Exploring knowledge of Canadian values and social axioms in international and landed immigrant students' adaptation to Canada

Abstract

This thesis was an exploration of the relationship between the host cultural knowledge of newcomers and their behavioural and psychological adaptation to the host culture. Utilizing a theoretical and applied approach to this research, 160 international and landed immigrant students at the University of Saskatchewan completed a questionnaire examining their perceptions of Canadian values and social axioms. Values and social axioms are guiding principles and mediating beliefs, respectively, that individuals use to organize, understand and facilitate physical and social functionality within a culture (Schwartz, 1994; Leung et al., 2002). Despite the complexity of the research task, there was marginal support for the main hypothesis that the participants’ understanding of Canadian cultural knowledge was related to adaptation to a host culture, specifically psychological adaptation. Furthermore, the results indicate that the participants’ knowledge of Canadian values and social axioms was differentially related to psychological and behavioural adaption to Canada.