Coping, multicultural personality, acculturative stress and psychological adjustment among Chinese international students

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The present study examined coping appraisal as a mediator, collectivistic coping styles, and multicultural personality as moderators, between perceived acculturative stress and psychological adjustment among a sample of 178 Chinese international students in United States. Structural Equation Modeling analyses indicated that coping appraisal partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment, and multicultural personality moderated the relationship between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses cross-verified the moderating effects and specifically indicated that the association between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment was weaker as Emotional Stability (one of the multicultural personality factors) increased. None of the collectivist coping styles serve as significant moderators for acculturative stress and psychological adjustment. Implications of this study's findings among Chinese international students were discussed.