Factors Related to the Social Self-Efficacy of Chinese International Students

This study indicates that the social self-efficacy of 203 Chinese and Taiwanese international students was significantly higher when they were asked to consider their interactions among fellow native language speakers than when they were asked to imagine themselves interacting in English-speaking settings. And in fact, the social self-efficacy of these students in native language settings was as high as the highest levels of social self-efficacy found in African American students in a previous sample of college students. Other findings show that social self-efficacy in the English setting was significantly and positively related to English proficiency, length of residence in the United States, and unconditional self-regard and was negatively related to acculturation stress. Regression analyses indicate that social self-efficacy in English settings and unconditional self-regard were related to acculturation stress, accounting for 38% of the variance in stress. Implications for the adjustment and counseling of international students studying in the United States are discussed.