Personal Network Structure and Perceived Social Support in the Context of Intercultural Adjustment

Abstract

The connections between an international student’s communication network, perceived social support, and intercultural adjustment are not well understood. This study aims to test the network–support–adjustment path among international students. With data collected from 215 international students studying at a large U.S. university, path model analyses showed that tie strength, a relational characteristic of one’s communication network, was positively associated with perceived emotional support, which in turn was positively related to sociocultural adjustment. In contrast, network density and proportion of U.S. ties were not associated with perceived informational support, although perceived informational support was found to contribute to enhanced psychological adjustment. Therefore, the network–support–adjustment path was only partially supported with the current data. This article discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Keywords:

• intercultural adjustment
• international students
• social network
• social support

Notes

1. A series of Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) indicated no evidence that participants recruited from the three sources differed in the variables related to social network, social support, or adjustment, Fs < 2.41, ps > 0.09.

2. The mean of social contacts reported was 7.74 (SD = 3.6) in the communication network. On average, participants identified 3.60 (SD = 3.16) co-national contacts, 2.91 (SD = 2.89) U.S. contacts, and 1.23 (SD = 1.98) contacts from other countries.

3. Marsden and Campbell (1984, 2012) suggested that closeness best represented tie strength than any other indicators such as communication frequency. For this reason, this study used closeness as the indicator to tie strength.