Acculturative stressor and meaning of life as predictors of negative affect in acculturation: A cross-cultural comparative study between Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong

Acculturative stressor and meaning of life as predictors of negative affect in acculturation: A cross-cultural comparative study between Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong

• Pan, Jiayan Dept. of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong
• Wong, Daniel Fu Keung Dept. of Social Work and Social Administration, University of Hong Kong
• Joubert, Lynette School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Melbourne
• Chan, Cecilia Lai Wan Centre on Behavioral Health, University of Hong Kong

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 41(9), 740-750, 2007

Informa Healthcare

2007

• N Students & Student Services
  • NN Overseas Students in Hong Kong
• P Social Context of Education
  • PB Comparative Education

Acculturation Affective Measures Chinese Culture Coping International Students Mental Health Negative Attitudes Predictor Variables Resilience (Personality) Stress Variables Student Characteristics Student Welfare Well Being Higher Education Questionnaires Australia Hong Kong Chinese Students Meaningfulness Negative Affect

• Australia
• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Post-Secondary Education

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to compare the predictive effects of acculturative stressor and meaning of life on negative affect in the process of acculturation between Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong.
Method: Four hundred mainland Chinese students studying at six universities in Hong Kong and 227 Chinese international students studying at the University of Melbourne in Australia completed a questionnaire that included measures of acculturative stressor, meaning of life, negative affect and demographic information.
Results: The Australian sample was found to have a higher level of acculturative stressor and negative affect than the Hong Kong sample. Acculturative stressor had a positive impact on negative affect in both samples, but the impact of different domains of acculturative stressor on negative affect varied between the two groups. Finally, meaning of life partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stressor and negative affect in the Hong Kong sample, but no such effect was found in the Australia sample.
Conclusions: Acculturative stressor is a critical risk factor for negative affect in acculturation for Chinese international students in Australia and Hong Kong. Meaning of life acted as a protective factor that mitigated negative affect for mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong, but not for the Chinese international students in Australia. The theoretical and practical implications for resilience-based and meaning-oriented intervention for Chinese international students are discussed.
[Copyright of Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Informa Healthcare . Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048670701517942 ]

• English

Journal Articles

• 00048674

• 10.1080/00048670701517942

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/da821a1b

2010-09-06