Ethnic communities within the university: An examination of factors influencing the personal adjustment of international students

International students frequently encounter problems in adjusting to their new social environment when studying at American institutions of higher education. This paper contends that an important strategy used by international students in the adjustment process is to establish social relationships with other persons with a similar cultural background or nationality and form ethnic communities within the context of the university. Participation in such an ethnic community serves to buffer international students from problems associated with a lack of assimilation of American culture and an inability to effectively interact with Americans. This paper tests the conditional hypotheses that assimilation of American culture and the establishment of social ties with Americans influence the personal adjustment of an international student, only when the student has not established strong ties with other people from a similar cultural background. The number of strong ties established with other coculturals was found to have the strongest relationship with the personal adjustment of international students. The relationship between assimilation of American culture and personal adjustment was found to be conditional on the number of strong ties established with other coculturals whereas the establishment of strong ties with Americans was found to be independently related to personal adjustment.