Adjusting to New Places: International Student Adjustment and Place Attachment

Using data obtained from in-depth semistructured interviews, we examined international students’ attachments to place in the local American Midwestern community where they have attended college for at least 2 years. The results of this study suggest that participants engage in a process of renegotiation of meanings attached to new places in ways that fulfill specific needs, such as a desire for social interaction, an opportunity for self-expression, and the expression of their emotional experience. The implications of the study results contribute to understanding the role of place attachments in the process of adjustment to another culture, as places seem to be evaluated and redefined so that they are experienced in congruence with the self.