Comparisons of Chinese and European American college students on individual differences variables hypothesized to predict self-reported interpersonal competency.

Abstract

With the increasing economic development, more and more Westerners have opportunities to travel, study and work in China, which raises interesting questions regarding their abilities to establish interpersonal relationships with Chinese nationals. Previous research on cross-cultural adjustment speaks to the importance of effective interpersonal relationship with host nationals on the overall adjustment for expatriates. Efforts have been made to search for useful predictors that contribute to a successful adjustment process but the evidence is far from conclusive. The current study is designed to address some of the gaps in the literature by applying constructs such as naïve dialecticism, sense of self and indigenous Chinese personality traits, such as Interpersonal Relatedness, to investigate cross-cultural differences in establishing effective interpersonal relationships among Chinese and European American College Students. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated individually for both samples. Multiple regression for moderator analysis and Fisher's Z transformation were used to compare the differences in strengths of correlation coefficients for two samples. Results, limitations and directions for future research were discussed.