultural adaptability, indicating that people with shorter residence periods tend to have less culture.
There is a positive correlation between living time and professional identity, which means that people who live longer in the United States have stronger professional identities (Suinn, Ahuna ; Khoo, 1992, 1995; Shu-fen ; Brown, 2001); Gender: There seems to be a conflict regarding the influence of gender on cultural adaptation. Although there was no significant relationship between gender and cultural adaptation and professional identity and gender, the study (Lopez ; Ann-Yi, 2006) also showed that the process of cultural adaptation was affected by gender.
In this study, information on nationality, age, US resident status and gender will be collected. It also will study the influence of the above factors on cultural adaptation and professional beliefs, with particular emphasis on the influence of gender. Propose of the studyThe main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between cultural adaptation and factors that influence the professional beliefs of international students from China.
The adaptation of a cultural group to another cultural group can be demonstrated by changing language preferences, adopting common attitudes and values, joining common social groups and institutions, and losing individual political or ethnic identity. Professional beliefs are people’s assumptions about themselves and what they must do to succeed in the world of work.
Specifically, this study will examine whether these international student’s cultural adaptation will affect current employment status, career planning, acceptance of uncertainty, openness, university education, sense of control, sense ofresponsibility, career path flexibility, after training. The attitude of transition, relocation and other occupational beliefs are perseverance andhard work.
The study will examine whether the relationship between cultural adaptation and professional beliefs is influenced or mitigated by gender. Research questionsAre there any influence from cultural adaption on professional beliefs and career development of Chinese students in UMN? How cultural adaption influence professional beliefs and career development of Chinese students in UMN? MethodsParticipants are Chinese students in UMN.
The questionnaire will be delivered through university email. There are also potential follow-upinterview. Two scales will be used in this study: First one is Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale (SL-ASIA). Suinn, et al have developed SL-ASIA as a self-reported measurement of cultural adaption (Suinn, et al, 1987).
There are 26 options including language, behavior, generation/geography history and attitude in this scale. In the score, the total value is obtained by summing the answers to all items. The final cultural fitness score is then calculated by dividing the total by 26.
The conservation level on SL-ASIA ranged from 1 to 5, the low range was 1 to 2. 33 (Asian mark), the medium range was 2. 34 In order to obtain a structural validity assessment, Suinn, Ahuna and Khoo (1992) used 324 Asian students from Colorado (137 first generation, 76 second generation, 31 third generation, 26 fourth generation and 14 fifth generation participants who performed factor analysis on SL-ASIA.
Their results showed that five interpretable factors accounted for 69. 7% of the variance between different variables. A recent sample of 118 Asians using Suinn, Khoo and Ahuna (1995) in Singapore showed that the appearance of a similar factor accounted for 65% of the variance. The other one is Career Beliefs Inventory (CBI).
The Occupational Belief Scale (CBI) (Krumboltz ; Jackson, 1993) is built based on data collected from 7, 500 people, ranging in age from 12 to 75 years. The original 122 items has been separated into 25 scales consisting of 96 projects. Grades. These projects were written in the eighth grade. Participants stated their agreement to a statement based on the 5-point Likert scale, strongly agreeing that the active wording project scored 5 points, and strongly disagreed with a score of 1 point.
The negative wording items are reverse scores, so strong opposition will get scores of 5 points, and strong opposition scores of 1. These scores are then converted into proportional scores ranging from 10 to 50. The difference factor between them and the project score is 10, so the proportional score is ten times that of the time average score.(After collecting data, I will use SPSS or R to build a model and do some simple analysis between SL-ASIA factors – language, behavior, generation/geography history and attitude – and professional beliefs.
Based on this conclusion, I will give some recommendations about career development of Chinese students in US.)Reference: Dee, J., ; Henkin, A. (1999). Challenges to Adjustment to College Life in the United States: Experiences of Korean Students. International Education, 29(1), 54-70. Jacob, E. J, ; Greggo, J. W., (2001).
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