The Effects of Cross-Cultural Competence and Social Support on International Students’ Psychological Adjustment: Autonomy and Environmental Mastery

Abstract

This study investigated relationships between cross-cultural competence, social support, and international students’ psychological adjustment. Participants included 94 international students studying in the United States. The researchers conducted a series of standard multiple regression analysis to predict autonomy and environmental mastery as measured by the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). They found significant positive relationships between autonomy and cross-cultural competence as measured by the Intercultural Competence Scale (ICCS; Fantini & Tirmizi, 2006), and environmental mastery and social support as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farely, 1988). A significant negative relationship was also found between length of residency in the host country, autonomy, and environmental mastery.

Perceived Social Support and Well-Being of International Students at an Italian University

“…For international students, social support is a fundamental resource by which they cope with acculturative stress and its consequences, such as depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms (Jou & Fukada, 1997;Lee et al, 2004;Ra & Trusty, 2017;Zhang & Goodson, 2011). Some studies (Aldawsari et al, 2018;Berger et al, 2018;Brisset et al, 2010;O'Reilly et al, 2010) have considered well-being the result of the positive effect of social support on loneliness (Lin & Kingminghae, 2014) or stress (O'Reilly et al, 2015). Other studies exploited international students' life satisfaction in relation to functional support (Yusoff, 2012) or to their need for support, information, and feedback (Bektaş et al, 2009).…”

What Do International Students Need?

“…Caligiuri et al (1998) applied the spillover theory to the cross-cultural context when examining whether family support, family communication, and family adaptability are significantly related to expatriate adjustment. For international students as SIEs, the work domain (e.g., class tasks, study, and/or research) and the personal domain are interrelated; in other words, international students cannot succeed in one while failing in the other; thus, support from personal entities (e.g., family and the community) is crucial for their adjustment and academic success (e.g., Aldawsari et al, 2018;Martirosyan et al, 2019).…”

“…In the international higher education literature, results about the influence of family support on international students' outcomes in HEIs are inconsistent. Aldawsari et al (2018) studied 94 international students in the United States and found that social support from family and friends significantly affected international students' psychological adjustment. Bulgan and Çiftçi (2018), however, found a nonsignificant relationship between social support and psychological adjustment based on their study with 243 married international graduate students in the United States.…”

The Role of Academic Self-Confidence on Thriving among International College Students in the U.S. and Canada

“…They explained that when international students feel supported socially and academically, they have a higher sense of belonging, which in turn leads to success. Further, when international students appreciate the support around them, they are more likely to feel that they have mastered their environment and surpassed the stressors that might have inhibited their success earlier in their arrival (Aldawsari et al, 2018). These findings challenge researchers and student affairs professionals to better understand the contours and complexities of supporting international students (Briggs & Ammigan, 2017;Madden-Dent et al, 2019).…”