Relationship between Acculturation Expectations, Intercultural Competence, and Psychological Well-being.

In today's multicultural world, the issues of intercultural relations and adaptation to cultural diversity are becoming more and more relevant. This research is aimed at studying the relationship between acculturation expectations of representatives of the host society, their intercultural competence and psychological well-being. Special attention is paid to the role of temporary migration experience in the development of intercultural competence. The theoretical basis of the work is the two-dimensional model of acculturation by J. Berry and the approach to intercultural competence proposed by K. Leung et al. (2014). The empirical study was conducted on a sample of ethnic Russians living in Russia (N=126). J. Berry's methodology for assessing acculturation expectations, the “Integrative Questionnaire of Intercultural Competence” (Khukhlaev et al., 2021) and self-esteem and life satisfaction scales were used. The results showed that respondents with experience of living in Asian countries showed higher levels of intercultural competence compared to those who had lived in Europe or had no experience of temporary migration. At the same time, duration of living abroad had no significant effect on intercultural competence. Expectation of multiculturalism was positively correlated with all components of intercultural competence, while expectation of the melting pot and segregation hindered some of them. Expectation of multiculturalism contributed to higher life satisfaction and self-esteem scores. However, the components of intercultural competence were not related to psychological well-being. The findings contribute to the understanding of factors influencing the intercultural experiences of host society members. They can be used to develop interventions aimed at developing intercultural competence and creating a more inclusive environment in our multicultural country.