Students have different motivations for participating in education abroad experiences. Short-term study abroad programs offer students the opportunity to experience education abroad without spending an entire semester or year abroad. As a result of these opportunities, short-term study abroad programs have emerged to meet the demands for students who are interested in international educational abroad opportunities. The purpose of my study was to examine the influence of short-term study abroad programs on change in noncognitive variables. The term noncognitive is used to refer to variables relating to adjustment, motivation, and perceptions (Sedlacek, 2004). Noncognitive variables have been useful in assessing students and also serve as a predictor of success for students. The eight noncognitive variables identified by Sedlacek (2004) that I examined were : Positive self-concept, Realistic self-appraisal, Successfully handling the system, Long-range goals, Strong support person, Leadership experience, Community involvement, and Knowledge acquired in a field. The goal of this study was to investigate the change in noncognitive variables before and after participation in short-term study abroad programs. The results of my study support the ideal that short-term study abroad programs have an influence on noncognitive variables. Specifically of the eight noncognitive variables that were examined the following five exhibited changes from their initial examination: Positive self-concept, Successfully handling the system, Long-range goals, Leadership, and Knowledge in a field. Furthermore, the results indicate that there are some specific factors that influence the change in noncognitive variables, these factors are: previous travel abroad, first time experience studying abroad, living with a family while abroad, and the geographic region which the short-term study abroad program takes place.
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