The Library

Chinese students' psychological and sociocultural adjustments to Britain: an empirical study

Tools

Spencer-Oatey, Helen and Xiong, Zhaoning. (2006) Chinese students' psychological and sociocultural adjustments to Britain: an empirical study. Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol.19 (No.1). pp. 37-53. ISSN 0790-8318

PDF
WRAP_Spencer_Oatey_0673125-cal-290110-spencer-oateyxiong_lcc06.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer.
Download (615Kb)

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908310608668753

Abstract

This paper reports an empirical study of the psychological and sociocultural adjustments of two cohorts of Chinese students taking a foundation course in English language at a British university. Using Zung's (1965) Self-Rating Depression Scale and a modification of Ward and Kennedy's (1999) Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, quantitative data were obtained on the students' adjustment experiences, and these were correlated with other variables such as grade point average, age and length of stay in Britain. Interview data provided a richer picture of their experiences. The study found that the majority of students had few psychological or sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Nevertheless, social interaction with non-Chinese was consistently identified as problematic and this, as well as difficulties in adjusting to daily life, were very highly correlated with psychological stress. End-of-course grade point average was found to be negatively correlated with the psychological stress experienced near the beginning of the academic year. The paper calls for further research to follow up these findings, and concludes with a list of suggestions for universities to help address overseas students' psychological and sociocultural adjustment needs.

Item Type:

Journal Article

Subjects:

B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics

Divisions:

Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):

Chinese students -- Foreign countries, Students, Foreign -- Great Britain, Culture shock -- Great Britain, Adjustment (Psychology) -- Great Britain, Sociolinguistics -- Research

Journal or Publication Title:

Language, Culture and Curriculum

Publisher:

Routledge

ISSN:

0790-8318

Official Date:

May 2006

Dates:

Date	Event
May 2006	Published

Volume:

Vol.19

Number:

No.1

Page Range:

pp. 37-53

Identifier:

10.1080/07908310608668753

Status:

Peer Reviewed

Access rights to Published version:

Open Access

References:

Anderson, L. E. (1994) A new look at an old construct: cross-cultural adaptation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 18 (3), 293-328.
Bennett, M. J. (1986) A developmental approach to training for intercultural sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10, 179-186.
Berry, J.W. (1990) Psycholog of acculturation: understanding individuals moving between cultures. In R.Brislin (ed.) Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology (pp. 232–253). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Black, J.S. and Stephens, G.K. (1989) The influence of the spouse on American expatriate adjustment in Pacific Rim overseas assignments. Journal of Management, 15, 529–544.
Black, J. S., Mendenhall, M., & Oddou, G. (1991) Toward a comprehensive model of international adjustment: an integration of multiple theoretical perspectives. Academy of Management Review, 16 (2), 291-317.
Bochner, S., McLeod, B.M., and Lin, A. (1977) Friendship patterns of overseas students: a functional model. International Journal of Psychology, 12, 277–297.
Crano, S. and Crano, W. (1993) A measure of adjustment strain in international students. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 24 (3), 267–283.
Fountoulakis, K., Iacovides, A., Samolis, S., Kleanthous, S., Kaprinis, S., Kaprinis, G. & Bech, P. (2001) Reliability, validity and psychometic properties of the Greek translation of the Zung depression rating scale. BioMed Central Psychiatry, 1(6). Available at
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=64635. [Accessed 8 December 2004]
Kim, Y. Y. (2001) Becoming Intercultural. An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Pruitt, F.J. (1978) The adaptation of African students to Americal society. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 2 (1), 90–118.
Redmond, M.V. and Bunyi, J.M. (1993) The relationship of intercultural communication competence with stress and the handling of stress as reported by international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 17 (2), 235–254.
Searle, W. and Ward, C. (1990) The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14 (4), 449–464.
UKCOSA (2004) Broadening our horizions: international students in UK universities and colleges. Report of the UKCOSA survey. Available at http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/survey/index.htm [Accessed 8 December 2004]
Ward, C. (1996) Acculturation. In D.Landis and R.S.Bhagat (eds) Handbook of Intercultural Training. 2nd edition (pp. 124–147). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1993) Where’s the culture in cross-cultural transition? Comparative studies of sojourner adjustment. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 24 (2), 221–249.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1999) The measurement of sociocultural adaptation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23 (4), 659–677.
Ward, C. and Rana-Deuba, A. (1999) Acculturation and adaptation revisited. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30 (4), 372–392.
Ward, C. and Searle, W. (1991) The impact of values discrepancies and cultural identity on psychological and sociocultural adjustment of sojourners. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 15(2), 209–225.
Ward, C., Bochner, S. and Furnham, A. (2001) The Psychology of Culture Shock. 2nd edition. Hove: Routledge.
Zung, W. W. E. (1965) A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 63-70.