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Chinese international students (CISs) are the biggest international student group in the United States. Among the challenges CISs face, the current study focused on examining the role of interpersonal problems on their acculturative stress. The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Short Circumplex (IIP-SC) was used to measure CISs' interpersonal problems. An evaluation of psychometric properties of IIP-SC among CISs was conducted. Comparison of IIP-SC scores before and during their studies indicated a decreased investment in the communion domain of interpersonal problems. This decrease could be due to less need to be nurturant and gaps in cultural norms between contexts in China and the United States. CISs' agency and general elevation of interpersonal problems at prearrival were found to be predictive of their acculturative stress after a semester of studying in United States, while controlling their gender, age, and general psychological distress. Lower prearrival agency and higher general interpersonal distress were associated with higher acculturative stress. The findings of the current study are important in identifying potential factors (i.e., low agency in interpersonal relationships) that contributed to CISs' acculturative stress. This can inform international student services, staff, faculty, and mental health professionals how to bridge this gap and facilitate CISs' acculturative processes. What is the public significance of this article?This study suggests that problematic interpersonal styles of Chinese international students are associated with their acculturative stress as they begin studying in the United States and acculturate to the U.S. culture. More specifically, less assertive students may experience greater stress. Although this is not a definite, causal relationship, the finding suggests a need of more proactive outreach to less assertive Chinese international students by providing appropriate sociopsychological services.

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Short Circumplex (IIP-SC) is a self-report measure of subjective distress linked to behavioral excesses and inhibitions in social relationships. The IIP-SC exhibits circumplex structure reflecting the underlying dimensions of dominance-submissiveness and warmth-coldness. We translated the IIP-SC into Mandarin Chinese using rigorous translation and back-translation methods with independent native speakers. University students in the People's Republic of China (N = 401) completed the translated IIP-SC and the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI-2), an omnibus measure of indigenous personality trait dimensions and symptoms of psychopathology. The circumplex structure of the Chinese IIP-SC was confirmed using principal components analysis, a randomization test for hypothesized order relations, and confirmatory circumplex analysis. The validity of the Chinese IIP-SC was evaluated by examining its associations with the CPAI-2 scales. Validity evidence for Chinese translation of the IIP-SC extends its use for clinical assessment to native Chinese speakers, although ongoing work to improve its reliability is needed.

International trainees in clinical and counseling psychology programs are a minority group facing unique challenges in their training in the United States. However, multicultural supervision with international students has been understudied and warrants more attention. As native-born Chinese international trainees, we contribute to the topic by specifically addressing the Chinese subgroup of international trainees, identified as clinical/counseling psychology trainees who were born and raised in mainland China, arrived in the United States during or after the undergraduate stage, and remained on F1 student visa status (instead of citizenship or permanent residence). We seek to illustrate some of their challenges in the supervision process and to provide recommendations to supervisors, who are less familiar with supervising Chinese international trainees, and the trainees themselves. Three conglomerate case vignettes are presented, with one focusing on working with native Chinese clients, another on approaching multicultural discussions in the supervision process, and the other on enhancing trainees' multicultural competence through supervision. Trainees' psycholinguistic considerations, acculturation, and assertiveness issues are discussed with recommendations given. Further studies in multicultural supervision with Chinese international trainees are also warranted. Public Significance StatementThe number of Chinese international trainees in counseling and clinical psychology programs in the United States has continued to grow in the past few decades, but discussion on supervising international trainees is in paucity. This article illustrated some of the unique challenges and opportunities for both training clinicians and supervisors in multicultural supervision with Chinese international trainees through three clinical vignettes and discussions. We highlighted the importance of attending to factors related to trainees' native language, acculturation level, multicultural discussion, assertiveness, and cultural gaps that are not limited to ethnic/racial differences. Recommendations regarding conducting effective multicultural supervision with realistic expectations are discussed from both the supervisor and trainee's perspectives.

A review of the literature on Chinese translations of Western self-report personality disorder assessment measures indicates the need to empirically evaluate the validity of assessing Western personality disorder constructs in Chinese language and culture. The current study presents a novel approach to examining this critical question in cross-cultural clinical assessment science and practice. One hundred and ninety-nine (199) Mandarin Chinese and English bilingual participants (92 males and 107 females) provided both English and Chinese self-report ratings on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems -Short Circumplex (IIP-SC) and The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire À 4þ (PDQ-4þ). The similarities and differences in associations between Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5th edition (DSM-5) personality disorders and interpersonal problems assessed across languages were examined. The structural summary method (SSM) for circumplex data and a bootstrapping methodology were used to compute confidence intervals around SSM parameters to analyze and compare the interpersonal problems profiles for each personality disorder scale (e.g. narcissistic) derived from English-language and Chinese-language data. The current study found highly similar interpersonal profiles for personality disorder scales assessed in English and Chinese, suggesting Western DSM-5 personality disorder constructs generally emphasize the same interpersonal problems in Chinese language and culture. The method employed in this study also has implications for understanding whether translated measures capture the same personality constructs.