Utilizing the Effects of Youth Exchange: A Study of the Subsequent Lives of German and American High School Exchange Participants. Occasional Papers on International Educational Exchange 31. Research Series.

This study examined the long-term effects of youth exchange, specifically the degree to which former participants actually utilized results of the exchange after their return to their home country. The research focused on Germans and Americans who, as teenagers, experienced home stays in the other country between 1951 and 1987. Respondents were queried through a combination of in-depth exploratory interviews with 40 students and comprehensive survey questionnaires based on the findings from the exploratory phase. A total of 1,187 former exchange students received the survey with 661 responding. The study also included a comparison group of 384 individuals, each nominated by a returnee, who had not participated in a high school-level exchange but was of the same gender, similar age, and similar educational background. Analysis indicated that long-term benefits of the exchange experience included growth in self-confidence, acquisition of instrumental skills and extra resources for problem-solving, foreign language proficiency, and generalized coping skills. The findings support the idea that exchange should be viewed in longitudinal, even lifelong terms. It is an experience that contains positive benefits that endure beyond the time abroad. (Contains 41 references.) (Author/JLS)