Cross-cultural adjustment of Chinese students in Japan

The present study examined responses of 92 Chinese students in Japan to questionnaires which included adjustment items selected from work of Baker in 1981 and Uehara in 1988. These items were classified by factor analysis into four scales of Emotional, Academic, Cultural-Social, and Environmental. Adjustment scores on the Environmental scale were higher than those on the other three scales. Country of origin was a significant influence only for scores on the Environmental scale. Students who came from Taiwan scored higher on adjustment. There were gender differences on Emotional and Academic scales; male students reported higher adjustment. The effects of students' length of residence and proficiency in the Japanese language could be seen in scores on Academic and Cultural-Social scales; the students who had a longer period of stay or had higher proficiency in Japanese language had higher scores on adjustment. Thus, results indicated that personal differences were reflected in subfactors of adjustment.