A STUDY OF ATTITUDES, SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS OF QATARI STUDENTS PURSUING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES (CROSS CULTURE, CONTACT THEORY, U-CURVE HYPOTHESIS)

The study examined attitudes, social adjustment, and educational problems of 223 Qatari students enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States during the 1982-83 academic year. The specific objectives of the study were: (1) To investigate the relations of cultural contact and length of residence with the students' experiences and attitudes toward American culture and policy. (2) To examine applicability of the U-curve hypothesis in explaining students' attitudes and personal problems. (3) To examine relations of students' attitudes toward their traditional cultural values and customs with the length of stay, the amount of exposure to the host country's way of life, and degree of adjustment. (4) To determine whether adjustment to social life in America is related to success in academic work. (5) To identify the academic and social problems of Qatari students in the U.S.A.; The basic instrument was a self-administered questionnaire developed by the researcher and mailed to respondents. The findings were that: (1) Duration of stay in the United States was not uniformly associated with better adjustment of Qatari students, greater satisfaction with the educational system, increased social interaction, and more favorable attitudes toward American people and government. Duration of stay was related only to satisfaction with academic performance. However, the more Qatari students interacted with American people and thought they had been treated as equals, the more favorable were their: attitudes toward Americans, satisfaction with their academic performance, social adjustment, and view of American perceptions of Arabs. (2) Support was not found for the U-curve hypothesis, in respect to foreign students' adjustment and attitude change. (3) There was little support for the hypothesis that the more Qatari students were exposed to various aspects of American life, the more they were likely to undergo a negative change in attitudes toward their traditional cultural values. (4) Adjustment to social life was related to academic success, adjustment, satisfaction with academic performance, and satisfaction with education. (5) The most frequently reported problems were difficulty with writing, note-taking and class participation and getting used to American customs.