Wellenreuther, Lukas (2022) Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency, and Belonging among International Students in the Netherlands. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Due to the significant increase of international students at universities in Europe, the study of how they integrate into a new culture and, ultimately, their feelings of belonging to their host society is of utmost importance. To advance understanding of which factors influence belonging, we conducted a cross-sectional study to explore the impact of bridging/bonding social capital and Dutch language proficiency on the sense of belonging to the Dutch society of international students in the Netherlands. Additionally, we investigated the mediating role of Dutch language proficiency between linguistic distance and sense of belonging to the Dutch society. We recruited 134 participants who were international students at a Dutch university. They were surveyed through an online questionnaire measuring several constructs including Dutch language proficiency and frequency/quality of contact with Dutch individuals, international, and co-national students. Although the independent variables Dutch language proficiency, frequency of talking to Dutch individuals, and perceived support from Dutch individuals were significantly correlated with sense of belonging, multiple regression analyses showed that only perceived support from Dutch individuals significantly predicted feelings of belonging. Moreover, we found that the total and indirect effects of the mediation model were statistically significant while the direct effect was not. Our results enable us to conclude that it is crucial to make an effort to build meaningful relationships with members of the host community to integrate and feel like one belongs. Keywords: Sense of belonging, Dutch language proficiency, bridging social capital, bonding social capital, linguistic distance
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Kuschel, A. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2022 07:53 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2022 07:53 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1117 |
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