Resilience and Intercultural Interactions of Italian Erasmus Students: The Relation with Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is examined in the literature; nevertheless, a few studies have combined situational and personal aspects to enhance the comprehension of this construct, and none have considered resilience. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the role of international Erasmus students' resilience, the length of their experience, and the intercultural interactions of Italian Erasmus students in their relationship with CQ. Data were collected from 791 outgoing Italian Erasmus students by using a self-report questionnaire. The findings suggested the existence of a significant relationship between resilience and all dimensions of CQ, showing, with the exception of the behavioral dimension, large betas. Forming friendships with international students was positively and moderately related to motivational and metacognitive CQ. Establishing relationships with locals was only positively and weakly related to cognitive CQ. The time of sojourn was only positively and weakly associated with the metacognitive CQ. Developments in international academic mobility policies are discussed.