Cross-cultural Adjustment of international students in Russia

Longitudinal dataset 2018-2019. 3 timepoints. Survey data on cross-cultural adjustement. The data dictionary is attached. There were 3 surveys across the study: survey 1 – intake form on paper, survey 2 and 3 – online forms 1.5 and 3 months since the beginning of the study. The surveys were distributed in Russian and English. Where the Russian version of the scales was not available, the author applied the back translation procedure (Brislin, 1970). Completion of each form required no more than 10 min. Survey 1 Biographical Part: age, gender, home country, Russian language proficiency, level of education (Bachelor's, Master's, PhD), whether one was involved in any exchange programs (if yes, for how many times), if one had any cross-cultural training before the arrival in Russia, for how long had one been enrolled in the current exchange program (calculated as days since arrival and as rounded to whole month (days divided by 30) using round() function in MS Excel). Health questionnaire: the fact of serious sickness during the last 6 months, the fact of seeking medical help during the last 6 months, self-reported chronic diseases, smoking and drinking habits, exercise routine, time a person took a vacation last time. To measure the level of cross-cultural adaptation (CCA) in this study, we used the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale developed by J. Black and G. Stephens (Black & Stephens, 1989) and adapted by (Ang et al., 2007). Respondents were asked to express their level of agreement with statements using a 7-point Likert scale. The cross-cultural motivation (CCM) scale was adapted from (Ang et al., 2007), where respondents indicated their level of agreement with statements on a 7-point Likert scale. Survey 2 This form contained the CCA form, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS - (Holmes & Rahe, 1967)) (a multiple-choice checklist of 20 major life events that happened during the last 6 months), and a personality questionnaire, which was assessed with the IPIP-50 scale (Goldberg, 1992), where respondents rated their agreement with statements on a 5-point Likert scale. Survey 3 The form contained the CCA and CCM scales discussed before. To measure psychological adaptation, this study assessed education satisfaction (EdS) as an aspect of psychological well-being related to the primary activity at the host location. The study utilized a scale adapted from the Job Satisfaction Survey by J. Hackman and G. Oldham (Hackman & Oldham, 1976), where respondents indicated their level of agreement with statements on a 5-point Likert scale, the original items were rephrased to pertain to the current academic setting abroad rather than to work (e.g., " Generally speaking, I am very satisfied with my assignment."). To measure sense of coherence (SOC), this study utilized the validated scale developed by A. Antonovsky (Antonovsky, 1993), consisting of 13 items (responses rated from 1 to 7 on a semantic differential scale).