The Impact of Cross-Cultural Experiences on Worldviews of Chinese International Students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how everyday cross-cultural interactions affected the adjustment of undergraduate international students attending a private university in the northeastern United States of America. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected primarily through interviews with nine international students and observations at “Eastern University”. Students were purposively selected to balance gender and world regions. Analysis used constant comparison until findings emerged, which were member-checked with study participants (Merriam, 2009). Findings – Findings show that the impact of university diversity initiatives for promoting everyday cross-cultural interactions is described as creating an us/them divide, promoting solidarity and establishing a cultural presence. It is concluded that formal university events foster recognition of the campus diversity international students help provide, but their impact on everyday cross-cultural interactions is both positive and negative. Additionally, the mode by which undergraduate international students are introduced to their US campus affects their integration and future interaction patterns. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed to explore higher education institutions (HEIs)’ connection to human resource development (HRD) for shaping the future global arena. Studies that address the continuum from higher education to the workforce are needed to prepare the next generation of professionals for a global world. This study is limited due to small sample size. Findings are not generalizable in a statistical sense, but HRD professionals in HEIs may compare the details in this study with their own institutions. Originality/value – This study contributes to the discussion of national HRD by addressing international students and their insights into how diversity programs impact adjustment in an American setting. Additionally, organizational and faculty development initiatives in academic institutions can be improved by understanding the insights found in this study.

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Constructions of Masculinity and the Perception of Interracial Relationships Among Young Male Chinese International Students and Scholars in the United States

Journal of Family Issues ◽

10.1177/0192513x18809751 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (3) ◽

pp. 340-362 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jing Zhang ◽

Katherine R. Allen

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

International Students ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Chinese Women ◽

Young Male ◽

The United States ◽

Interracial Relationships ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Chinese International Students ◽

Chinese Men

Relocating to the United States influences the perceptions of Chinese men on manhood and their attitudes toward interracial relationships between Chinese women and American men. In this study, we examined how the intersection of gender and race in a cross-cultural context shaped constructions of masculinity of young male Chinese international students and scholars, and how racialized masculinity experiences influenced their relationships with women and with peer U.S. men. We interviewed 18 Chinese men (Mean age = 26.06 years, range = 20-30) and used thematic analysis to analyze in-depth interview data. We found that some men adopted flexible, protective, and diverse strategies to reclaim their masculinity by reconciling American and Chinese masculinities. Others felt degraded and took a negative attitude toward the interracial relationship between Chinese women and American men. Despite the influence of cross-cultural contexts, the Chinese patriarchal Confucian tradition exerted a strong influence on participants’ masculinity construction.

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Tensions and Rewards: Behind the Scenes in a Cross-Cultural Student–Staff Partnership

Journal of Studies in International Education ◽

10.1177/1028315318813199 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 30-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Bonnie Rose Stanway ◽

Yiyuan Cao ◽

Tony Cannell ◽

Yihui Gu

Keyword(s):

International Students ◽

Business School ◽

International Student ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Chinese International Students ◽

Small Scale ◽

Student Cohorts ◽

Media Platform ◽

Chinese International Student ◽

Cultural Bridge

In the domain of “internationalization of the curriculum,” this article introduces the rarely incorporated dimension of “engaging students as partners” (SaP) to address and explore challenges of increasingly diverse universities. The aim of this qualitative research was to explore engaging international students as partners in a modest and targeted internationalization innovation, which was specifically designed to address the needs of Chinese international students at a prominent Australian university business school. The innovation involved embedding WeChat, a prevalent Chinese social media platform, in a postgraduate learning module to form a cross-cultural bridge to better connect academics and learning support staff at the Business School with their Chinese international student cohorts. Staff and partnered Chinese international students in this small-scale cross-cultural partnership have coauthored this article, which reports on the identified tensions and rewards behind the scenes in this partnership. Findings mostly align with existing SaP literature; however, some unique benefits also emerged from having an explicit cross-cultural focus for the partnership.

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Acculturative Stressor and Meaning of Life as Predictors of Negative Affect in Acculturation: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study between Chinese International Students in Australia and Hong Kong

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1080/00048670701517942 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 41 (9) ◽

pp. 740-750 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Jia-Yan Pan ◽

Daniel Fu Keung Wong ◽

Lynette Joubert ◽

Cecilia Lai Wan Chan

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

International Students ◽

Negative Affect ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Chinese Students ◽

Meaning Of Life ◽

Chinese International Students ◽

Mainland Chinese ◽

Mainland Chinese Students ◽

The Impact

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare the predictive effects of acculturative stressor and meaning of life on negative affect in the process of acculturation between Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong. Method: Four hundred mainland Chinese students studying at six universities in Hong Kong and 227 Chinese international students studying at the University of Melbourne in Australia completed a questionnaire that included measures of acculturative stressor, meaning of life, negative affect and demographic information. Results: The Australian sample was found to have a higher level of acculturative stressor and negative affect than the Hong Kong sample. Acculturative stressor had a positive impact on negative affect in both samples, but the impact of different domains of acculturative stressor on negative affect varied between the two groups. Finally, meaning of life partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stressor and negative affect in the Hong Kong sample, but no such effect was found in the Australia sample. Conclusions: Acculturative stressor is a critical risk factor for negative affect in acculturation for Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong. Meaning of life acted as a protective factor that mitigated negative affect for mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong, but not for the Chinese international students in Australia. The theoretical and practical implications for resilience-based and meaning-oriented intervention for Chinese international students are discussed.

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Frequency and Importance of Accurate Heritage Name Pronunciation For International Students in Canada

Journal of International Students ◽

10.32674/jis.v11i3.2232 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Ying Shan Doris Zhang ◽

Kimberly Noels

Keyword(s):

International Students ◽

Cultural Adjustment ◽

Language Minority ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Strong Connection ◽

Linguistic Differences ◽

Personal Connection ◽

Correct Pronunciation ◽

The Impact

International students’ names are often mispronounced, and this experience can have psychological and relational implications for some students’ cross-cultural adjustment. Little research, however, has examined why students are or are not bothered by mispronunciations. This study examined the impact of heritage name mispronunciation on 173 language-minority international students in Canada. The results indicated that although heritage name mispronunciations were frequent, only about half of the sample perceived correct pronunciation as important. Those who felt accurate pronunciation was important stressed that their name had a strong connection to their heritage and that mispronunciations were disrespectful of that significance. Those who felt accurate pronunciation was not important cited little personal connection to the name and accepted mispronunciations for reasons of efficiency. In general, international students expressed appreciation for hosts’ pronunciation efforts, and also acknowledged hosts’ pronunciation difficulties were often due to linguistic differences. The implications for enhancing international students’ experiences are discussed.

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Psychopathology and Perceived Discrimination Among Chinese International Students One Year into COVID-19: A Preregistered Comparative Study

10.31234/osf.io/mtk7w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kaiwen Bi ◽

Desmond Yeoh ◽

Qiwenjing Jiang ◽

Margaux Nicole Agnes Wienk ◽

Shuquan Chen

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

Online Learning ◽

International Students ◽

Minority Stress ◽

Perceived Discrimination ◽

Chinese International Students ◽

Self Report ◽

Depression And Anxiety ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Impact

Background and Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese international students(CISs) experienced increased depression and anxiety associated with a combination of unique and universal COVID-19-related stressors. Among these factors, discrimination against Chinese is especially alarming. Therefore, studying correlates of distress including the association between discrimination and distress and factors intensifying or attenuating this link has important implications.Design: We adopted a cross-sectional self-report design.Methods: Our study compared depression and anxiety between CISs (N = 381) and Chinese students in Chinese colleges (CSCCs; N = 306) and examined correlates of distress and, in particular, the association between perceived discrimination and distress as well as moderators on this link within CISs.Results: Compared to CSCCs, CISs reported greater depression and anxiety. Depression was associated with being female, older, non-heterosexual, discrimination, coping inflexibility, low social support, and low satisfaction with online learning. Anxiety was associated with being female, older, heterosexual, discrimination, coping inflexibility, low social support, and low satisfaction with online learning. High perceived social support and being heterosexual weakened the association between discrimination and distress (anxiety and depression). Conclusions: Our study underscored the impact of the pandemic and related discrimination on CISs and highlighted individual differences that may warrant attention.Keywords: COVID-19, Chinese international students, psychopathology, perceived discrimination, intersectionality, minority stress

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Cross-Cultural Adaptation: The Impact of Online Social Support and the Role of Gender

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.2015.43.1.111 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 43 (1) ◽

pp. 111-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jian Wang ◽

Jian-Zhong Hong ◽

Zhong-Ling Pi

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

International Students ◽

Cultural Adaptation ◽

Psychological Adaptation ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Moderating Effect ◽

Online Social Support ◽

Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

We examined the impact of online social support on cross-cultural adaptation, and the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between online social support and cross-cultural adaptation. Data were collected from 454 international students in China using the Psychological Adaptation Questionnaire, the Socio-Cultural Adaptation Scale, and the Online Social Support Scale. The results showed that: (a) online social support had a positive impact on both the psychological and sociocultural adaptation of the international students, and (b) compared with the men, the impact of online social support on psychological adaptation was more significant for the women, showing that gender moderated this relationship. However, the same moderating effect of gender was not found in the relationship between online social support and sociocultural adaptation.

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Culture and media entertainment: A cross-cultural exploration of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment motivations

International Communication Gazette ◽

10.1177/1748048518802215 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 80 (7) ◽

pp. 637-657 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Özen Odağ ◽

Özden Melis Uluğ ◽

Hilal Arslan ◽

David Schiefer

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Identity ◽

International Students ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Human Condition ◽

Levels Of Analysis ◽

Western World ◽

Cultural Variables ◽

Micro Level ◽

The Impact ◽

Cultural Belonging

Recent studies have juxtaposed hedonic forms of media entertainment motivations (seeking for pleasure and fun) with eudaimonic forms (seeking for insights into the human condition). As most of this research was confined to the Western world so far, this contribution explores the impact of culture on hedonic and eudaimonic media entertainment motivations. Culture is conceptualized on both macro- and micro levels of analysis. On the macro level of countries, the study draws of Hofstede’s concept of individualism/collectivism. On the micro level of individuals, the study explores independent and interdependent self-construals and ethnic identity as potential influences on hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment. A survey was carried out with international students and non-students in Germany and Turkey ( N = 324). Cross-level operator analyses were calculated to explore relationships between cultural variables and hedonic/eudaimonic entertainment motivations. Results show consistently that variables of culture that tap into cultural belonging (collectivism, interdependence, and ethnic identity) are significant predictors of hedonic entertainment. Cultural variables that tap into distinctiveness and separation from one’s collective (individualism and independence) are significant predictors of eudaimonic entertainment. The study is among the first to explore the impact of cultural variability on entertainment motivations and thus especially relevant for sparking up a new line of research.

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Mental Health and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Chinese International College Students in a Thai University

International Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.5430/ijhe.v7n4p133 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 133

Author(s):

Pengfei Chen ◽

Xiang You ◽

Dui Chen

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

International Students ◽

Cultural Adaptation ◽

Critical Issue ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Chinese International Students ◽

Cross Cultural Adaptation ◽

College Degrees ◽

Two Factors ◽

Thai University

Thai Immigration Department shows the total number of Chinese nationals residing in Thailand at 91,272 in 2015, however, academic studies reveal the figure to be as high as 350,000-400,000 in the past decade. In terms of the huge population, except economic benefit to Thailand and more cross-cultural settings in the campus, there is a critical issue requiring urgent attention. Colleges cannot guarantee high-quality learning and consequently cannot attain their mission, accomplish their goals, or serve their valuable social, economic and public objectives without engaging in the mental and behavioral health matters of their students. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine Chinese international students’ mental health and cross-cultural adaptation to study abroad in a university at Bangkok and investigate whether or not two factors were related to one another. A survey was applied for this investigation. The participants were 900 Chinese international students at a Thai university. The research discovered that different levels of college degrees and length of residence in Thailand were two main factors to influence mental health and cross-cultural adaptation. Incoming students and graduates specifically has a potential problem in cross-cultural adaptation.

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