Network Composition, Social Integration, and Sense of Coherence in Chinese American Young Adults

Summary

This investigation examined the network composition, social integration, and sense of coherence in a group of 353 Chinese American students at a public university. About half (55.5%) of the sample had a Chinese-only (ethnically same) network while the remainder had either ethnically and/or racially mixed networks. Late immigrants (arriving after age 12) were more likely to have close relationships with other Chinese only, and American-borns and early immigrants (arriving before or at age 12) were more likely to have non-Chinese Asian and non-Asian members in their network. Greater racial/ ethnic similarity among network members was associated with greater network integration. Individuals with a racially/ethnically mixed network enjoyed the highest sense of coherence, followed by those with an ethnically same network, and those with either a racially-same or mixed network reported the lowest sense of coherence. Altogether, the findings suggest ethnically/racially similar networks afford a sense of comfort, but more diverse networks offer the reward of increased competence and better person-environment fit.

Key Words:

• Inter-racial/inter-ethnic relationships and social networks
• social integration
• sense of coherence in Chinese Americans' network composition
• Chinese American
• social integration