Social-psychological factors of formation of polycultural identity of foreign students

Abstract

This article describes the experience of studying social-psychological factors the impact the formation of polycultural identity of foreign students. The content of such concepts as “polyculturalism”, “ethnic identity” and “polycultural identity” is disclosed. The results of a series of research carried out in Tomsk in 2019-2020 are provided. A complete sample included 393 respondents (foreign students, Russian students, and educators of state universities of Tomsk). The following research methods were employed: questionnaire, interview, psychological assessment (method of ethnic identity of J. Finney and methodology of comprehensive examination of acculturation of J. Berry), statistical data analysis (descriptive statistics, frequency and correlation analyses). The scientific novelty of this work is defined by systemic approach towards determination of social-psychological factors (ethnic identity, attitude of accepting community, strategies of acculturation) that influence the formation of polycultural identity of foreign students, as well as the role played by each factor in the process of integration of migrants into the accepting society and its culture. The acquired results allow revealing the key barriers in the context of adaptation of educational migrants in the university, as well as making recommendations on their elimination. The authors establish correlation between the strategies of acculturation and the characteristics of ethnic identity of educational migrants, and determine the peculiarities of the attitude of accepting community towards educational migrants.