EXPLORING SOCIAL IDENTITY AND THE ACCULTURATION PROCESS OF VENEZUELAN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT A MIDWESTERN U.S. UNIVERSITY Sarah Orosz-Dellinger A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2013 Committee: Dr. Patricia Kubow, Advisor Dr. Hyeyoung Bang Dr. Ruben Viramontez Anguiano ii © 2013 Sarah Orosz-Dellinger All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Patricia Kubow, Advisor This multiple case study sought to explore the process of acculturation on stress levels, coping strategies, and social identity choices of six international undergraduate students from Venezuela studying at a Midwestern U.S. university. This study analyzed the personal experiences of three male and three female participants who have been studying from 1-4 years in a Midwestern university. Findings explicated that all participants experienced some degree of acculturative stress including difficulty with the English language, practicing new cultural behaviors, and in some cases, discrimination from the host society. All participants engaged in retaining and forming social networks as a method to cope with these stresses. The majority of the participants reported feeling a more familial social bond with co-nationals during their sojourn, although participants actively established social networks with host nationals as well in order to learn about or integrate into mainstream U.S. society. Social mobility between co-national and host national social groups in various social contexts was also reported. Thus, this study found that international students from Venezuela studying at a Midwestern U.S. university experience acculturative stress as a result of intercultural contact and manage this stress by both retaining and forming social identities with co-national and host national social groups within the new sociocultural context of the U.S. iv DEDICATION For those individuals who were unafraid to go to great lengths and engage in a grand journey in order to learn about themselves and find their place in the world. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to begin by offering my deepest and most sincere thanks to the three professors of my thesis committee. First, I want to offer my gratitude to my thesis chair, Dr. Kubow, for the professional guidance she offered throughout the entire duration of this project. I am thankful for her positive encouragement and incredibly constructive advice from the earliest stages of this project to its final draft. Also, I would like to offer thanks to Dr. Bang for serving as my methodologist and for offering both her support and her expertise as a researcher; truly such knowledge was invaluable to the success of this thesis. I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Ruben for his extreme willingness to always be of assistance and his generous offers to discuss the progression of my project despite his ever-busy schedule. I also want to take this time to grant a much-deserved thank you to my dear parents, Mary and Craig, for always believing in me, instilling in me the values of perseverance and hard work, and for teaching me that I can accomplish whatever I set my mind to. Also, I lovingly thank Ann and Bill, who are both members of my family and a source of wisdom and solace when the challenges of life become overwhelming for me to endure. Finally, I want to thank my caring and brilliant husband, Adam, without whom this piece would not exist today. Adam, your considerate, supportive nature, ceaseless positive reinforcement and ever reasonable mindset have helped mold me into the strong, confident individual that I am, and I love you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................... 3 Justification for the Study .......................................................................................... 5 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions .......................................................... 6 Organization of the Chapters ..................................................................................... 8 List of Key Terms ...................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 11 Venezuela’s Social-Based Democracy and the Chávez Presidency .......................... 11 Higher Education for All ............................................................................... 15 Bolivarian Missions ....................................................................................... 15 Social Missions .................................................................................. 16 Educational Missions ......................................................................... 17 Mission Sucre ................................................................................................ 18 Institutional Quality ........................................................................... 19 University Students and the Educational Brain Drain ....................... 21 Bolivarian Values .............................................................................. 22 Traditional Values ............................................................................. 23 The Psychology of Acculturation .............................................................................. 25 Acculturation Framework .......................................................................................... 25 Affective Perspective ..................................................................................... 28 Behavioral Perspective .................................................................................. 29 Cognitive Perspective .................................................................................... 29 vii Acculturation Strategies ................................................................................ 30 Acculturating Groups .................................................................................... 31 Acculturative Stress ....................................................................................... 33 Acculturative Stress and International Students in the U.S. ...................................... 37 English Proficiency ........................................................................................ 38 Cultural/Social Differences ........................................................................... 40 Academic Difficulties .................................................................................... 41 Financial Difficulties ..................................................................................... 42 Coping Strategies of International Students in the U.S. ............................... 43 Social Support Network: Home Culture and International Students . 44 Social Support Network: Host Culture .............................................. 45 Social Identity Theory ............................................................................................... 47 Social Groups and Categorizations ................................................................ 49 Social Categorizations ....................................................................... 50 Prototypes, Self-Categorization and Depersonalization .................... 52 Uncertainty Reduction Theory .......................................................... 54 Intergroup Relations and Behavior ................................................................ 55 Social Mobility and Subjective Belief Systems ................................ 56 Situating the Present Study within the Literature ...................................................... 57 Summary ........................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 60 Qualitative Research Design ..................................................................................... 60 Case Study Research Design ..................................................................................... 62 viii The Midwestern U.S. Context ....................................................................... 66 The University Setting: Site Selection ........................................................... 67 Researcher Perspective .............................................................................................. 69 Participant Selection .................................................................................................. 73 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................................... 76 Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 79 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................... 81 Validity and Credibility ............................................................................................. 86 Methodological Limitations ...................................................................................... 89 Summary ..........................................................................................................