Study of Intercultural Sensitivity among Young People in the Province of Castellón, Spain

Abstract

Intercultural sensitivity (IS) can be defined as an attitude that reflects the degree of willingness to interact with people from different cultures. In today's diverse and globalised world this attitude is crucial to promote dialogue between cultures and social cohesion, especially in a province like Castellón (Spain) where 18.4% of the population was born in a different country. This study aims to provide a picture of intercultural sensitivity among young people in Castellón, to analyse the possible factors that may influence the development of this attitude, and also to compare two population cohorts (2009 and 2012). The sample consisted of 494 young people of both sexes aged between 15 and 30 years, and the data was gathered using a scale adapted from Chen and Starosta's (2000) IS scale. The results show that in general young people have a medium to high IS (mean score of 88.6 in a scale from 24 to 120), although it lies below the mean found in previous studies. The IS for the 2012 sample was slightly lower than that for 2009, with a difference significant at the 99% confidence level. These data lead us to reflect on how the context, especially that of employment, influences young people's perception of cultural diversity and particularly of the foreign population.