The Intercultural Adjustment Of Chinese Interns In The United States

In an increasingly globalized world, intercultural communication has become a dailyactivity for millions of people. The acculturation of international students receivesconsiderable attention from researchers in the field of intercultural communicationstudies. With the internationalized American education policies, Chinese internationalinterns are allowed to participate in various exchange programs in the United States.As they are exposed to diverse cultures from around the world, different problems arelikely to occur during their stay overseas. Therefore, Chinese international interns’intercultural adjustment experiences require closer examination.Based on Colleen Ward’s two types of acculturation, this study intends to explore theintercultural adjustment of Chinese international interns in Walt Disney World. It isspeculated that due to the unique aspects of the Disney culture and values, and themulticultural context of Orlando, Florida, the intercultural adjustment process ofChinese interns may be complicated. This study aims at finding out the correlationbetween the Chinese international interns’ organizational identification, social support,attachment style and their adjustment level as well as the demographic variablesinfluencing their adjustment level.The present study employs a combined methodology of qualitative and quantitativeapproaches. The survey questionnaire includes demographic information, scales ofpsychological adjustment, sociocultural adjustment, organizational identification,social support and attachment styles. The qualitative interviews focus more onindividual’s self-assessment of the internship, including their identification withDisney culture, source of social support, etc.The results of the study indicated a positive correlation between interns’ identificationwith Disney culture and their overall adjustment level. Social support was positivelycorrelated to individual’s overall adjustment level. It is also found that secureattachment was positively associated with an individual’s overall adjustment levelwhereas fearful attachment was negatively correlated with it; preoccupied attachment was negatively related with psychological adjustment level; dismissing attachmentwas unrelated to the overall adjustment level. Besides, English proficiency, length ofstay and type of job were found to be influential variables of the interns’ adjustmentlevel.The study provides encouraging results for future intercultural studies on Chineseinternational interns’ intercultural adjustment and provides some practical guidance tohelp the prospective Chinese interns for better overseas adjustment.