IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i4p2409-d753462.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Moderating Effects of Intercultural Social Efficacy and the Role of Language in the Context of Coping Strategies in Study Abroad Depression

Author

Listed:
  • Yueh-Luen Hu

    (Department of Education, National Chengchi University, Taipei City 116011, Taiwan)

  • Amy Roberts

    (School of Teacher Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA)

  • Gregory S. Ching

    (Graduate Institute of Educational Leadership and Development, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan
    Research and Development Center for Physical Education, Health, and Information Technology, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan)

  • Pei-Ching Chao

    (Department of Education, National Chengchi University, Taipei City 116011, Taiwan)

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between intercultural social efficacy (ISE), coping strategies, Mandarin Chinese and English language proficiency, and depression. In total, 1870 foreign students in Taiwan participated in the study. Study results indicated that aspects of background demographics may influence depression levels. Participants with an immigrant background and those who are older are more likely to suffer from depression; however, gender and length of stay do not seem to affect depression. The moderating effects of Mandarin Chinese and English language proficiency and ISE on the relationship between coping strategies and depression were examined. Based on the results, the moderating role of Mandarin Chinese and English language proficiency was not supported, suggesting that coping strategies are independent of linguistic proficiency. However, knowing both languages is an important factor in reducing the stress of studying abroad. Additionally, the results confirmed the moderating effects of ISE, suggesting that a higher level of social effectiveness reinforces the negative association between coping strategies and depression. Students who are better able to interact with other cultures may be able to develop effective coping strategies. Moreover, this study found that although most of the study abroad students were not depressed, early intervention and prevention measures could help alleviate possible mental health crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Yueh-Luen Hu & Amy Roberts & Gregory S. Ching & Pei-Ching Chao, 2022. "Moderating Effects of Intercultural Social Efficacy and the Role of Language in the Context of Coping Strategies in Study Abroad Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2409-:d:753462
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2409/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2409/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Meirmanov Serik & Thu-Trang Vuong & Manh-Tung Ho, 2019. "Internationalization and Its Discontents: Help-Seeking Behaviors of Students in a Multicultural Environment Regarding Acculturative Stress and Depression," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    3. Ioulia Solomou & Fofi Constantinidou, 2020. "Prevalence and Predictors of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Compliance with Precautionary Measures: Age and Sex Matter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-19, July.
    4. repec:cup:judgdm:v:6:y:2011:i:6:p:565-579 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Henry Kaiser, 1974. "An index of factorial simplicity," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 39(1), pages 31-36, March.
    6. Amy Roberts & Gregory S. Ching, 2021. "The Ebb and Flow of Study Abroad: A Comparative Analysis of PRC and International Students in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.
    7. Hye Bin Rim & Brandon M. Turner & Nancy E. Betz & Thomas E. Nygren, 2011. "Studies of the dimensionality, correlates, and meaning of measures of the maximizing tendency," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(6), pages 565-579, August.
    8. Christian Acal & Ana M. Aguilera & Manuel Escabias, 2020. "New Modeling Approaches Based on Varimax Rotation of Functional Principal Components," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-15, November.
    9. Michał Machul & Monika Bieniak & Justyna Chałdaś-Majdańska & Jadwiga Bąk & Agnieszka Chrzan-Rodak & Paulina Mazurek & Piotr Pawłowski & Daria Makuch-Kuśmierz & Anna Obuchowska & Adrianna Bartoszek & K, 2020. "Lifestyle Practices, Satisfaction with Life and the Level of Perceived Stress of Polish and Foreign Medical Students Studying in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    10. Minh Hoang Nguyen & Tam Tri Le & Serik Meirmanov, 2019. "Depression, Acculturative Stress, and Social Connectedness among International University Students in Japan: A Statistical Investigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gregory S. Ching & Pei-Ching Chao & Yi-Shan Kuo & Amy Roberts, 2021. "Effects of Cognitive Knowledge and Intercultural Behavioral Skills on Cultural Stereotypes and Intercultural Affect: A Case of Elementary Students’ Perspective on Islam," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-21, December.
    2. Gregory-Siy Ching, 2021. "The Moderating Role of Personality in the Relationship between Internet Use and Study Abroad Difficulties," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Jayaram, Jayanth & Tan, Keah-Choon, 2010. "Supply chain integration with third-party logistics providers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(2), pages 262-271, June.
    4. Jaime Martín-Martín & Bella Pajares-Hachero & Emilio Alba-Conejo & Nuria Ribelles & Antonio I. Cuesta-Vargas & Cristina Roldán-Jiménez, 2023. "Validation of the Upper Limb Functional Index on Breast Cancer Survivor," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-10, March.
    5. Hauck, Jana & Suess-Reyes, Julia & Beck, Susanne & Prügl, Reinhard & Frank, Hermann, 2016. "Measuring socioemotional wealth in family-owned and -managed firms: A validation and short form of the FIBER Scale," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 133-148.
    6. Fen Ren & Kexin Wang, 2022. "Modeling of the Chinese Dating App Use Motivation Scale According to Item Response Theory and Classical Test Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    7. Trung Tran & Manh-Toan Ho & Thanh-Hang Pham & Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Khanh-Linh P. Nguyen & Thu-Trang Vuong & Thanh-Huyen T. Nguyen & Thanh-Dung Nguyen & Thi-Linh Nguyen & Quy Khuc & Viet-Phuong La & Qua, 2020. "How Digital Natives Learn and Thrive in the Digital Age: Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-24, May.
    8. Ernest Bielinis & Jianzhong Xu & Aneta Anna Omelan, 2020. "A Novel Anti-Environmental Forest Experience Scale to Predict Preferred Pleasantness Associated with Forest Environments," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Raveenajit Kaur A. P. & Kalvant Singh & Alberto Luis August, 2021. "Exploring the Factor Structure of the Constructs of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK): An Exploratory Factor Analysis Based on the Perceptions of TESOL Pre-Service Teachers at ," Research Journal of Education, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 7(2), pages 103-115, 06-2021.
    10. Cemil Kuzey, 2018. "Impact of Health Care Employees Job Satisfaction on Organizational Performance Support Vector Machine Approach," Journal of Economics and Financial Analysis, Tripal Publishing House, vol. 2(1), pages 45-68.
    11. Katharina Fellnhofer & Kaisu Puumalainen & Helena Sjögrén, 0. "Entrepreneurial orientation in work groups – effects of individuals and group characteristics," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-37.
    12. Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Manh-Toan Ho & Quynh-Yen T. Nguyen & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2019. "A Dataset of Students’ Mental Health and Help-Seeking Behaviors in a Multicultural Environment," Data, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-16, August.
    13. Silvia Mariela Méndez-Prado & Vanessa Rodriguez & Kevin Peralta-Rizzo & Patricia Everaert & Martin Valcke, 2023. "An Assessment Tool to Identify the Financial Literacy Level of Financial Education Programs Participants’ Executed by Ecuadorian Financial Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    14. César Torres Martín & Christian Acal & Mohammed El Homrani & Ángel Custodio Mingorance Estrada, 2021. "Impact on the Virtual Learning Environment Due to COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Katharina Fellnhofer & Kaisu Puumalainen & Helena Sjögrén, 2017. "Entrepreneurial orientation in work groups – effects of individuals and group characteristics," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 427-463, June.
    16. Wen-Jye Shyr & Wei-Sho Ho & Jie-Ru Chen & Li-Ya Chang & I-Min Chen, 2022. "Effectiveness of Social Participation Courses Applied in the Disaster Prevention for Taiwanese K-12 Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, July.
    17. Tikas, Gaurav Dilip, 2023. "Team innovation capability: Scale development and validation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    18. Cheng Chen & Susanne Weyland & Julian Fritsch & Alexander Woll & Claudia Niessner & Alexander Burchartz & Steffen C. E. Schmidt & Darko Jekauc, 2021. "A Short Version of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale: Development and Psychometric Properties," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Lasuli Bakalikwira & Juma Bananuka & Twaha Kaawaase Kigongo & Doreen Musimenta & Veronica Mukyala, 2017. "Accountability in the public health care systems: A developing economy perspective," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1334995-133, January.
    20. Ruining Jin & Tam-Tri Le & Thu-Trang Vuong & Thi-Phuong Nguyen & Giang Hoang & Minh-Hoang Nguyen & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2023. "A Gender Study of Food Stress and Implications for International Students Acculturation," World, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-15, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2409-:d:753462. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.