College students' intercultural competence (ICC) has become a focus of many higher education institutions. Yet, more work can be done to explore what variables play a role in this complex and multifaceted process. The current study investigated the association between the outcomes (i.e., cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains of ICC), cultural identity (i.e., majority group and international status), personality traits (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and intellect/imagination), and social exposure (i.e., racial/ethnic and international diversity of friendships) for a culturally diverse sample of 179 incoming college women. After controlling for the cultural identity, personality traits, and social exposure variables, majority group status and intellect/imagination significantly predicted students' openness to considering varied cultural perspectives (i.e., cognitive knowing). Findings indicated that White students had higher scores on the Cognitive Knowing subscale of ICC compared with students of Color. In addition to social cultural exposure, conscientiousness remained as a significant predictor of cognitive knowledge (i.e., factual knowledge, understanding, and awareness of various cultures) after controlling for all the other variables in the model. Extraversion and neuroticism persisted as a significant predictor of the intrapersonal identity and self-awareness component of ICC. Next, agreeableness and racial/ethnic diversity of friendships were key predictors of intrapersonal affect or cultural-emotional intelligence and attunement. Intellect/imagination, racial/ ethnic, and international diversity of friendships all significantly predicted interpersonal sociocultural interaction. Finally, agreeableness and racial/ethnic diversity of friendships was linked with the social responsibility component of intercultural competence. The findings and their implications for higher education are discussed.
