School engagement of adolescent sojourners and its longitudinal interplay with acculturation behavior

Abstract

International educational mobility confronts sojourners with many challenges, including adapting to a school abroad. In this study, we focused on the relationship between affective, behavioral, and cognitive school engagement and host- and home-oriented acculturation behavior of high school students during an academic year abroad. Using data from three survey waves (N = 1299; M_age = 15.47, SD_age = 0.74), we explored both within-person changes and between-person differences in these processes. At the within-person level, changes in school engagement and acculturation behaviors were weakly associated, with notable associations emerging primarily in the later stages of the sojourn. At the between-person level, stable individual differences in school engagement and acculturation orientations of adolescent sojourners were related to language skills, personality traits, and cultural characteristics of the host country. These findings help to understand how students navigate the dual challenge of academic and cultural adaptation, and which individual and contextual conditions promote engagement and adaptive acculturation behavior. They underscore the importance of fostering both school engagement and cultural integration to support adolescent sojourners in their academic and social development.