Philippine E-Journals

Adjustment Problems of International Students: A Mixed Methods Study

Aida C. Legarteja

Discipline: Social Science

 

Abstract:

One of the changes in present Philippine higher education is the steady increase in the international students’ population (Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 23, 2011). Despite this growing concern, little research has been done about the adjustment problems of international students to a new academic community. This mixed methods research explored the adjustment problems of international students in the University of the East- Manila. Specifically, it utilized an Exploratory Mixed Methods design by Creswell (2008). The Grounded Theory method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) was employed in the first qualitative study, while descriptive, inferential and Chi-square were used in the second quantitative phase. The core categories that emerged in the qualitative study are: academic, cultural, and psychological adjustments. The quantitative results yielded the same core categories; however, additional concerns were identified; thus, results in the first qualitative study were extended, refined, and related in the second quantitative study. The theory generated is academic exhaustion, culture confusion, and alienation. The research concludes by making recommendations such as developing culturally responsive counseling interventions, further training of college counselors with multicultural counseling modality, creation of new programs and policies that would make the stay of the sojourners in the university less stressful. Implications of the study and future research were also discussed.