Cross-cultural adaptation starts with communication, proceeds in and through communication, and is revealed in host communication competence. Based on this conceptualization, this study examines the relationship between psychological adjustment and cultural communication competence among members of immigrant families. Participants included 124 seventh- and eighth-grade Chinese-Canadian adolescents, together with 48 fathers and 64 mothers. The adolescents were group-administered the adolescent version of the Host and Native Communication Competence Scale, the How-I-Feel questionnaire, and the Children's Depression Inventory. Parents completed questionnaries concerning their own host and native communication competence and their children's psychological adjustment. Adolescents' host communication competence was correlated negatively with psychological problems, whereas their native communication competence was nonsignificantly associated with psychological problems. In addition, interactions between adolescents' host and native communication competence and parents' host and native communication competence were found to predict adolescents' psychological adjustment. Implications of findings are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Achenbach, T. M.
(1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist / 4-18 and 1991 profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
2.
Adler, P.
(1987). Culture shock and the cross-cultural learning experience. In L. Luce & E. Smith (Eds.), Toward internationalism (pp. 24-35). Cambridge, MA: Newbury.
3.
Aiken, L. S.
, & West, S. G. (1992). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
4.
Aronowitz, M.
(1984). The social and emotional adjustment of immigrant children: A review of the literature. International Migration Review, 28, 237-257.
5.
Asher, S. R.
, Hymel, S., & Renshaw, P. D. (1984). Loneliness in children. Child Development, 55, 1456-1464.
6.
Bandura, A.
(1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
7.
Baptiste, D. A.
(1993). Immigrant families, adolescents, and acculturation: Insights for therapists. Marriage and Family Review, 19, 341-363.
8.
Berndt, T. J.
(1992). Child development. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
9.
Berndt, T. J.
, Cheung, P. C., Lau, S., Hau, K., & Lew, W. J. F. (1993). Perceptions of parenting in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Sex differences and societal differences. Developmental Psychology, 29, 156-164.
10.
Bond, M. H.
(Ed.). (1986). The psychology of Chinese people. Hong Kong: University Press.
11.
Charron, D. W.
, & Ness, R. C. (1981). Emotional distress among Vietnamese adolescents. Journal of Refugee Settlement, 1, 7-15.
12.
Chataway, C. J.
, & Berry, J. W. (1989). Acculturation experiences, appraisal, coping, and adaptation: A comparison of Hong Kong Chinese, French, and English students in Canada. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 21, 295-309.
13.
Chen, L.
(1994). How we know what we know about Americans: How Chinese sojourners account for their experiences. In A. Gonzalez, M. Houston, & V. Chen (Eds.), Our voices: Essays in culture, ethnicity, and communication (pp. 125-132). Los Angeles: Roxbury.
14.
Chen, P. W.
(1977). Chinese-Americans view their mental health. San Francisco: R & E Research Associates.
15.
Chen, X., Dong, Q., & Zhou, H. (1995). Authoritative and authoritarian parenting practices and school performance in Chinese children: A cross-cultural perspective. Unpublished manuscript, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
16.
Chen, X.
, Rubin, K. H., & Li, B. (1995). Depressed mood in Chinese children: Relations with school performance and family environment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63, 938-947.
17.
Chen, X.
, Rubin, K. H., & Sun, Y. (1992). Social reputation and peer relationship in Chinese and Canadian children: A cross-cultural study. Child Development, 63, 1336-1343.
18.
Chiu, M. L.
, Feldman, S. S., & Rosenthal, D. A. (1992). The influence of immigration on parental behavior and adolescent distress in Chinese families residing in two Western nations. Journal of Research in Adolescence, 2, 205-237.
19.
Eitinger, L.
(1981). Feeling “at home”: Immigrants' psychological problems. In L. Eitinger & D. Schwarz (Eds.), Strangers in the world (pp. 84-105). Vienna: Huber.
20.
Eppink, A.
(1979). Social psychological problems of migrant child and cultural conflicts. International Migration, 17, 87-119.
21.
Erikson, E.
(1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
22.
Evans, B.
, & Lee, B. K. (1998). Culture and child psychopathology. In S. S. Kazarian & D. R. Evans (Eds.), Cultural clinical psychology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 289-315). New York: Oxford University Press.
23.
Fogel, A.
(1993). Developing through relationships: Origins of communication, self, and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
24.
Furnham, A.
(1988). The adjustment of sojourners. In Y. Kim & W. Gudykunst (Eds.), Cross-cultural adaptation (pp. 42-61). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
25.
Ghaffarian, S.
(1987). The acculturation of Iranians in the United States. The Journal of Social Psychology, 127, 565-571.
26.
Giles, H.
, & Coupland, N. (1991). Language: Contexts and consequences. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
27.
Gudykunst, W. B.
, & Kim, Y. Y. (1997). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
28.
Hart, C. H.
, DeWolf, D. M., Wozniak, P., & Burts, D. C. (1992). Maternal and paternal disciplinary styles: Relations with preschoolers' playground behavioral orientations and peer status. Child Development, 63, 879-892.
29.
Hess, R. D.
, Holloway, S. D., Price, G. G., & Dickson, W. P. (1982). Family environments and the acquisition of reading skills: Toward a more precise analysis. In L. M. Laosa & I. E. Siegel (Eds.), Families as learning environments for children (pp. 87-114). New York: Plenum.
30.
Kealey, D. J.
(1989). A study of cross-cultural effectiveness: Theoretical issues, practical applications. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 13, 387-427.
31.
Kim, Y. Y.
(1977). Communication patterns of foreign immigrants in the process of acculturation. Human Communication Research, 2, 127-224.
32.
Kim, Y. Y.
(1988). Communication and cross-cultural adaptation: An integrative theory. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
33.
Kim, Y. Y.
(1994). Interethnic communication: The context and the behavior. In S. A. Deetz (Ed.), Communication yearbook (Vol. 17, pp. 511-538). New Brunswick, NJ: International Communication Association.
34.
Kim, Y. Y.
(1995). Cross-cultural adaptation: An integrated theory. In R. L. Wiseman (Ed.), Intercultural communication theory: Vol. 19. International and intercultural communication annual (pp. 170-193). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
Kim, Y. Y.
(1997). Adapting to a new culture. In L. A. Samovar and R. E. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (8th ed., pp. 404-416). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
36.
Kovacs, M.
(1992). The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) manual. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
37.
Lambert, W. E.
(1987). The fate of old-country values in a new land: A cross-national study of child-rearing. Canadian Psychology, 28, 9-20.
38.
Lazarus, R. S.
, & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
39.
Leung, A. C.
(1992). The “astronaut”: A unique immigration phenomenon and its psychological impacts. Bulletin of the Hong Kong Psychological Society, 28-29, 137-145.
40.
Medrich, E.
, Ruizen, J., Rubin, V., & Buckley, S. (1982). The serious business of growing up: A study of children's lives outside of school. Berkeley: University of California Press.
41.
Nguyen, N. A.
, & Williams, H. L. (1989). Transition from East to West: Vietnamese adolescents and their parents. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 505-515.
42.
Padilla, A. M.
(1980). The role of cultural awareness and ethnic loyalty in acculturation. In A. M. Padilla (Ed.), Acculturation: Theory, models, and some new findings (pp. 47-84). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
43.
Ramirez, M., III.
(1991). Psychotherapy and counseling with minorities: A cognitive approach to individual and cultural differences. New York: Pergamon.
44.
Rosenthal, D. A.
, & Cichello, A. M. (1986). The meeting of two cultures: Ethnic identity and psychosocial adjustment of Italian-Australian adolescents. International Journal of Psychology, 21, 487-501.
45.
Sarda, M.
(1990). Beyond bilingualism: Providing mental health services to Franco-Ontario children. Children's Mental Health, 3, 2-6.
46.
Searle, W.
, & Ward, C. (1990). The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14, 449-494.
47.
Sluzki, C. E.
(1979). Migration and family conflict. Family Process, 18, 379-390.
48.
Stevens, J.
(1996). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
49.
Tabachnick, B. G.
, & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics (2nd ed.). New York: Harper Collins.
50.
Wittkower, E. D.
, & Fried, J. (1958). Some problems of transcultural psychiatry. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 3, 242-252.
51.
Yu, L. C.
(1984). Acculturation and stress within Chinese-American families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 15, 77-94.
52.
Yu, L. C.
, & Harburg, E. (1980). Acculturation and stress among Chinese Americans in a university town. International Journal of Group Tensions, 10, 99-119.
53.
Yu, L. C.
, & Harburg, E. (1981). Filial responsibility to aged parents: Stress of Chinese-Americans. International Journal of Group Tensions, 11, 47-58.
54.
Zigler, E. F.
, & Stevenson, M. F. (1993). Children in changing world: Development and social issues. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
