Intercultural Fluency Among U.S. Adolescents: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: Between Two Worlds: Lessons From Narrative Inquiry and Immigrant Youth

Abstract

What kinds of intercultural experiences foster the development of intercultural fluency during adolescence? Using a recently validated measure of Intercultural Fluency, this paper explores U.S. based adolescents’ self-reported attitudes and behavioral dispositions towards cultures other than their own, as well as potential changes thereto after an experiencing a short educational trip abroad. To do so, we conducted an in-depth exploration of a nationwide sample of 12,973 U.S. adolescents, exploring links between levels of intercultural fluency and a myriad of sociodemographic, linguistic, and experiential background variables. The sample consists of 15% middle schoolers and 85% high schoolers, whose ethnicities are 68% White and 30% BIPOC, and 72% of which were reported as Female.

Authors

• Mariam Dahbi, Harvard University

• Pierre G de Galbert, Brown University

• Paola Uccelli, Harvard University