Poster #171 - Friendship Networks and Chinese International Undergraduates’ Psychological and Sociocultural Adaptation

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Introduction. Chinese students have become the largest ethnic group of international students on U.S. campuses since 2010, and currently one out of every three international students in the U.S. holds a Chinese passport (IIE, 2017).Their arrival has greatly contributed to campus cultural diversity and local area economy (Breuning, 2007). Nevertheless, studying in a foreign country may lead to academic and psychosocial adjustment issues. Challenges such as language barriers, high academic stress, and homesickness are frequently noted in previous research (Lee, 2015; Smith & Khawaja, 2011). Interpersonal contact and perceived social support, in particular, were found to predict international students’ psychosocial adaptation (Hendrickson et al, 2011). However, most of previous studies only focused on the functions of peer networks in terms of the national/ethnic backgrounds of nominated friends (e.g., Rienties & Nolan, 2014). Research examining the effects of other features of friendship networks on international student adaptation remains limited. Drawing on social capital theory (Lin, 1999) and the functional model of friendship networks (Bochner et al., 1977), our study aims to investigate how patterns of friendship networks (i.e., national composition, frequency of contact, and intimacy of relations) are associated with Chinese international students’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation.

Methods. A total of 273 Chinese international undergraduates (see Table 1 for sample demographics) studying at a large public Midwestern university were recruited to complete an online survey assessing Chinese students’ social relations and psychosocial adjustment experiences. Peer network was measured using a friendship grid, where participants were asked to list up to six closest friends they had met on campus. For each nominated friend, participants indicated the national/ethnic background, the frequency of their interaction, and the degree of intimacy of their friendship. Psychological adaptation outcomes were assessed using Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983) and the homesickness and fear subscales of the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS, Sandhu & Asrabadi, 1994). Social Connectedness Scale (Lee et al., 2001) was used to evaluate Chinese students’ social adaptation. Students’ cultural adaptation was measured using the three ASSIS subscales: perceived discrimination, perceived hate, and stress due to change/cultural shock. A structural equation model (see Figure 1) was fit to address the research questions.

Findings. Chinese students who reported more frequent contact and greater intimacy with their host-national friends (i.e., domestic students) tended to show better social adaptation and experience less psychological and cultural adjustment problems. Surprisingly, friendships with either co-national (i.e., Chinese) or multi-national (i.e., non-Chinese international students) peers were found to be significantly associated with students’ social connectedness but not with their psychological or cultural adaptation. Two separate models were conducted to examine how the frequency of contact or degree of intimacy of friendships independently explained students’ psychosocial adaptation. Results suggested that compared to superficial interactions, high quality of interactions with domestic peers (i.e., frequent contact combining with intimate relations) might be a key to promote Chinese international students’ psychological and cultural adaptation. Implication and limitations of the study will be discussed.

Authors

• Mingjun Xie, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Desiree Qin, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author