Acculturation and Communication Traits: A study of Cross-Cultural Adaptation among Chinese in America

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between acculturation and communication traits. One hundred and seventy-five Chinese across from the United States participated in this study. Participants received a battery of questionnaires in the mail, including the measures of communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, communication competence, argumentativeness, general disclosiveness and cultural identity. Results indicated that as proportion of life in America increased, Chinese identified more with American culture; in turn, they became less fearful, more willing and competent in communication. Their self-disclosure also became less frequent and intimate, but more positive, with longer time living in America. These findings suggest that culture shapes communication traits through exposure to and identification with the host culture to some extent.

Keywords:

• Acculturation
• Communication Traits
• Cultural Identity
• Communication Apprehension
• Willingness to Communicate
• Self-Perceived Communication Competence
• Argumentativeness
• Self-Disclosure

Acknowledgements

This article was partially supported by the basic research grant of the College of Arts & Sciences. The author is grateful to Professor Frank Millar for his comments on the earlier draft, and students in Communication & Journalism for their assistance with data collection. This paper was presented at the annual convention of the National Communication Association in San Diego, CA, 2008.

Notes

1. Data were obtained from the following: McCroskey and Richmond (1990) for CA, WTC, and SPCC; Schullery and Schullery (2003) for argumentativeness; Hsu (2007) for amount and depth of self-disclosure; Wheeless, Erickson, and Behrens (1986) for positive style of self-disclosure.

2. Due to the difficulty of drawing all paths in a single figure, only significant paths were shown in Figure 1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chia-Fang (Sandy) Hsu

Chia-Fang (Sandy) Hsu (PhD, Washington State University, 2002) is Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at University of Wyoming, Laramie