Purpose

College students who are interested in experiencing and learning about other cultures could be potential agents to ongoing social and policy initiatives in promoting societal changes. As universities intensify their efforts toward embracing cultural diversity, it is imperative to gauge how these diversity initiatives resonate with students' developmental stage and pursuits in diverse campus climates. However, what kinds of educational experiences/contexts students choose for enhancing cultural competence, and how seeking diversity experiences might benefit college students in emotional wellbeing and cognitive skills, are under-investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores the relationships among college students' diversity-seeking behaviors, cultural competence, perspective-taking, and flourishing. A total of 359 college students from a STEM-focused university participated in this study. Students were recruited from classes over four semesters, from 2021 to 2023.

Findings

Students exhibited moderate to high levels of interest in seeking diversity in their learning experiences. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that higher levels of diversity-seeking in learning were associated with higher levels of perceived cultural competence, as well as higher levels of perspective-taking and flourishing.

Originality/value

This research delves into experiential and extracurricular dimensions of learning diversity, bridging a significant gap in academic literature. This study also elucidates the links between aspects of diversity engagement, cultural competence, and positive outcomes for college students, which underscores the significance of diversity-focused educational opportunities in higher education. Such opportunities are instrumental in enhancing cultural proficiency and further implications on cognitive growth and emotional well-being.

中文翻译：

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欣赏差异：促进大学生的多样性和繁荣

目的

有兴趣体验和学习其他文化的大学生可能成为持续推动社会变革的社会和政策举措的潜在推动者。随着大学加大力度拥抱文化多样性，必须衡量这些多样性举措如何与学生的发展阶段和不同校园氛围中的追求产生共鸣。然而，学生选择什么样的教育经历/环境来增强文化能力，以及寻求多样性经历如何有益于大学生的情感健康和认知技能，这些问题还没有得到充分调查。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究探讨了大学生的多样性寻求行为、文化能力、观点采择和蓬勃发展之间的关系。来自一所以 STEM 为重点的大学的总共 359 名大学生参与了这项研究。学生是从 2021 年至 2023 年四个学期的班级中招募的。

发现

学生对寻求学习经历的多样性表现出中等到高度的兴趣。结构方程模型的结果表明，学习中更高水平的多样性寻求与更高水平的感知文化能力以及更高水平的观点采择和繁荣相关。

原创性/价值

这项研究深入探讨了学习多样性的体验和课外维度，弥补了学术文献中的重大空白。这项研究还阐明了多样性参与、文化能力和大学生积极成果之间的联系，这强调了高等教育中注重多样性的教育机会的重要性。这些机会有助于提高文化熟练程度，并对认知发展和情感健康产生进一步影响。