Yuh Huey Jou

Stress and Social Support in Mental and Physical Health of Chinese Students in Japan

This study examined the influence of stress and social support on mental and physical health and happiness of 175 Chinese students enrolled in 13 Japanese universities. Needed support accounted for only 10% of the variance in reported stress, indicating that the relation between the two variables was not strong and they were generally independent. With greater scores on stress or needed support and lower scores on perceived or received support, depression and somatic complaints become more severe. The higher the scores on perceived or received support, the higher the reported happiness Both perceived and received support showed a buffering effect on somatic complaints. Finally, stress and needed support had an interesting interaction, indicating that only among students reporting more stress did students who experienced greater need for support report more severe depression than those who experienced less need for support.

Effects of Social Support on Adjustment of Chinese Students in Japan.

Abstract The present study examined the effects on adjustment of three dimensions of support (needed, perceived, or actual) and the gaps between those dimensions. Ninety-two Chinese students in Japan responded to questionnaires that included a social support scale and items measuring adjustment. Correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis consistently indicated that the relation between needed support and adjustment was strongly negative and that the relation between actual support and adjustment was positive but that there was no association of perceived support and adjustment. Perceived support had a positive effect on adjustment for students who had a high need for support but not for students with a low need for support (a buffering effect), and actual support had a positive effect on adjustment for all students (a direct effect). All of the support gaps were negatively related to adjustment, indicating that insufficient support was linked to poorer adjustment.

The Causes and Influence of Transitional Stress Among Chinese Students in Japan

The structure, characteristics, and influence of stressors among Chinese students in Japan were examined. One hundred seventy-five Chinese students completed questionnaires that included stressor items from Holmes and Rahe (1967) and Yo and Matsubara (1990) and mental-physical health items that assessed depression, somatic complaints, and happiness. Stressors among Chinese students in Japan were classified as 5 factors: Interpersonal Problems, Academic Problems, Health/Living Problems, Financial Anxiety, and Environmental Problems. These 5 factors accounted for 35%, 18%, and 4%, respectively, of the variance in depression, somatic complaints, and happiness. Thus, the factors were clearly detrimental to mental health but had a limited influence on physical health and happiness.

Effect of Social Support from Various Sources on the Adjustment of Chinese Students in Japan

The effect of source of social support on adjustment was examined, using measures of needed support, actual support, and the disparity between the two. The possible sources of social support were Japanese professors, Japanese students, other foreign students, and Japanese friends off-campus. Sixty-four Chinese students in Japan answered questionnaires that included an abbreviated version of the Social Support Scale for Chinese Students in Japan (Jou, 1993) and items about adjustment. The Chinese students who needed more support from Japanese students reported being more poorly adjusted. The Chinese students who received more support from Japanese professors reported being better adjusted, and the Chinese students who thought the support they received from Japanese professors was less than what they needed reported being more poorly adjusted. Thus, the effect of social support on adjustment varied according to source of support.

Family Relationship Quality and Its Psychological Effects Among Taiwanese Adolescents

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the characteristics and interactive factors of family relationship quality and its effect on various psychological well-being indicators among Taiwanese adolescents. Since grandparents are part of the extended family, which is the basic family unit in the Chinese system, the research framework incorporates both paternal and maternal grandparents in addition to both parents and siblings in the construction of family relationship quality. Data (n = 1,822) were based on a panel study conducted by the Taiwan Youth Project in 2005 (12th grade) and 2007 (14th grade). The analyses explore mainly the patterns and the effect of family relationship quality on Taiwanese adolescents’ psychological well-being. Latent class models and multiple regression models were used to generate adolescents’ family relationship quality, which can be categorized into Paternal Grandparents Close, Distant, Multiple Close, and Nuclear Close. The results confirm that adolescents’ family cohesion, self-esteem, and depression vary by their family relationship quality patterns. The particularity of East Asian adolescents is briefly discussed.