The Impact of Leisure Participation on Social Adaptation of International Students

Abstract

International students, often a noteworthy group, constitute about 10 per cent of the student population on many campuses throughout the world (OECD, 2009). At any time, there are likely to be over a million students and scholars attending institutions of higher learning abroad, and recent estimates have set the figure at about 4.5 million (Çetinsaya, G.2014). A significant portion of the contemporary literature has dealt with the problems of international students. Owing to the importance of international students to culturally diverse blend of colleges and universities, higher education institutions must develop support services to assist international students with a series of special needs ranging from adjusting to the academic requirements, to dealing with cultural factors of being drown in new community settings (Cho & Yu, 2015). Leisure, in the meanwhile, is an important experience for university students since it is a functional tool to create socially accommodating environments for this population. However, how active leisure participation impact on social adjustment has not been studied extensively in qualitative studies. Therefore, this qualitative study intended to examine the benefits and impacts of active leisure participation on social adjustment of international students in a mid-size metropolitan university in Manisa, Turkey. Overall, students demonstrated gains in social adjustment and reported psychological and physical benefits when they actively participated in leisure time activities. Study showed that international students have demands and expectations from the university in terms of leisure time activities.