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Impacts of Study Abroad:Positives, Negatives, and Which Students GoA Review of the LiteratureKevin RandolphThe Pennsylvania State UniversityIntroductionEvery semester college students from all across the United States board planes bound for cities all around the world to study abroad for a certain length of time ranging from a couple of weeks to a full year. These students have a vast range of reasons to go abroad from wanting to master a second language, the desire to volunteer in a third world country, or simply wanting to party in some warm weather city instead of in the cold US winter while still receiving college credits. After their given time of study, these students once again board planes and head back home to the United States. What I want to learn is are these students bringing back with them skills or other benefits that separate them their counterparts who only study in the USA for their entire college lives, or do they simply return with just a bunch of nice looking pictures? Furthermore, are there any disadvantages to those students who study abroad? Lastly, why do some students opt to study abroad while others don’t? Who Goes?The first aspect of study abroad that must be examined in order to understand any possible negative or positive effects is why certain students go abroad while others do not. That is, do only certain types of students opt to study abroad? A 2014 study written by Maria R. Lowe, Reginald A. Byron, and Susan Mennicke, point out that in 2011, only 22% of all US students that studied outside the country came from ethnic minorities, or from races other than Caucasians (Lowe, Byron, Mennicke, 2014). Jiali Luo and David Jamieson-Drake also conducted a study in 2014 with the goal of finding predictors to indicate which students are likely to study abroad and pointed out that almost two-thirds of students who go abroad are women and that students in the humanities are far more likely to study abroad than those in engineering or scientific fields (Luo, Jamieson-Drake, 2014).They point out that engineering and science students have very structured coursework that does not allow them to receive the same credits abroad as students in the arts and humanities, so they would not graduate on time (Luo, Jamieson-Drake, 2014). This is unfortunate since students in engineering or science fields might very well want to study but cannot do so out of the lack of opportunities or fear of not graduating on time. Kang Bomi and Megehee M. Carol conducted a very broad survey in 2014 with the goal of determining the reasons why students choose to study abroad and why others do not. Their results suggest that the most common factors in deterring students from studying abroad were lack of information or involvement from their schools, lack of approval from their families, and the financial implications (Bomi, Carol, 2014). The financial deterrent makes sense considering how expensive spending long periods of time abroad can be for students. However, the fact that finances are such a deterrent suggests that if more scholarships or other forms of financial help were available to those who want to spend time abroad but struggle with financing the venture, then far more people would go abroad. So now that we understand what students are likely to go abroad, demographically, we must understand the different motivations for going abroad. Bomi and Carol find that students are more inclined to go for their own benefit than for outside interest (Bomi, Carol, 2014). What they mean by this is that students who go abroad wish to go for their own perceived benefits such as learning a second language or experiencing new things, rather than outside reasons such as pleasing their parents or enhancing their resumes. Luo and Jamieson-Drake found similar results by explaining that many arts and humanities students study abroad in order to enhance their understanding of other cultures (Luo-Jamieson-Drake). Overall, this information is encouraging because it means that students who go abroad are self-motivated and really wish to broaden their horizons and experience new things and not just party.Positive ImpactsThere has been much research done regarding the possible benefits that students gain from studying abroad. My research has led me across a vast array of possible benefits such as academic benefits, cultural benefits, and professional or employment benefits. However, a common theme that I noticed through the literature is that these different types of benefits all come from personal benefits such as increased adaptability or independence. Academically, the previously mentioned Luo and Jamieson-Drake study reveals that study abroad does in fact have positive benefits for those students who participate. To better explain this, Luo and Jamieson-Drake (2014) conclude that:…our regression analysis showed that participation in study abroad was significantly,positively associated with student gains in the ability to understand moral and ethical issues, communication skills, academic performance, and overall satisfaction. Clearly, study abroad can be highly beneficial to those who participate, which makes it all the more problematic that so many students in the fields of science or engineering are unable to do so because of strict academic schedules. The results of a 2012 study by Christine Lee, David Therriault, and Tracy Linderholm analyzing the cognitive or psychological benefits of study abroad can better help us understand how students in the Luo and Jamieson-Drake study experienced such academic benefits. They find that study abroad increases students’ abilities in creative thinking, self-confidence, and communicative skills (Lee, Therriault, Linderholm, 2012). These increased skills can help explain the better academic performances that Luo and Jamieson-Drake found since students with more self-confidence creative thinking, and communicative skills might be better equipped to find solutions to their academic problems, think of better ways to study or improve their performance, or simply ask better questions to help them understand difficult material better. Besides just psychological gains that can benefit the academic work of students who study abroad, the experience has other psychological benefits, mainly regarding cultural adaptability. A 2012 study by Susan Mapp observed students who only went abroad for short periods of time, with most going for only two weeks. She wanted to see how returning students improved their cultural adaptability skills by testing for four possible psychological factors: personal autonomy, flexibility/openness, emotional resilience, and perceptual acuity (Mapp, 2012). She found that flexibility, perceptual acuity, and personal autonomy all were positively affected by the experience of study abroad, but that the impact was relatively small (Mapp, 2012). However, she found that emotional resilience increased most for those that went abroad, meaning that those students had a better ability to regulate or maintain their emotions when faced with setbacks in cross-cultural situations (Mapp, 2012).This heightened skill can also be used academically and personally, since if students can find their way around and get comfortable in foreign countries then they should surely be able to deal with academic setbacks such as a bad test score or a personal difficulty such as a bad break-up. The final observed benefits from study abroad come in the professional or employment realm. Philip Gardner, Inge Steglitz, and Linda Gross conducted a study in 2009 with the goal of identifying if any skills or experiences gained from students who study abroad translate into the workplace. To do this, they interviewed 450 employers and asked them to identify the skills that their hires who have studied abroad better displayed over their employees that did not. Among the most commonly pointed out skills better exhibited by those who with international experience were the ability to better communicate with people of different values or perspectives, understanding the differing cultures found in the workplace, the abilities to adapt to situations of change, work independently, identify new solutions to problems, and better working with coworkers (Gardner, Steglitz, Gross, 2009). Once again, we can see the improved adaptability to difficult situations and increased communicative skills. This is important because it means that the psychological benefits gained from study abroad can be applied to improve academic performance as well as workplace performance in the future. Negative ImpactsAll of the research presented in the previous section would seem to paint a very positive picture of the study abroad experience. It would appear that all students who go abroad come back with skills to help them personally, academically, and professionally. However, there is also research that points to the fact that there are some drawbacks to study abroad. Nina Keck of National Public Radio, or NPR, recently described how increasing technology as it relates to social media and smartphones has weakened the cultural experience for students who study abroad. She described how students are too focused on sharing their pictures and experiences on Twitter or Facebook that they are missing out on the actual cultural immersion that they should be experiencing (Keck, 2015). Furthermore, she points out how currently, students are communicating with their parents back home far more than students used to, which takes away from the lessons in autonomy and responsibility that study abroad is supposed to provide (Keck, 2015). These claims are very interesting so upon conducting further research into them, there does seem to be growing concerns about the problem of increasing technology. Sarah Wooley, of Elon University, conducted a 2013 study by using a survey and focus group to try to assess the impact of social media and technology on students who study abroad. The results were mixed, as 47% of respondents believed that technology made their experience better because it allowed them to keep in touch with their families and other loved ones (Wooley, 2013). However, a sizable 38% of respondents reported that the increased technology had a negative impact on the experience, citing that the easy availability of internet access made people too preoccupied with talking to their friends and families back home and took a lot of time away from experiencing the new culture (Wooley, 2013). Clearly, there are positive and negative impacts of technology on study abroad. The response from those who enjoyed the technology would be seen as part of the problem according to Keck since study abroad should foster autonomy for the students. This does not mean that students shouldn’t talk to their families, but it should be limited to a minimum as needed. Aside from problems regarding increasing technology and social media use, there are other problems that have been reported in relation to study abroad. In 2013, Dr. Robert Quigley of The Huffington Post ran a story regarding the lack of screening and help given to students who study abroad. The piece describes how programs and universities do not do enough psychological screening of those who they admit to study abroad, which can lead to students who are susceptible to mental illness becoming overwhelmed or depressed when faced with the stresses of studying abroad (Quigley, 2013). He also states that students returning from their trips abroad often struggle to readjust to American life (Quigley, 2013). He concludes that in order to improve the experience for everyone, programs and universities must better screen for students with mental illness, while at the same time they must provide counseling and help for those who plan to go and also prepare those students for adjusting back to life in the US upon returning (Quigley, 2013). In short, study abroad may not be for everyone but the experience can be better for all with better initiative.ConclusionAfter reviewing all of this literature, it is clear that study abroad presents a unique opportunity to those, mostly white humanities, students who participate. This experience comes with a great deal of possible benefits, but is not without its possible negative impacts. Moving forward, I would like to better examine the academic or psychological benefits from those on campus who have studied abroad. Furthermore, the idea of technology hurting the experience fascinates me since it is such a new problem. I would love to gain perspective from students who have studied on whether or not they felt technology increases helped or hurt their experience and how it may have done so. ReferencesBomi, K.; Carol, M. (2014). Advancing Facilitator and Deterrents Theory of Students’ Study Abroad Decisions. Advances in Management 7(12), 13-21. Retrieved From:, P.; Stelitz, I.; Gross, L. (2009). Translating Study Aborad Experiences for Workplace Competencies. Association of American Colleges and Universities 11(4), 19-22. Retrieved From: , N. (2015). Tech May Get In The Way Of Good Culture Shock While Studying Abroad. National Public Radio. Retrieved From: , C.; Therriault, D.; Linderholm, T. (2012). On the Cognitive Benefits of Cultural Experience: Exploring the Relationship between Study Abroad and Creative Thinking. Applied Cognitive Psychology 26(5), 768-778. doi: 10.1002/acp.2857Lowe, M.; Byron, R.; Mennicke, S. (2014). The Racialized Impact of Study Abroad on US Students’ Subsequent Interracial Relations. Educational Research International, 1-9. doi: , J.; & Jamieson-Drake, D. (2014). Predictors of Study Abroad Intent, Participation, and College Outcomes. Journal of the Association for Institutional Research. Retrieved From:, S. (2012). EFFECT OF SHORT-TERM STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS ON STUDENTS’ CULTURAL ADAPTABILITY. Journal of Social Work Education 48(4), 727-737. Retrieved From: , R. (2013). The Dark Side to Studying Abroad – And How to Address It. The Huffington Post. Retrieved From: , S. (2013). Constantly Connected: The Impact of Social Media and the Advancement in Technology on the Study Abroad Experience. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications4(2),1-4. Retrieved From: ................
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