Acculturative Stress,English Confidence,and International Chinese Students

An online survey with 361 respondents sought to determine whether self-reported measures of English confidence as well as English language test scores were associated with reported stress levels experienced while studying abroad.The results were found to be negatively linearly related,with greater English confidence being associated with lower reported stress.Further analyses indicated that the relationship between subjective English ability and stress was mediated by its relationship with social interaction with friends native to the country of residence,and a final multiple mediator model supported the conclusion that test scores predict greater English confidence,which in turn predicts greater social engagement with natives,which in turn is associated with lower stress.