The Effects of Sports Participation in Culture Adjustment Stress and School Adjustment of the Students Studying in USA

Abstract

Purpose: This study was aimed to examine the effects of sports participation on culture adjustment stress and school adjustment of the students studying in USA and to provide the base data for the importance of sports participation during studying abroad. Methods: For this 337 questionnaires out of 400 were finally used via cluster sampling and snowball sampling methods from Dec. 2013 through Aug. 2014. And the conclusions were made as below. Results: First, in the culture adjustment stress by participation status, the sports participation group showed less recognized in the perceived segregation, fears and home sickness. In the school adjustment, the sports participation group showed high adjustment with teacher, friend, environment and life. Second, in the culture adjustment stress by participation level(frequency, period, hours), perceived segmentation and perceived hospitality were negatively (-) affected by the participation period, fears negatively (-) by the participation frequency, and home sickness negatively (-) by the participation hours and frequency. In the school adjustment, teacher adjustment was affected positively (+) by the participation period, friend and class adjustment positively (+) by participation period and hour, and life adjustment positively (+) by participation period. Third, looking into the influence by culture adjustment stress on school life satisfaction. friend adjustment negatively (-) by other reasons, life adjustment negatively (-) by other reasons and fears, and class adjustment negatively (-) by perceived segmentation. Conclusion: Therefore, sports participation will help to ease the culture adjustment stress and enhance the school life adjustment. The less stressed by the culture adjustment, the more satisfied with the abroad school life.