This research examines what facilitates and hinders the adjustment of adolescent international students attending public secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia. The purpose of this study is to determine a set of categories that can be used by school personnel to, better assist newly arriving international students in their adjustment process. The critical incident technique developed by Flanagan (1954) is used for this research to discover what events facilitate and hinder the adjustment of these international students. Twenty-one secondary students, ages fifteen to eighteen, are interviewed from three different public schools in the Vancouver School District. From the interviews, a total of 352 critical incidents are used to develop seventeen categories which answer the question: What facilitates and hinders adolescent international student adjustment? To test for reliability and validity, four tests are carried out in order to establish the soundness and comprehensiveness of the categories including independent rater agreement, comprehensiveness of categories, participation rate, and expert validation. The results show that adolescent international student adjustment can be facilitated or hindered in the following ways: receiving encouragement or support, receiving advice or information, receiving help, appreciating others, being accepted, making friends, having fun, participating in activities, learning English, communicating effectively, speaking own language, performing well academically, experiencing less demand at school, making decisions, impressed with environment, experiencing dilemmas, and experiencing local annoyances. Portraits of adjustment and maladjustment are given as well as case studies in order to highlight the categorization system in both a general and specific way. The findings of this study contribute to the body of knowledge regarding international student adjustment because of its use of an adolescent, rather than adult, international student population. This research is also very practical in that it can be useful as a basis for individual and group counselling, various school-based and district programs, and general support and information for school personnel and newly arriving international students. Ideas for further research using this subject population are also suggested.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-81). Also available on the Internet.

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