Acculturation in a sibling culture: The psychological and academic adaptation of mainland Chinese university students in Hong Kong

Existing research on the psychosocial and academic experiences of China-born students studying outside of China has primarily been conducted in English-speaking countries using acculturation models. Such research has generally indicated the importance of various personal and interpersonal resources in understanding China-born and other international students' cross-cultural adaptation. Using a similar coping resources framework, we investigated factors in both the psychological and academic adaptation of a survey sample of 2,201 mainland Chinese students (74% female) studying in universities in Hong Kong, China's Special Administrative Region. We found that academic self-efficacy, social support, and a low level of perceived discrimination predicted both psychological and academic adaptation, while proficiency in English and Cantonese further contributed to mainland Chinese students' academic adaptation. Implications for future research and higher education policies and practices are discussed. Copyright © 2019 The 11th IAIR Biennial Conference and the 15th CAFIC Annual Conference.