Abstract
Chinese people immigrating to North America are subject to specific Stressors in moving to a new country, and, furthermore, these factors interact with their cultural background to produce higher levels of anxiety than are commonly believed to exist. The present study compared the responses of 60 Chinese and 60 Caucasian Canadian students to questionnaires measuring multidimensional trait and state anxiety. As predicted, the Chinese students endorsed significantly higher levels of trait anxiety for ambiguous situations and daily routines than did the Caucasians. Moreover, they were also significantly more likely than the Caucasians to rate the research situation as being ambiguous and threatening. Of all the possible background variables tested, English fluency was the single most powerful covariate that was predictive of the results, with those students who indicated a lowered English proficiency tending to score higher across all four facets of trait anxiety. As the Chinese students were also significantly more likely than the Caucasians to indicate a lower level of English fluency, the present results are supportive of the likelihood that lack of familiarity with the adopted culture and language may contribute to adjustment difficulties in Chinese immigrants.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldwin, C. & Greenberger, E. (1987). Cultural differences in the prediction of depression. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 789–813.
Beiser, M. (1988). Influences of time, ethnicity, and attachment on depression in Southeast Asian refugees. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 46–51.
Berk, B. B. & Hirata, L. S. (1973). Mental illness among the Chinese: Myth or reality? Journal of Social Issues, 29, 149–166.
Blankstein, K. R. & Flett, G. L. (1992). Specificity in the assessment of daily hassles: Hassles, locus of control, and adjustment of college students. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 24, 382–398.
Brown, T., Stein, K., Huang, K. & Harris, D. (1973). Mental illness and the role of mental health facilities in Chinatown. In S. Sue & N. Wagner (Eds.), Asian-Americans: Psychological Perspectives (pp. 212–23 1). Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.
Chan, S. & Leong, C. W. (1994). Chinese families in transition: Cultural conflicts and adjustment problems. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 3, 263–281.
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 Behavioural Science, 21, 295–309.
Chen, P. W. (1977). Chinese Americans view their mental health. San Francisco, CA: R. & E. Research Associates, Inc.
Church, A. T. (1982). Sojourner adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 540–572.
Crystal, D. S., Chen, C., Fuligni, A. J., Stevenson, H. W., Hsu, C. C., Ko, H. J., Kitamura, S. & Kimura, S. (1994). Psychological maladjustment and academic achievement: A cross-cultural study of Japanese, Chinese, and American high school students. Child Development, 65, 738–753.
Dion, K. L. & Dion, K. K. (1996). Chinese adaptation to foreign cultures. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology (pp. 457–478). Quarry Bay, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Dion, K. L., Dion, K. K. & Pak, A. W. (1992). Personality-based hardiness as a buffer for discrimination-related stress in members of Toronto's Chinese community. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 24, 517–536.
Dion, K. L. & Giordano, C. (1990). Ethnicity and sex as correlates of depression symptoms in a Canadian university sample. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 36, 30–41.
Dion, K. L. & Toner, B. B. (1987). Ethnic differences in test anxiety. Journal of Social Psychology, 128, 165–172.
Dyal, J. A. & Chan, C. (1985). Stress and distress: A study of Hong Kong Chinese and Euro-Canadian students. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16, 447–466.
Dyal, J. A. & Dyal, R. (1981). Acculturation, stress and coping: Some implications for research and education. Journal of Intercultural Relations, 5, 301–328.
Endler, N. S. (1975). A person-situation interaction model of anxiety. In C. D. Spielberger & I. G. Sarason (Eds.), Stress and Anxiety (Vol. 1; pp. 145–164). Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation (Wiley).
Endler, N. S. (1983). Interactionism: A personality model, but not yet a theory. In M. M. Page (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation 1982: Personality-Current Theory and Research (pp. 155–200). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Endler, N. S. (1988). Hassles, health and happiness. In M. P. Janisse (Ed.), Individual Differences. Stress & Health Psychology (pp. 24–56). New York: Springer.
Endler, N. S. (1997). Stress, anxiety and coping: The multidimensional interaction model. Canadian Psychology, 38, 136–153.
Endler, N. S., Edwards, J. M. & Vitelli, R. (1991). Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS): Manual. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Endler, N. S., Edwards, J. M., Vitelli, R. & Parker, J. D. A. (1989). Assessment of state and trait anxiety: Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales. Anxiety Research, 2, 1–14.
Endler, N. S. & Kocovski, N. L. (in press). State and trait anxiety revisited. Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
Graham, M. A. (1983). Acculturative stress among Polynesian, Asian and American students on the Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 7, 79–103.
Harrison, J. (1992, October 15). Asia. The Toronto Star, p. E1.
Hodgkin, M. C. (1978). Acculturative stress among Asian students in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 13, 139–149.
Holmes, T. H. & Masuda, M. (1974). Life change and illness susceptibility. In B. S. Dohrenwend & B. P. Dohrenwend (Eds.), Stressful life events: Their nature and effects (pp. 45–72). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Jou, Y. H. & Fukada, H. (1996). The causes and influence of transitional stress among Chinese students in Japan. Journal of Social Psychology, 136, 501–509.
Kaplan, H. B. (1983). Psychological distress in sociological context: Toward a general theory of psychosocial stress. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Trends in theory and research (pp. 195–264). New York: Academic Press.
Kim. B. L. C. (1978). The Asian Americans: Changing patterns, changing needs. Montclair, NJ: Association of K.C.S. in North America.
Kleinman, A. M. (1980). Patients and healers in the context of culture: An exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine and psychiatry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Klopf, D. W. & Cambra, R. E. (1979). Communication apprehension among college students in America, Australia, Japan and Korea. Journal of Psychology, 102, 27–31.
Kuo. W. H. (1984). Prevalence of depression among Asian-Americans. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 449–457.
Kuo, W. H. & Tsai, Y. M. (1986). Social networking, hardiness and immigrant’s mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 27, 133–149.
Lalonde, R. N. & Cameron, J. E. (1993). An intergroup perspective on immigrant acculturation with a focus on collective strategies. International Journal of Psychology, 28, 57–74.
Lee, E. (1996). Chinese families. In M. McGoldrick, J. Giordano & J. K. Pearce (Eds.), Ethnicity and family therapy (pp. 249–267). New York: Guilford Press.
Lin, K. M., Masuda. M. & Tazuma, L. (1982). Adaptational problems of Vietnamese refugees, part III. Case studies in clinical and field: Adaptive and maladaptive. University of Ottawa Psychiatric Journal, 7, 173–183.
Liu, W. T. (1986). Culture and social support. Research on Aging, 8, 57–83.
Loo, C., Tong, B. & True, R. (1989). A bitter bean: Mental health status and attitudes in Chinatown. Journal of Community Psychology, 17, 283–296.
McQuaide, S. (1989). Working with Southeast Asian refugees. Clinical Social Work Journal. 17, 165–176.
Murphy, H. B. M. (1982). Neuroses and other minor disorders. In Comparative Psychiatry: The International and Intercultural Distribution of Mental Illness. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Naditch, M. P. & Morrissey, R. F. (1976). Role stress, personality, and psychopathology in a group of immigrant adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 85, 113–118.
Neki, J. S. (1973). Psychiatry in South-East Asia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 257–269.
Newcomb, M. D., Huba, G. J. & Bentler, P. M. (1986). Desirability of various life change events among adolescents: Effect of exposure, sex, age and ethnicity. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 207–227.
Nguyen, S. D. (1982). Psychiatric and psychosomatic problems among Southeast Asian refugees. The Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 7, 163–172.
Nguyen, S.D. (1984). Mental health services for refugees and immigrants. The Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 9, 85–91.
Nicassio, P. M. (1983). Psychosocial correlates of alienation: The study of a sample of Indochinese refugees. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 14, 337–351.
Nicassio, P. M. (1985). The psychosocial adjustment of the South East Asian refugee: An overview of empirical findings and theoretical models. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16, 153–173.
Nicassio, P. M., Solomon, G. S., Guest, S. S. & McCullough, J. E. (1986). Emigration stress and language proficiency as correlates of depression in a sample of southeast Asian refugees. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 32, 22–28.
Oka, B. J., Cambra, R. E. & Klopf, D. W. (1979). Reducing apprehension about communication. Psychological Reports, 44, 430.
Padilla, A. M., Wagatsuma. Y. & Lindholm, K. J. (1984). Acculturation and personality as predictors of stress in Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Journal of Social Psychology, 125, 295–305.
Pearlin, L. I. & Schooler. C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 2–21.
Rin, H., Schooler, C. & Caudill, W. A. (1978). Culture, social structure, and psychopathology in Taiwan and Japan. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 157, 296–312.
Ryan, A. S. (1985). Cultural factors in casework with Chinese-Americans. Social Casework, 66, 333–340.
Schwarz, E. & Birn, H. (1995). Dental anxiety in Danish and Chinese adults—A cross-cultural perspective. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 123–130.
Situ. Y., Austin, T. & Liu, W. (1995). Coping with anomic stress: Chinese students in the USA. Deviant Behaviour: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 16, 127–149.
Soskoline, V. (1984). The effects of ethnic origin on personality resources and psychophysiological health in a chronic stress situation: The case of spouses of dialysis patients. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 21, 137–150.
Spielberger, C. D. (1972). Anxiety as an emotional state. In C. D. Spielberger (Ed.), Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press.
Sue, D. W. & Kirk, B. A. (1975). Asian Americans: Use of counseling and psychiatric services on a college campus. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 22, 84–86.
Sue, D. W. & Morishima, J. K. (1982). The mental health of Asian Americans. San Francisco. CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Sung, B. L. (1985). Bicultural conflicts in Chinese immigrant children. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 16, 255–269.
Tseng, W. S. & McDermott, J. F. Jr. (1981). Minor psychiatric disorder. In Culture, mind, and therapy: Introduction to cultural psychiatry. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Tung. N. P. (1986). The mental health problems of Vietnamese in Calgary: Major aspects and implications for service. Canada's Mental Health, 34, 5–9.
U. S. Department of Commerce Economics & Statistics Administration Bureau of the Census. (1992). 1990 census of population: General population characteristics metropolitan areas. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Wong, P. T. P. & Reker, G. T. (1985). Stress, coping and well-being in Anglo and Chinese elderly. Canadian Journal on Aging, 4, 29–37.
bc]Yee, B. W. K. & Hennessy, S. T. (1982). Pacific/Asian American families and mental health. In F. U. Munoz & R. Endo (Eds.), Perspectives on minority group mental health (pp. 53-70). University Press of America.
Yee, B. W. K. & Thu, N. D. (1987). Correlates of drug use and abuse among Indochinese refugees: Mental health implications. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 19, 77–83.
Ying, Y. W. (1988). Depressive symptomatology among Chinese-Americans as measured by the CES-D. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 739–746.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is based in part on an M.A. thesis in psychology at York University by the first author under the supervision of the second author. This research was supported in part by a research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to the second author (Grant No. 410-94-1473).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lin, M.C., Endler, N.S. & Kocovski, N.L. State and trait anxiety: A cross-cultural comparison of Chinese and Caucasian students in Canada. Curr Psychol 20, 95–111 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-001-1006-3
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-001-1006-3