Refining King and Baxter Magolda’s Model of Intercultural Maturity

Abstract

This study examined 110 intercultural experiences from 82 students attending six colleges and universities to explore how students’ interpretations of their intercultural experiences reflected their developmental capacities for intercultural maturity. Our analysis of students’ experiences confirmed as well as refined and expanded King and Baxter Magolda’s (2005) model, which mapped the development of intercultural maturity. In addition to affirming the overall developmental trajectory of intercultural maturity our data revealed additional developmental features within the initial, intermediate, and mature levels of the model. Furthermore, our analysis illuminated characteristics of transitional phases between levels of the model.