An Examination of Acculturative Stress, Interpersonal Social Support, and Use of Online Ethnic Social Groups among Chinese International Students

ABSTRACT

Survey data collected from Chinese international students attending college in the United States explored relationships between acculturative stress, interpersonal social support, and use of online ethnic social groups. Results suggested that students who were more satisfied with their interpersonal support networks had less perceived discrimination, perceived hatred, and negative feelings caused by change, but not less fear. Among the students who had used online ethnic social groups, those who reported receiving higher amounts of online informational support from those groups experienced lower level of acculturative stress. Students who reported obtaining higher amounts of online emotional support also experienced lower level of acculturative stress associated with perceived hatred. A negative relationship was established between interpersonal support network satisfaction and perceived online information support.

KEYTERMS:

• acculturation
• acculturative stress
• Internet
• social support

An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Communication and Technology Division of the International Communication Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 2004.

Notes

Note. All correlations were subjected to two-tailed tests of significance. Gender was coded: male = 0, female = 1. Length of residence in the U.S. was measured in years.

∗p < .05.

∗∗p < .01.

∗∗∗p < .001.

Note. Gender was coded: male = 0, female = 1.

∗p < .05.

∗∗p < .01.

∗∗∗p < .001.

1. In the original scale, four items loaded together to form the factor of fear. In the current study one item (“I feel insecure here”) contributed to a low alpha level for the subscale, so it was dropped from further analysis. The subscale of perceived discrimination is composed of eight items, the same as the original scale. In the original scale, five items loaded together to form the factor of perceived hatred. In the current study, one item (“Others don't appreciate my cultural background”) contributed to a low alpha level for the subscale, so it was dropped from further analysis. The original subscales of homesickness, cultural shock, and guilt were not reliable. In this study, factor analysis showed that the items on these subscales loaded together on a new factor named “negative feelings caused by change.” This subscale includes items that describe feeling bad about leaving one's original culture and feeling uncomfortable living in a new culture.

2. Eight online support items were designed to measure three types of informational support, emotional support, and social comparison. These items were subjected to principal axis factor analysis with oblique rotation, which produced a two-factor solution. Two social comparison items (“I feel relieved to know others are also facing similar problems that I am facing” and “It is comforting to know that others also need help adjusting like I do”) loaded with three emotional support items (all primary factor loadings over .70, no cross loading over .20). Because these items are all related with emotional comfort resulted from direct or indirect support, the five items formed a subscale for emotional support.