Which are the long-term personality effects of participating in international youth exchange?

Transcription

1 Which are the long-term personality effects of participating in international youth exchange? Alexander Thomas Institute for Experimental Psychology Regensburg University Regensburg, Germany 1. The research project International youth and secondary school student exchanges are of outstanding significance in overcoming the challenges, which are associated with the internationalisation and globalisation of many areas of life and employment in our society. As international interaction skills are regarded as a key qualification for the future and as these skills do not develop by themselves but are the result of a longer learning and developmental process instead, it is never too early to start this process in the development of the individual s personality. But what is the contribution made by international youth exchange? A scientifically reliable answer to this question is provided by the results of the theoretically sound, multi-methodological study involving a survey of participants, whose international youth encounters took place 10 years ago. In addition to individual interviews with experts of organisations offering international youth and secondary school student exchange programmes (N=17), participants of international youth and secondary school student exchange programmes (N=93), and the analysis of literature, the opinions of former participants (N=532) were surveyed with a questionnaire on the long-term effect of their experience with international exchange programmes on their personality development. The age of the German respondents was 17.3 years at the time of the exchange and approx. 27 years at the time of the survey. The respondents of the survey had participated in four exchange formats, which can be considered as relatively representative: 1. Secondary school student exchanges with accommodation in host families; 2. Encounters of youth groups with mutual visits to the communities of the respective partners; 3. Project-oriented youth encounters with all participants being accommodated together; 4. Multinational work camps. In addition to the aforementioned 532 Germans, 38 foreign participants of international youth encounters from Israel, the USA, Poland and France were also included in the survey. The concept and the findings of the research project have been published in: 1. Thomas, A., Chang, C. & Abt, H. (2006). Ergebnisse, die verändern. Langzeitwirkungen der Teilnahme an internationalen Jugendbegegnungen [Outcomes, which make a difference. Long-term effects of participating in international youth encounters]. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1

2 2. Thomas, A., Abt, H. & Chang, C. (2006). Internationale Jugendbegegnungen als Lern- und Entwicklungschance [Iinternational youth encounters as a learning and developmental opportunity]. Benzberg: Thomas Morus Akademie. 2. Major conclusions 1. Even though a wide variety of crucial events and developmental steps have occurred in the participants lives in the 10 years after their international exchange experience at the age of 17.3 years, the respondents have a very clear recollection of the exchange, which only covered a period of two weeks in some cases, and they can also give a highly differentiated and chronological account of their own experiences and the experiences of others, which had a lasting impact on their further development. For the majority of the persons involved (57%), the exchange experience was much more pronounced than in other group experiences (activities in clubs, youth camps etc) and this also applies to encounters with foreign nationals in Germany (56%) and the comparison to other trips abroad (51%). 2. At the time of the survey, 85% of the respondents gave their exchange experience the school marks 1 or 2. 18% say that the significance of these experiences is even higher from their present perspective, and even after 10 years as many as 41% of participants keep in touch with their former exchange partners. 3. Of the 532 former participants responding to the questionnaire, 66% are female, 60% did not have any previous exchange experience, the participation of 51% was motivated by others and 86% had a secondary-school education. 4. Irrespective of the programme format, the participants motivation tends to be relatively general and global: (1) getting to know people from other cultures [56%]; (2) getting to know other people in general [36%]; (3) gaining international experience [33%]; (4) getting to know something new [32%]; (5) being interested in a specific country [31%]; (6) not wanting to learn about the culture/a country as a typical tourist [30%]. In addition, there are motivations, which are specific for the programme format, such as: 1. being interested in a music and theatre project, 2. being interested in community service, and 3. improving one's own foreign language skills. 5. In many cases, the reported long-term effects are associated with specific triggers. In the German sample, the following six trigger categories were identified: (1) Specific programme content (music, theatre, living with a host family, community project, religious beliefs); (2) First-hand experience of differences (differences in economic conditions, living standards as well as cultural and gender-specific differences); (3) Situations associated with significant individuals (other participants, exchange students, teachers, team members, project managers); (4) Positive experiences of hospitality; (5) The group (specific experiences with situations in the group such as conflicts, feelings of belonging, social attraction); (6) German history (confrontation with the Second World War and its consequences, the National- Socialist past, bilateral relations to the host country and the German image as perceived by the Germans themselves and by foreigners. In the foreign sample, the following four trigger categories were identified: (1) German history (the Third Reich, reunification, current manifestations of xenophobia, bilateral relations to the country of origin); 2

3 (2) Cultural differences (food, habits, family structures, cultural standards); (3) Experience with alcohol (first personal experience; liberal but controlled handling of alcohol consumption); (4) Individuals (other participants, exchange students, teachers, team members and project managers). These findings clearly show that youth encounters are related to specific fields of experience and activity, which are strongly characterised by the programme content, the host country and bilateral relations, by German history and significant individuals. The specific fields of experience and activity correspond to the life phases defined in developmental psychology and the resulting developments in this specific period of youth, e.g. the development of a value system, gaining a perception of oneself, development of a perspective for the future, the dispositions of the respective gender-specific role, emotional independence (e.g. from parents) and general independence, relations within and between groups, personal identity, self-efficacy and self-control, preparation for a professional career as well as married and family life. It turns out that a professionally prepared and organised international youth exchange - especially when it permits the wide spectrum of intercultural experiences, which are especially related to a period with a host family - offers a wide variety of learning incentives, which are specific for the participants developmental phase, and thus opportunities for experimentation and development in view of building one s own personality. 6. The wide variety of long-term effects - insofar are as they could be ascertained in interviews and through the questionnaire - may be summarised in the following 10 categories (the percentages refer to the relative number of approvals for these categories): (1) Self-centred properties and competences [63%]: effects in the fields of self-esteem, independence, self-assurance, self-confidence, self-efficacy. (2) Intercultural learning [62%]: being able to accommodate another individual s perspectives, developing one's own awareness of the differences between cultures and developing an indepth knowledge about one's own culture and foreign cultures. (3) Relations to the host country [60%]: enhancing the positive-emotional relation to the host country/the host region and its inhabitants as well as an increasing interest in the host country and in other cultures. (4) Foreign languages [53%]: enhancing one's foreign language skills as well as a general interest in learning, speaking and advancing one's own knowledge of a foreign language. (5) Social competence [52%]: mastery of intra-group situations, development of team-working and conflict-handling skills. (6) Openness, flexibility, composure [51%]: a higher level of openness with respect to new situations and individuals, and the ability to react with more composure and flexibility in unfamiliar situations. (7) Self-knowledge/self-image [40%]: self-reflection and analysis of one's self-image, which is related to the ability to assess oneself more accurately. (8) Cultural identity [28 %]: promoting the development of a cultural identity by creating an awareness for one s own cultural disposition, reflection on one's own identity as a German and the associated advantages and disadvantages. (9) Constructive activities [28 %]: confrontation with intercultural contexts, being interested in the corresponding programme offerings, establishing intercultural contacts as well as voluntary commitments. (10) Training and profession [16 %]: effects of the exchange experience on training/education decisions, the choice of occupation and the individual s professional development. 3

4 7. In conjunction with events, which were relevant for the individual s further life and development, the analysis and evaluation of the interview contents resulted in four types of biographical assessments of the exchange experience: (1) Mosaic [51%]: the exchange experience fits into the overall biography like a piece in a mosaic and thus - by interacting with other important events in life - it contributes to personalitybuilding. The experience of the exchange is thus part of a chain of events, which already started prior to the exchange, were deepened and modified during the exchange itself and had an impact on the further life of the participant. (2) Domino [31%]: the exchange experience is the trigger for a chain of constructive events and activities and is considered as the initial spark or impulse for the individual s further development. (3) Nice-to-have [12 %]: the exchange experience did not leave any significant traces in relation to the further biography of the individual, but it was considered as a pleasant, valuable and enriching time, even though it did not lead to any impulses for change. (4) Turning point [7%]: the exchange experience introduced a turning point in the individual s biography, it is regarded as the starting point for the individual s life taking another course, or results in breaking away from established structures, and it is associated with a starting point for a totally different life or an important part of one's own life, e.g. religious self-concept, attitude towards consumption, belief in justice. In reality, there is a multitude of mixes between these assessment structures, e.g. a domino effect in one field of life (interest in Africa) combined with a mosaic effect in another (commitment in nonprofit associations) or the effects are sequential insofar as there is an initial domino effect, for example, which leads to a turning point after additional events and experiences. Negative consequences or influences impeding the developmental process were not reported by any respondent to the survey. 8. Using a regression analysis it was possible to identify the connnections between long-term effects and personal or programme-specific variables. The long-term effects are based on three different factors: Self-centred, non-area-specific properties and competences (the development of all these features plays a major role in adolescence) as well as properties and competences, which are related to the long-term effects on the individual's personality; often flexibility, openness, composure, selfknowledge; social competence. The second factor: social competence; it includes intercultural learning, relations to the host country's culture and other cultures, cultural identity. The third factor: area-specific, action-oriented components and activities; they include foreign languages, existing skills and abilities, constructive activities, professional development. These correlation models are a clear indication of the fact that specific programme and participant variables are closely linked to the long-term effects. The models show that motives, experiences of discrepancies and reflective processes play an important role in the development of the long-term effects, and the models may also be used to derive direct implications for the practice of international youth encounters. 4

5 As regards the first factor there are no influences, which are specific to the programme format, as all formats promote personality development with respect to self-centred properties and competences. Regarding the two other factors, the respective programme format clearly has an influence, as the formats promote long-term effects in various fields such as musical development, in the programme format Project-oriented cultural youth encounters as compared to the development of foreign language skills in the programme format Secondary school student exchange. The above-mentioned publications contain the detailed descriptions especially with respect to these correlation models. 3. Conclusions Intercultural experiences, even in so-called short term programmes, have an unparalleled sustained effect on the participants personality development. The study of the long-term effects using theoretically sound and multi-methodological concepts of empirical social research results in differentiated outcomes, which enrich the scientific research on intercultural exchanges on the one hand and enable the qualification of practical exchange programmes on the other. In a developmental phase when young people participate in international exchange programmes, important foundations are created for their personality development (mastery of age-specific developmental tasks), and the exchange experience makes a sustainable contribution to this development and to subsequent efforts to develop the key qualification of intercultural interaction skills in the individual s education and profession. As a consequence, international youth exchange as well as its conditions, modalities of implementation and effects must always be considered, analysed and promoted in the context of the individual s own biography. The research project presented here provides the basis for theoretical, methodological and outcomerelated aspects, and these foundations may be used by future research to study detailed aspects of this issue so that, in the medium term, international youth exchange will be recognised and appreciated as an important resource to develop our society s human capital. 5