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Sociocultural adjustment among sojourning Malaysian students in Britain: a replication and path analytic extension

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Abstract

The present study examined the sociocultural adjustment of 249 sojourning Malaysian undergraduates in Britain. One-hundred and ten Malay and 139 Chinese students enrolled in various courses answered a self-report questionnaire that examined various aspects of sociocultural adjustment and socio-demographics. Overall, Malay students reported significantly poorer sociocultural adjustment than Chinese students, as well as more negative outcomes on a range of predictors. Path analysis for the total sample showed that higher family income led to greater sociocultural adjustment, but partially because it led to more contact with host and conationals, better language proficiency, lower perceived cultural differences and less perceived discrimination. Moreover, participants with higher English proficiency were better adapted, but partially because they perceived less cultural differences as well as having more contact with host nationals. Additionally, individuals reporting better sociocultural adjustment also reported better health statuses. The same model was equally useful at predicting sociocultural adjustment for both Malay and Chinese participants. These results are discussed in terms of the role played by income in buffering against the negative aspects of sociocultural adjustment.

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Notes

  1. At the time the study was conducted, one Malaysian Ringgit was roughly the equivalent of 0.14 British Pounds, 0.20 Euros, or 0.30 United States Dollars.

  2. Although not a variable of interest in the present study, it should be noted that the language of choice when completing the questionnaire would be expected to covary with other criterion variables. The opportunity to decide which language to use when completing the questionnaire, however, was deemed important in order to maximise participants’ understanding of the included items.

  3. The parsimony goodness-of-fit indicator (PGFI) is a measure of power and is optimal around 0.50. For the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA), values of 0.08 or below indicate good fit for the model. Finally, for the CFI (comparison of the hypothesised model with a model in which all correlations among variables are zero), values around 0.90 indicate very good fit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW, UK

    Viren Swami

  2. Department of Psychology, HELP University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Viren Swami

  3. Winnicott Research Unit, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Adriane Arteche

  4. Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK

    Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

  5. Division of Psychology and Languages Sciences, University College London, London, UK

    Adrian Furnham

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  1. Viren Swami
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  2. Adriane Arteche
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  3. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
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  4. Adrian Furnham
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Correspondence to Viren Swami.

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Swami, V., Arteche, A., Chamorro-Premuzic, T. et al. Sociocultural adjustment among sojourning Malaysian students in Britain: a replication and path analytic extension. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 45, 57–65 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0042-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0042-4

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