University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A case study of the applicability of Chickering’s theory of psychological development of Chinese international students in the American higher education settings

(USC Thesis Other)

A case study of the applicability of Chickering’s theory of psychological development of Chinese international students in the American higher education settings

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content Running head: CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 1

A Case Study of the Applicability of Chickering’s Theory of Psychological Development of
Chinese International Students in the American Higher Education Settings
By
Shuo Cheng

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF EDUCATION

August 2016

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 2
Abstract
The increasing number of international students has drawn attention to the multiple racial and
cultural concerns of this group in higher education settings. Comprising the largest portion of the
American international student population, Chinese students encounter multiple sociocultural
barriers to acquire learning experiences as meaningful as domestic students’ due to language
barriers, lack of belonging, and acculturation stress. Given the globalizing context and research
gap concerning the psychological development of this group, this study was designed to probe
into the identity development of Chinese international students in foreign higher education
institutions using Arthur Chickering’s (1993) seven vector theory. Employing qualitative case
study methodology, the researcher conducted 12 interviewees at T university, an international-
student-populated four-year institution located in the western United States. The study found the
psychological development pathway of Chinese international students aligned with most of the
components in the vectors identity by Chickering, whereas the discrepancies lie in the specific
development tasks in each vector. Discrimination, existence stress, and value collision are three
contextual factors that significantly influence Chinese international students’ psychological
development and their passive, help-seeking behavior result in generally low utilization rate of
the institutional support and services. Developing cultural classes, strengthening counseling
services, expanding international student services, and mentoring programs are four
recommendations proposed by this researcher.
Keywords: Chinese international students, Chickering, identity development, vectors
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 6
Background of the Problem .............................................................................................................. 6
Purpose of the study .......................................................................................................................... 8
Theory Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8
Importance of the Study .................................................................................................................... 9
Benefits of Addressing the Issue .................................................................................................... 10
Contribution to Literature ............................................................................................................... 12
Thesis Structure .............................................................................................................................. 13
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................. 15
Chickering’s Theory of Identity Development ............................................................................... 15
The Earlier Chickering Model ........................................................................................... 16
The Seven Vectors (1993) ................................................................................................. 17
Developing Competence ....................................................................................... 18
Managing Emotions .............................................................................................. 19
Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence .......................................... 19
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships .................................................. 20
Establishing Identity ............................................................................................. 20
Developing Purpose .............................................................................................. 20
Developing Integrity ............................................................................................. 21
Applications ....................................................................................................................... 21
Applications on Diverse Student Populations ................................................................................ 22
Women in College ............................................................................................................. 22
LGB Group ........................................................................................................................ 23
African American Students ................................................................................................ 25
Asian American Students .................................................................................................. 26
Applications ....................................................................................................................... 28
Research on Chinese International Students ................................................................................... 28
Language Barriers and Self-Efficacy ................................................................................. 29
Acculturation Stress ........................................................................................................... 30
Thinking Patterns ............................................................................................................... 31
Styles of Thinking ................................................................................................ 32
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 4
Maladaptive Perfectionism ................................................................................... 33
Applications ....................................................................................................................... 34
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 35
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD ................................................................... 39
Design of the Study ......................................................................................................................... 39
Qualitative Design ............................................................................................................. 39
A Case Study ..................................................................................................................... 40
Sample Selection ............................................................................................................... 41
Participants ........................................................................................................... 41
Setting ................................................................................................................... 41
Selecting Criteria .................................................................................................. 42
Data Collection and Analysis ......................................................................................................... 44
Conducting Interviews ....................................................................................................... 44
Analyzing Data .................................................................................................................. 45
Validity, Reliability and Ethics .......................................................................................... 46
Research Bias and Assumptions ..................................................................................................... 47
Translation Issues ........................................................................................................................... 47
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS ....................................................................................... 48
Seven Vectors of Identity Development ......................................................................................... 48
Developing Competence .................................................................................................... 51
Intellectual Competence ....................................................................................... 51
Physical and Manual Competence ........................................................................ 52
Interpersonal Competence .................................................................................... 53
Sense of Competence ............................................................................................ 54
Managing Emotions ........................................................................................................... 56
Academic Pressure ............................................................................................... 57
Relationships ........................................................................................................ 58
Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence ........................................................ 59
Emotional Independence and Instrumental Independence ................................... 60
Interdependence .................................................................................................... 61
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationship ................................................................. 62
Tolerance and Appreciation of Difference ........................................................... 63
Capacity for intimacy ........................................................................................... 64
Establishing Identity .......................................................................................................... 65
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 5
Comfort with Gender and Sexual Orientation ...................................................... 66
Self-acceptance ..................................................................................................... 67
Developing Purpose ........................................................................................................... 70
Vocational Plans and Personal Interest ................................................................ 70
Interpersonal and Family Commitment ................................................................ 72
Developing Integrity .......................................................................................................... 73
Humanizing Values .............................................................................................. 74
Personalizing Values ............................................................................................ 74
Developing Congruence .................................................................................................... 75
Contextual Factors that Influence Identity Development Process .................................................. 76
Discrimination ................................................................................................................... 76
Existence Stress ................................................................................................................. 78
Value Collision .................................................................................................................. 80
Utilizations of Student Services ...................................................................................................... 81
Academic Support Services ............................................................................................... 82
Counseling and Medical Services ...................................................................................... 83
Writing Center ................................................................................................................... 84
International Student Services ........................................................................................... 85
Career Counseling ............................................................................................................. 86
Mentoring Programs .......................................................................................................... 86
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 87
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS ....................................................................... 91
Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 91
Implications for Practices ............................................................................................................... 92
Diversity and Cultural Class .............................................................................................. 93
Counseling Services ........................................................................................................... 93
International Student Services ........................................................................................... 94
Mentoring Programs .......................................................................................................... 95
Future Research .............................................................................................................................. 96
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 97
References .................................................................................................................................................. 100
Appendix A: Semi-Structured Interview Protocol .................................................................................... 105
Appendix B: Research Questions, Theoretical Frameworks and Instrument ............................................ 108

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 6
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The expanding enrollment in American higher education indicates both that student
attendance is less exclusive than it used to be and that heterogeneity is increasing in college
student population (Altbach, 2011). As student groups become more diverse, student affairs
professionals and pertinent departments encounter emerging challenges concerning the topics of
integration, multiculturalism, race, class, and sexual orientation in higher education settings. A
rich body of literature has addressed different aspects of diversity issues in higher education, but
little has cast light on the saliency of identity in institutional culture and the diversity within
groups. Students of color and international students represent the intersection of power and
privilege discrepancies, particularly with respect to racial and cultural aspects in college settings.
Chinese international students, as the largest international student population in the United States
(Open Doors, 2014), present various facets of diversity issues in American higher education.
Through a qualitative case study of the Chinese international student group, this research
presents the investigation of the identity development pathway of international students
throughout college by applying Arthur W. Chickering’s (1993) theory of identity development as
a theoretical framework.
Background of the Problem
According to UNESCO (2009), the term international students refers to students who
leave their original country or territory and move to another country with the objective of
studying. The United States has been the leading host country for international students around
the world, and 274,439 Chinese students were enrolled by American colleges and universities in
2014 (Open Doors, 2014). Although international students and their families contribute 27
billion dollars to the U.S. economy per year (Open Doors, 2014), these students do not acquire
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 7
the learning experiences of the same quality as domestic students’ due to microaggressions from
the dominant cultural groups and ill-treatment on campus (Cormier, 2012). An achievement gap
still exists between international students and domestic students, and they have shown a higher
rate of anxiety and psychological disorders compared to their counterparts (Altbach, 2011). In
addition, Chinese international students constantly suffer from extreme pressure because of their
maladaptive perfectionism during the process of acculturation (Hamamura & Laird, 2014).
Power, privilege, and racism are often attributed to the majority or dominant cultural
groups, and people with privilege are assumed to represent the society as a whole (Johnson,
2005). Higher education is no exception in operating under this social privilege system. The
needs of dominant student groups with unearned advantages become the central concerns of
higher education institutions. In this way, minority student groups with multiple disadvantages
are experiencing significant oppression at school. Racial issues among international students are
profound because students from Asian and Latino countries comprise the very majority of
international student body (Gordon, 1992). International students, including Chinese
international students, is one of these student populations that needs special attention in their
academic, personal and professional needs. Various facets of diversity issues are presented
among international students, such as lack of sense of belonging (Lee & Rice, 2007), language
barriers (Bensimon, 2007), and sociocultural factors (Gordon, 1992). These issues are identified
as major reasons that prevent this special student population from acquiring meaning educational
experiences and achieving success in college after enrollment. Therefore, the purpose of this
study is to understand the identity development process of Chinese International students based
on Chickering’s (1993) seven vector model to address the issues concerning racial and cultural
accommodations of international students as well as the topic of institutional diversity.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 8
Purpose of the Study
The study aims to probe into the identity development of Chinese international students
in American higher education institutions in the dynamic global framework of race, gender,
sexual orientation, cultural background through Chickering’s (1993) college student identity
development theory. A qualitative case study is conducted in a four-year institution with an
international student presence, located in the Southwestern United States through interviewing
12 current Chinese students in this university. The data drawn from person-to-person interviews
were analyzed through constant comparison to highlight the major challenges and opportunities
as these students develop their identity in college. Recommendations and suggestions for
evidence-based practices were provided to give inspiration to higher education professionals to
foster the meaningful learning experiences of international students. The research questions that
guided this study are as follows:
1. What do Chinese international students experience during their identity development
process in college as they move through the vectors identified by Chickering (1993)?
2. What contextual factors contribute to the process of Chinese student’s identity
development in higher education settings?
3. How can student helping professionals, faculty, and institutions better accommodate
Chinese international students’ needs to develop identity throughout the college and
how can their effort initiate or respond to institutional change concerning diversity
issues?
Theory Introduction
Chickering and Reisser’s vectors (1993) of college students’ identity development serve
as the theoretical framework of the proposed study. In Chickering’s original model, introduced in
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 9
1969, he conceptualized the identity development process in a sequential seven-vector model
which is regarded as the foundation of college student psychological development theories
(Foubert, et al., 2005). One of the profound contributions of the initial model to the academia is
its recognition of the connection between student’s college experiences and their personal
development (Foubert, et al., 2005). As Reisser (1995) noticed the limit of the sample range and
the inclusiveness of diversity issues in the original theory, Chickering and Reisser (1993) refined
and reordered the vectors by incorporating the research findings from the past two decades,
especially from the application studies of the seven-vector model in diverse educational settings.
The revision redefined the identity development process of college students as they go through
the vector of Developing Competence, Managing Emotions, Moving Through Autonomy Toward
Interdependence, Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships, Establishing Identity,
Developing Purpose and Developing Integrity.
Distinguished from the “stage” proposed by Erikson (1959), Chickering used “vectors” to
conceptualize the series of steps that college students have been through in developing their
identity because it conveys direction and magnitude (Chickering, 1969). Although the seven
vectors are not defined as entirely sequential, students are required to develop more complexity
to progress to the next vector (Chickering and Reisser, 1993). Despite the fact that the theory is
not generalizable to diverse student populations, it is highly applicable in programming, student
affairs, and educational counseling. The research methodology and findings of previous studies
that testing Chickering’s theory on non-traditional students could serve as the valuable references
for the proposed research.
Importance of the Study
Understanding the identity development process of Chinese international students to
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 10
better serve their needs and facilitate their integration in American higher education is of crucial
importance; it benefits the social economy, higher education institutions, and their entire student
body in the Unites States. In academia, this study provides the research reference of the
application of Chickering’s (1993) identity development theory onto the Chinese international
students population; it fills the research gap concerning international college students’ identity
development and increases the knowledge of cross-cultural influence on the process of
developing international students’ identity.
Benefits of Addressing the Issue
Education has been recognized as the fifth largest export of American economy (Lee &
Rice, 207), and students coming from China comprise 31% of the entire 88,6052 international
student population in the Unites States (Open Doors, 2014). However, the growing high cost of
American college is not responding to increasing efforts to assist their learning. Meanwhile,
competition is rising from countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada that have
lower cost and less restrictive visa policies (Gordon, 1992). As China has become the largest
exporter of international students globally and the number is increasing at a record high rate
(Open Doors, 2014), it would be an indispensable step for American institutions to keep
competitiveness in global educational industry, to make global impact and to serve the public
good. Much research also solidly proves that international students can sufficiently foster the
worldwide intellectual exchange and prepare U.S. students to have a broader worldview and to
live productively in a globalizing world (Altbach, 2011). Since the domestic diversity may to
some degree being substituted by international diversity issues (Altbach, 2011), higher education
researchers and pertinent stakeholders need to prepare for new diversity topics and implement
evidence-based strategies to better address the diversity issues within and across
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 11
underrepresented groups. Therefore, the proposed study probes into international students’
collegiate experiences and concerns by conducting a case study of the identity development
pathway of the largest group of international students, Chinese international students.
At the institutional level, the research on international Chinese students’ identity
development provides grounds of building heterogeneity into educational programs by making
institutional change for emerging diversity problems of international students and student groups
with multi-diversity characteristics (Altbach, 2011). Because not every country or racial group
experiences the same quality of student advising or counseling services (McClellan et. al, 2011),
it is impossible to implement one-size-fit-all coping strategies for all student groups and for
problems that may not be identified yet. Therefore, conditions have to be created to
accommodate the special needs of Chinese international students, whose experiences not only
reflect the progress of institutional adjustment to racial or ethnic issues, but also represent
cultural diversity issues under the framework of power, privilege and oppression in higher
education settings. And without a thorough understanding of the dynamic between their identity
development and their college experiences, it would be impossible to implement the best
practices to facilitate healthy development of these students.
Moreover, a growing body of literature has demonstrated the significant benefits of
diversity to entire student body concerning their learning (such as cognitive complexity),
retention, and satisfaction (Milem, Chang & Antonio, 2005). Diversity groups’ interactions such
as those between domestic students and international students, white students and students of
color, can benefit the learning outcomes of individuals (Gurin, et al., 2002). Moreover, the
presence of diversity groups including international students can enhance the understanding of
other cultures and prepare students to tap into the global market. Additionally, large groups of
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 12
international students from one country on a campus, like Chinese students, tend to have a strong
pattern of group decision-making and prefer to turn to their fellow nationals for information
(Gordon, Habley & Grites, 2008), which decreases interactions with other students. In this way,
understanding the identity development of Chinese international students can navigate the
institutional and pertinent party’s intervention to encourage their engagement in campus life and
advocate for increasing integration among different cultural groups.
Contribution to Literature
The psychological development of college students has been a central focus for
postsecondary student affairs practitioners and researchers in the field of identity development in
educational settings. As Chickering’s theory (1969) illustrates how college experiences and the
significant dynamics within higher education environment shape students’ identity, college
students’ identity development has received attention from academia as a specific group, rather
than being generalized as young adults in previous research. Although the seven-vector model is
highly applicable in various settings to investigate, assess, and facilitate the the development of
students’ psychological identity, the original theory does not take into account the differences
within the college student population (Evans et cl., 2010). Discrepancies in gender, race or
ethnicity, sexual orientation and cultural backgrounds among college students can lead to a
disparate identity development process (Evans et cl., 2010) whereas the model is based on small
liberal arts college students who come from a relatively homogenous background. Reisser (1995)
also recognized the exclusiveness of diversity in the theory, and Schuh (1994) pointed out the
lack of Asian American and Native American students as one weakness of the theory. Therefore,
the research can enrich the diversity of the theory application by adding international students as
research samples, and contribute to the theory family of identity development of the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 13
heterogeneous college student population.
As Chickering’s theory has been tested and refined in multiple student populations and
educational institutions, studies particularly centered on underrepresented non-white,
homosexual, or female students are emerging. International students who have various culture-
and race-related concerns are also underrepresented in the existing curriculum, pedagogy,
student activities and campus culture, which adds a new interpretation of being “minority
students” in American colleges and universities. The shift in student demographics has caused
unprecedented challenges for accommodations from institutional policy, academic support as
well as student affairs and services (Altbach, 2011). Topics of promoting integration crossing the
discrepant cultural backgrounds require accountability of pertinent professions to cope with the
challenges that student affirmed in their development process, rather than empirical assumptions.
Existing studies that guided the cross-cultural practices in higher education institutions are socio-
historical orientated and phenomenon-based, which makes their findings hard to be generalized
to the constantly-changing student demographics in the dynamic higher education framework. In
this case, the study provides first-hand information from a psychosocial perspective by applying
Chickering’s theory to understand how Chinese international students perceive and develop their
identity in a foreign country and allows readers’ interpretations of the research outcomes. Future
research focusing on international college student population and the emerging minority student
groups would also benefit from this study.
Thesis Structure
The thesis includes four parts: an overview of the study and the research purpose are
introduced in chapter one; the second chapter will review Chickering’s (1969, 1993) theory, the
existing studies that applied the theory to diverse student populations and pertinent research on
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 14
Chinese international students. Chapter three demonstrates the rationality of using qualitative
approach as the research methodology, the execution of proposed research plan and how research
questions can be answered throughout data analysis. In the chapter four, research results will be
presented, reflected and articulated to support the research outcomes; and a summary of the
findings and implications of practices will be provided in the last chapter.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 15
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
A robust body of literature has investigated and tested the application of Chickering’s
identity development theory in various education settings. The research in earlier decades, based
on the first publication of Education and Identity (1969), overlooked the complexity of identity
and ignored the growing emphasis on incorporating diversity issues into the theory. Compared to
the white male with high socioeconomic status as the traditionally self-explanatory research body,
minority student populations from more diverse cultural-historical backgrounds have drawn the
attention of globalized scholarship. This chapter will introduce the theory and previous studies
that could serve as the theoretical foundation for the present study to answer the following
research questions:
1. What do Chinese international students experience during their identity development
process in college as they move through the vectors identified by Chickering (1993)?
2. What contextual factors contribute to the process of Chinese student’s identity
development in higher education settings?
3. How can student-helping professionals, faculty, and institutions better accommodate
Chinese international students’ needs to develop identity throughout the college and
how can their effort respond to institutional change concerning diversity issues?
Firstly, the literature will be reviewed in the areas including an overview and progress of
Chickering’s theory of Identity development, and the application of Chickeirng’s Theory on
minority student groups. Then, pertinent studies about Chinese international students’
development in higher education environment are considered.
Chickering’s Theory of Identity Development
Chickering is one of the major theorists of the 1960s that set the foundation of student
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 16
development theories by specifically concentrating on student development issues in college.
Following the steps of Erik Erikson’s theory of the human being’s psychological development
from adolescence through adulthood, Chickering (1969) proposed and revised with Reisser
(1993) in later works the seven vectors that contribute to the development of identity: Developing
Competence, Managing Emotions, Moving Through Autonomy Toward Interdependence,
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships, Establishing Identity, Developing Purpose and
Developing Integrity. These vectors provide a linear perspective to pinpoint the current stage of
students’ development of complexity and maturity, which make this model highly applicable in
student affairs and educational researches. The theories discussed in this chapter include
Chickering’s original theory in Education and Identity (1969) and the refined version in his later
work with Reisser (1993).
The Earlier Chickering Model
With respect the psychoanalytic theory from Freud and the psychosocial theory of Erik
Eriksson, Chickering’s model expanded the scope of development studies from childhood to
adulthood that focused on the psychological growth in social context rather than the internal
energy or ego defenses. Erikson (1959) defined identity as “the accrued confidence that one’s
ability to maintain inner sameness and continuity that matched by the sameness and continuity of
one’s meaning for others” (p. 135), and the process of identity formation embodies “a sexual
orientation, an ideological stance, and a vocational direction” (Marcia, 1980, p. 160). According
to Erikson, stabilization of identity is the primary task for young adults, and each individual has
to learn to accept extremes in life-stage challenges and reach integration by finding a conflict-
free psychological arrangement (Chickering & Reisser, 1993). Following the steps of Erikson,
Chickering shed light on the identity development of college students as young adults
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 17
specifically in his landmark publication Education and Identity (1969). The seven-vector model
introduced in this book are regarded as a highly valuable theoretical framework for higher
education research as well as a practical application for professionals that concern with the
present forms and future potentials of higher education (Chickering, 1969).
Based on Chickering’s research outcomes between 1959 and 1965 at Goddard University
and his later involvement in the Project on Student Development (NIMH Grant MHH 14780-04),
he proposed the seven vectors in his renowned publication Education and Identity (1969). These
vectors aimed to increase the working knowledge for faculties in higher education. Other than
concentrating on information and professional training, this book suggested application
alternatives for universities to take actions that emphasize “growing differentiation and
integration, greater coherence and stability and more effectiveness in adapting to the world”
among the young adults during their identity development in college (Chickering & Reissier,
1993). Distinguished from the Erikson’s Stages, Vector is presented by Chickering to describe
development because “each seems to have directions and magnitude” (Chickeirng, 1969, p. 8).
The original Seven Vectors include: developing competence, managing emotions, developing
autonomy, establishing identity, freeing interpersonal relationships, developing purpose, and
developing integrity. Each vector represents a specific area of the commonality of young adults’
identity development, and requires more complexity, strengths, skills and integration to progress
to the higher level.
The Seven Vectors (1993)
Because the actual progression of developing identity is not strictly linear, the sequential
model proposed by Chickering has various limitations in in terms of the individual differences as
well as the environmental factors in campus. Students might encounter the phase-specific
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 18
challenges at discrepant rates, and the complexity of the interactions between different vectors
cannot fit into the overly-simplified description of cognitive process. Therefore, Chickering and
Reisser (1993) refined the original theories by addressing the significance of student’s
experiences with relationships, interdependence, and intercultural tolerance in their identity
formation. More recent research and diversity issues (such as discrepancies in gender, ethnicity,
and sexual orientation) are also included in the revision.
Developing competence. Chickering and Reissier (1993) described competence as a
three-tined pitchfork, which represents three interrelated forms of competences as intellectual
competence, physical and manual competence, and interpersonal competence. Since it is
impossible to measure or observe the three forms of competence by viewing them separately, the
subjective process of constructing competence is literally a process of gaining the sense of
competence, which “stems from the confidence that one can cope with what comes and achieve
goals successfully” (Chickeing & Reisser, 1993, p. 53). According to Chickering, the three-tined
pitchfork can work productively with the joint contribution of all three types of competences and
the students’ rational self-assessment of their abilities.
Intellectual competence entails the capacity of information acquisition, problem-solving,
reasoning, creative thinking and creative learning, and it involves the mindset of comprehension,
reflection, analysis, synthesis, and interpretation. Physical and manual comprehension
encompasses athletic and artistic participation, the attention to wellness, and the utilization of
physical powers to realize “high performance, self-expression and creativity” (Chickering &
Reisser, 1993, p.72). Interpersonal competence is the ability to collaborate in a group,
participating in dialogues and to facilitate communication with others during interpersonal
interactions. Increments in competence lead to the increasing readiness to encounter the risks and
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 19
challenges in college settings. During this process, higher education serves as the mechanism to
foster the development of all three kinds of competences by assisting with students’ goal-
achieving and providing meaningful learning experiences.
Managing emotions. Students learn to recognize their negative as well as positive
emotions, and are able to accept, express and control emotions in the second vector. It is crucial
that students are challenged to practice self-regulation rather than self-repression when dealing
with various emotional issues. Anxiety, depression, anger, desire, guilt, and shame need to be
acknowledged and to be effectively handled by finding appropriate channels for releasing
irritations before they explode in severe emotional trauma. However, it is undeniable many
positive emotions like wonder, love, happiness, worship, relief, sympathy and feeling of
inspiration might influence individuals’ perceptions and their interpersonal relationships.
Consequently, students are not only expected to be aware of these feelings, but also learn to
“seek out, create, and savor the positive emotions of love, joy and hope” (Chickering & Reisser,
1993, p.87).
Moving through autonomy toward interdependence. In this vector, students are
required to be self-sufficient enough in decision-making and goal-seeking, to grow in
independence both emotionally and instrumentally, and to recognize then accept interdependence.
The manifestation of emotional interdependence is the willingness to pursing personal interests
regardless of the possible unsupportiveness from peers, friends, family, and institutions.
Instrumental independence contains the capability of critical thinking, resolving problems
independently, to practice mobility, and to acquire useful information in a self-directed manner.
Compared to the previous version, Chickering and Reisser (1993) place more emphasis on the
importance of interdependence and self-efficiency in the revision; theychanged the name of this
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 20
vector from developing autonomy to moving through autonomy toward interdependence.
Developing mature interpersonal relationships. This vector concerns tolerance and
appreciation of differences and the capacity for intimacy. Students are expected to acknowledge
and appreciate the differences between individuals inter-culturally and interpersonally. It is
significant that young adults are growing in tolerance for others in discrepant socio-cultural
contexts, developing empathy, and overcoming personal prejudices or stereotypes during the
interpersonal relationships in this vector. Moreover, a mature relationship means the
development of healthy intimacy, exploring self, and making long lasting commitment. This type
of relationship will free individuals from over-dependence or dominance, and demonstrate the
endeavor to achieve the equilibrium in powers that associate with growing intimacy. The
revision of the original vector, which is entitled freeing interpersonal relationships, incorporates
more intercultural components, and is moved prior to establishing identity to acknowledge the
tremendous impact of relationships in the identity formation (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).
Establishing identity. Development of identity entails the following: comfort with body
and appearance; comfort with gender and sexual orientation, sense of self in a social, historical,
and cultural context; clarification of self-concept through roles and life style; sense of self in
response to feedback from valued others; self-acceptance and self-esteem; and personal stability
and integration. This vector is built on the foundation of previous four vectors to reach a true
“self”. Complexity has been added in the revision to underscore the diversity issues in identity
development process in terms of individual differences in gender, ethnic background, and sexual
orientation (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).
Developing purpose. After students understand who they are and where they come from,
they are going to answer the question “where do I want to go or who do I want to be.” Students
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 21
are capable of exploring their interests, clarifying their goals, making purposeful decisions for
goal-achievement, and being persistent to defeat obstacles. The process of developing purpose
consists of three facets: vocational plans and aspirations, persona interest, and interpersonal and
family commitments. Vocation can be paid and unpaid positions, and it is vital for students to
discover what they want to do for career and how their vocation would contribute to establishing
their life philosophy. Interests serve as the origins of the vocational purpose, which is largely
influenced by the interrelationships of the students including their significant ones and family
members. Hence it is a life-long task to balance and compromise among the three aspects of
individual purpose, and to develop skillset and a life-style that would serving both vocational and
avocational goals.
Developing integrity. This vector consists of “three sequential but overlapping stages”:
humanizing values, personalizing values, and developing congruence (Chickeing & Reisser,
1993). Establishing identity and developing purpose provide the ground for “interpreting
experience, guiding behavior and maintain self-respect” (Chickeing & Reisser, p. 51). In this
stage, students intend to establish a humanized value system that weighs the connections
between personal interests and the interests of others, which is called “liberation of superego”
(Sanford, 1962, p.278). When values are constantly affirmed, students are able to generate their
core values and beliefs, and try to achieve the congruence with the social values in a broader
context.
Applications
Chickering’s identity development theories offer an applicable conceptual framework for
supporting and improving student’s education experiences at both institutional and individual
levels. Literature suggest the seven vector model is significantly effective in developing program
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 22
strategies and priorities (Evans et cl., 2009). Chickering’s theories can be applied to program
design and implementation to facilitate a specific aspect of student development, and at the same
time the model also gives an easy approach of program assessment. As for student affairs
professionals, knowing what students have been through and where are they heading can
efficiently navigate practices to deal with multiple concerns of students, like low self-esteem,
lack of involvement, and emotional traumas. Moreover, it also brings awareness to pertinent
stakeholders to create an educational environment that can promote integration, congruence,
collaboration and progression that serves the discrepant needs of the diversifying student
populations.
Applications on Diverse Student Populations
One of the major adjustments from the original Chickering’s theory to the revision in
1993 is the incorporation of multicultural elements and the study on students of colors.
Meanwhile, an ample amount of researches has been done on minority populations in higher
education including women, African-American, gay and lesbian, and low-income students in
multicultural contexts. This section will give a review of the studies that test the validity of
Chickering’s theory on diverse areas including gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and
the theory applications among minority students specifically in the dynamic socio-cultural
backgrounds. The research discussed below is not limited to the findings included in the second
edition of Education and Identity (Chickering & Reisser, 1993).
Women in College
In the revision of the original theory, Chickering and Ressier (1993) acknowledged men
and women experience vectors in different ways and incorporated the findings of various
research that indicates the interpersonal relationships vector is experienced prior to the autonomy
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 23
vector for women in college (Straub & Rodgers, 1986). The major discrepancies between women
and men in developing identity as they move through the seven vectors lie in the establishment
of autonomy and the importance of interpersonal relationships (Evans, Forney & Guido-Dibrito,
2010). According to Taub (1995), emotional support from parents as well as the quality of
relationships is another factor that contributes to this process of developing autonomy of women,
and an other-group orientation which emphasize on the “group” other than “individual” in
decision-making is evident during the process. A four-year longitudinal study conducted by the
Foubert et al. (2005) in a midsized public university developed the existing theory and validated
the presence of gender differences in identity development pathway of college students. Student
Development Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) (Winston, 1987) was used to measure the
multiple aspects of the Establishing Purpose, Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships
and Moving Through Autonomy Toward Interdependence. The findings suggest women are more
developmentally advanced than men in the vector of Developing Mature Interpersonal
Relationships, which accords with the previous research that female college students score
higher on intimacy and developing interpersonal relationships than male students (Utterback,
Spooner, Barbieri, & Fox, 1995; Greeley & Tinsley, 1988). Besides, by probing into the subtask
of tolerance within the vector of mature interpersonal relationship, Foubert et al. (2005)
discovered that woman possess a higher level of tolerance throughout their college experiences
than men due to the male privilege and the lack of role models for both sexes.
LGB Group
As most student development theories, Chickering’s theory was originally based on white,
heterosexual male, and there are limited knowledge in the applicability of these theories on
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students. According to Merideth Tomlinson (2000), theories
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 24
are heterosexist-biased in nature because the studies assume the heterosexual orientation is the
self-evident aspect of healthy development. Tomlinson (2000) also pointed out LGB groups
might be identified as not meeting the assessment criteria of student development, which is
largely based on the biased theories against homosexuality. Moreover, these theories also set the
foundation of designing program and curriculum, enriching student services, and higher
education policies, thus creating a hostile and exclusive campus climate for LGB students
(Cheatham & Berg-Cross, 1992). Various scholarship has suggested discrepancies may exist
between the development model for LGB students and Chickering’s model.
Sexual identity development is vital for LGB students because research has shown
college life that provides them with opportunities to get in touch with LGB individuals and
communities is the start for most of them to explore their sexual identity. Because many LGB
adolescences go through the periods of “sexual questioning, experimentation, and conflict before
assuming and consistently self-identifying as LGB”, they might move more slowly than their
peers in the first four vectors of Chickering’s model (Rosario et al.,2006). Coming out of the
closet is the primary issue they encountered, and they are more influenced by social factors
rather than biological maturations (Hamcke, 1993). Evans and Wall (1991) also suggested that
milestone events are vital influential factor in the coming out process, which does not fit into the
linear development model. Tomlinson (2000)’s research on 192 self-identified female
undergraduate participants from 72 universities shows the inadequate applicability of
Chickering’s theory among lesbian students. This study found out campus climate has a
tremendous influence on their identity development, and a homosexual-friendly environment can
contribute to integrated lesbian identity and increase their utilization of campus resources.
Referring to the Chickering’s theory, the seventh vector of developing purpose highlights the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 25
negative influence of identity struggles on lesbian’s vocational choice, avocational interests, and
lifestyle preference (Tomlinson, 2000). Other vectors like managing emotions (Hamcke, 1993)
and developing mature interpersonal relationships (Rosario, et al., 2006) are also find to have
close relations to the LGB students’ perceptions of their own identity.
African American Students
As a historically under-representative student group, African American students’
ideology, psychology, and learning experiences concern the academic community. A rich body
of empirical evidence demonstrates that African American students have less satisfactory
relationships with faculty, lower grade point averages, and report greater alienation in white
dominate education environment (Evans et cl., 2009). One of the significant studies related to
African American students that uses the Chickering’s model is Branch-Simpson's (1984) study at
the Ohio State University. Referring to the vector developing competence, Simpson (1984) found
out African students have difficulty developing a sense of competence as undergraduates, and it
has become their task throughout their entire college experiences. This founding contrast
Chickering’s theory that competency has been developed in first two years for college students
(1994). The reasons that this group of student is progressing slower in these vectors than their
white peers may be due to their continuous academic struggles (Hugh, 1987). Moreover,
Simpson (1994) identified that religion and spiritual life played a crucial role in constructing the
value system of African American, which is seldom mentioned in Chickering’s theory.
Another study conducted by Gibson (1995) examines whether the experiences of African
American college students in a predominantly white institution adhere to Chickering’s Theory by
looking into the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) scores, Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, and grade point averages (GPAs). The results indicated that the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 26
student’s scores on the SDTLI (life management, tolerance, emotional autonomy, and academic
autonomy) were not consistent with Chickering’s model. Moreover, African American students
were found to have no significant development in the vector of moving through autonomy
toward independence and developing purpose (Gibson, 1995). As for the vector developing
mature interpersonal relationships, the study discovered that African American women have no
consideraable growth in this vector, for they are experiencing difficulty to develop intimate
relationships in a predominantly white campus because of the relatively small number of African
American male peers (Taub & McEwen, 1991). In addition, African American women’s scores
were higher overall than their male counterparts’ in interpersonal relationship, autonomy, and
life purpose (Gibson, 1995; Jordan-Cox,1987). Other studies stated that developing
independence and autonomy can be greatly affected by African American students’ interpersonal
relationships, especially social affiliation like family and community (McEwen et al., 1990;
Gibson, 1995). Racial or ethnic identity development, cultural assimilation, and establishing
confidence in academic performance are some other important influential factors (Evans et cl.,
2009).
Asian American Students
In Kodama, McEwen, Liang, and Lee (2001)’s examination of the theories of Asian
Pacific American psychological development, Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) model fails to
take into account special tasks like the nature and effect of an oppressed society, even though the
seven vectors parallel the experiences of this special student population. Therefore, they
proposed a new model that represents the unique psychological development process of Asian
American Students (Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1. Asian Americans: Negotiating Identity and Developmental Tasks
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 27

Asian cultures are discovered to be extremely powerful in impacting Asian Pacific young
adults’ learning, decision-making, and self-perceptions in all vectors. The development of
intellectual competence of these students is the primary concentration in vector one because
“Asian American cultures subscribe to an academic- and economic-based definition of success”
(Kodama et. al., 2001). In contrast to Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) belief that college students
are learning to control “unruly” emotions, Asian students guided by the emotional discipline of
their cultural heritage are inclined to withhold feelings (Kodama et. al., 2001, 2002). This
emotional constraint to some degree impedes the development of the mature interpersonal
relationships.
Generating from the Asian collectivist values, family becomes the most valued unity and
strongly influences Asian college students to develop interdependence with family and
community, in contrast to the emphasis on developing individualization in western culture.
Accordingly, Asian Americans experience difficulty achieving congruence in a dominant white
Emotions
competency
purpose
Interdependence
Family/Culture
Society
ID
Relationships
Integrity
• Deferment to
authority
• Guilt and shame
• Humanity
• Educational
value
• Language
• Generational
status
• Gender roles

• Perpetual
foreigner
• Model Minority
• Homogenization
• Gender
stereotypes
• Invisibility
Figure 2.1
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 28
culture, and their belief in contextual integrity (integration determined by how individuals
represent their family roots, respect for ancestors, and upholding their family names) also
differentiate from the personalizing-based integration proposed in Chickering’s theory. The
challenge to establish relationships with faculty and staff, with non-Asian peers, and to develop
inter-racial relationship reflect the value system based on collectivism (Kodama et. al., 2002).
Applications
Growing attention is given to the historically underrepresented groups in the area of
student development studies, and the culture-based value system becomes the predominant
influential factors in the research specifically on racial or ethnical minority students. Although
the focus of the proposed research is not American students, these studies indeed offer a
thorough analysis of how American culture penetrates and influences the ideology of various
ethnic groups, and hence provide valuable insights to frame the development issues of Chinese
students in the United States. All of the reviewed studies in this part have identified some unique
tasks or challenges for each minority group to proceed through the Chickering’s seven vectors
(1993) which either slow the progression or create new domains of influence that are absent from
Chickering’s theories (1993). More importantly, these studies generate some common issues that
merit consideration in the proposed research, such as gender differences within each group, the
perception of self and the tremendous impact from campus environment, as well as interpersonal
relationships. Furthermore, given the similarity of research questions and expectations, the
methodologies of the reviewed research can serve as applicable theoretical frameworks to work
for the purpose of the proposed study.
Research on Chinese International Students
As Chinese students are among the largest international groups in the United States
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 29
(Open Doors, 2014), the impact of their internal and external adjustment issues on campuses is
becoming a field of interest for counseling psychology and student affairs scholars. This section
will elaborate on the research topics that relate to the psychological development of this special
student population, including their language barrier and self-efficacy, acculturation stress and
thinking patterns, and is intend to deepen the understanding of the Chinese international students
group. Research designs and findings will be reviewed in order to offer applicable methodology
to be considered in the present study.
Language Barriers and Self-Efficacy
Underlying many of the problems experienced by international students is the lack of
language proficiency and cultural knowledge (Andrade, 2006). But the major problems generated
from the language barrier are non-academic as it is widely acknowledged Chinese students,
similar to their Asian American counterparts, have high persistency rates and outstanding
academic performance at all levels of education (Heggins & Jackson, 2003). The study
conducted by Lin and Betz (2009) on the social self-efficacy issues among 203 Chinese and
Taiwanese international students in a large Midwest American university indicates a significant
higher self-efficacy among these students when imagining themselves interacting in native
speaking settings than in English speaking environments. This research use four measures to
evaluate the social self-efficacy of these students (PSSE for individual’s self-efficacy or
confidence regarding social behavior, USRS for self-esteem, ASSIS for acculturation stress, and
PLEM for English proficiency) and one demographic questionnaire to get their basic information
including length of residence in the Unites States, education level, etc. (Lin and Betz, 2009). The
study shows Chinese students are as socially confident as their counterparts on campus if they
are interacting in their native languages. Unconditional self-regard, English proficiency, and
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 30
length of residence in the United States are factors that positively relate to English social self-
efficacy (Lin & Betz, 2009).
Nevertheless, the study also indicates that it is the personal perceptions of language rather
than the fluency that would influence social self-efficacy. The qualitative study of Swagler and
Ellis (2003) on 24 Taiwanese students studying in the United States suggests that confidence
during interactions outweighs the actual language proficiency during the process of adjusting to
an English speaking environment. Moreover, the lack of involvement or participation in class is
identified by Andrade (2006) to be cultural rather than linguistic, and it is the same case with
students’ writing that is “inextricably bound by their cultures, ways of seeing the world, and
identities” (p. 138). Other studies concentrating on self-efficacy related behaviors suggest that
gender difference would result in discrepant reasons for Chinese international students to
procrastinate (Evans et cl., 2009). Self-efficacy and language abilities are significant indicators
of procrastination among females, compared to discrimination and homesickness for male
students (Evans et. cl., 2009).
Acculturation Stress
Acculturation stress refers to negative symptoms and stressors that associate with the
experiences of changing beliefs, values, and behaviors of ethnic individuals during the process of
adapting to the dominant culture; it is found to be a common problem among Chinese
international students (Berry, 1993; Lin and Betz, 2009). Identified factors that might lead to
acculturation stress include academic pressures, feelings of inferiority, language barrier,
difficulties in adjusting to new food or cultural values, lack of support, perceived discrimination,
and homesickness (Wei et cl., 2007). Chinese international students are particularly vulnerable to
depression when dealing with acculturation stress, because they are more costumed to self-
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 31
control their emotions and try to eliminate stress through inner force (Heggins & Jackson, 2003).
Moreover, acculturation might negatively affect their self-efficacy if they are feeling
overwhelmed by the stress and become doubtful of their abilities (Wei et cl., 2007). Students
who suffer from acculturation stress are reported to have lower career outcome expectations in
Reynolds and Constantine (2007)’s research on 261 international college students from Africa,
Asia, and Latin America. In the study of Lin and Betz (2009), the Acculturation Stress scale for
International Students (ASSIS) is used to examine the relation between acculturation stress,
length of residence in the United States, and the social efficacy of Chinese international students
(Lin & Betz, 2009). This model includes 36 indicators to assess the overall adjustment to
American culture and consists seven sub-scales: perceived discrimination, homesickness,
perceived hate, fear, stress due to change, guilt, and miscellaneous (Lin & Betz, 2009). The
findings indicate the higher the acculturation stress, the lower self-efficacy in English settings;
Chinese international students living in America for 3 to 4 years have higher level of
acculturation stress than 1-2 years and 5 years and above (Lin and Betz 2009). However, these
researches about the acculturation are building on the model that assuming the cross-cultural
experiences of students are harmful to student’s development, and the measuring criteria lacks
the representations of positive influence of these experiences. Furthermore, the concept of
developing ethnic identity is also closely related to acculturation experiences, and the stronger
ethnicity students exhibit, the more acculturation stress and self-esteem is identified (Evans &
Wall, 1991). As for the gender difference, it is still controversial whether gender will influence
acculturation given the discrepant research findings.
Thinking Patterns
Compared to the studies on Asian American’s thinking and behavior, there are not many
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 32
representations of research on Chinese international students’ thinking, cognition, and perception.
Thinking patterns are cultural loaded constructs in the context of host countries, but
discrepancies do exist between the Chinese students in the United States and their Asian peers,
even though they might share the same cultural heritage. The styles of thinking, maladaptive
perfectionism will be discussed to demonstrate the thinking patterns specifically among the
Chinese international students.
Styles of thinking. The preference to use one’s abilities is defined as thinking styles,
which can make considerable influence on students’ learning and teacher’s pedagogy (Hang &
Sternberg, 2006), and contribute to students’ sense of identity as well as other factors including
gender and culture (Zhang, 2008). Because thinking styles of Chinese students become identical
when they come to study abroad, it is necessary to understand their mental self-governance and
how that can impact their learning experiences as international students. The major theory in this
field is Sternberg’s (1988) 13 thinking styles model, and it has been reconceptualized into three
types in 2006: Type I thinking (legislative, judicial, global, and liberal styles), Type II thinking
(executive, local, monarchic, and conservative styles) and Type III thinking (anarchic, oligarchic,
and external). Building on Chickering’s theory, Erwin Identity Scale (EIS) is established to
measure three basic aspects of identity including confidence, sexual identity, and self-
conceptions of one’s body and appearance (Erwin, 1979) and a revision EIS III is proposed in
1987. The study presented by Zhang (2008) analyzed the relationship between identity
development measured by EIS III (Erwin, 1987) and thinking styles assessed by TSI-R (Sternberg
et al., 2003) among 187 students at a large comprehensive university in Shanghai, China. It
shows students at higher university levels and working part-time off campus develop a better
sense of identity as manifested in the confidence and the conceptions about body and appearance
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 33
dimensions (Zhang, 2008). Besides, students who rate higher in sexual identity development will
develop better complex utilization of all thinking styles and are more capable to retreat to a safer
thinking mode if necessary, which indicates that “Chinese contexts requires students to shift
flexibly between the liberal style and the conservative styles depending on the stylistic demand”
(Zhang, 2008, pp. 267). As for the three types of styles, Type I thinking is considered to generate
more creativity, thus indicating higher levels of psychological development, whereas Type II
thinking is negatively related to construct identity through building up a sense of purpose (Zhang,
2008, pp. 267). Despite the fact that this research does not focus on Chinese students studying
abroad, the findings are still thought to be valuable because of their application of Chickeirng’s
theory onto Chinese college students. Therefore, thinking styles and sense of identity could be
two integral factors that can make joint effort to promote student development. Accordingly,
student affairs professional along with faculty should pay attention to enhance the Type I
thinking of international Chinese students.
Maladaptive perfectionism. Since the self-regard efficacy is crucial to encourage
positive identity formation, maladaptive perfectionism is another issue related to Chinese
international students’ thinking pattern that can impede identity development. Maladaptive
perfectionism is a type of irrational belief that views imperfect performances as personal failure,
and focuses on the negative aspect of performances (Hewitt, Flett, & Ediger, 1996). This belief is
pervasive among Chinese international students, for the majority of them comes from small
families without siblings and are constantly bearing pressure to achieve success (Hamamura &
Laird, 2014). The traditional Chinese cultural values exceling academically and adding fame to
one’s family name as the source of irrational craving for perfectionism, which poses a higher of
depression. Chinese international students will feel disappointed about themselves if they cannot
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 34
adjust to English speaking settings quickly or fail to establish good relationships with peers (Lin,
2009). According to the study of Wei et cl. (2007), maladaptive perfectionism can interact with
acculturation stress to cause severe mental health issues for Chinese international students. And
the concerns of being embarrassed, losing face, or burdening others might prohibit their self-
disclosure of the stress to friends or family because expressing negative feelings might be
regarded as personal failure according to the Chinese ethical norms. In this way, the pressure
from their perceptions of outer environment and their internal struggles make them even more
vulnerable to depression (Wei et cl. 2007). Additionally, Chinese international students also
respond to their cultural heritage of staying in harmony with their surroundings, which makes
interacting in the groups or participating in small-group activities a comfortable way for them to
involve in the new settings, hence the change their perceptions towards university life and goal-
achieving (Lin, 2009).
Applications
The reviewed literature demonstrates the significance of exploring the presenting issues
concerning Chinese international students’ developing positive and healthy identity in the host
countries, and to find resolutions to address those challenges both individually and institutionally.
Given the previous researches, there is apparently a gap in the existing knowledge of Chinese
international students regarding their psychological identity development. Although there is a
considerate amount of studies on specific aspects of Chinese international student development,
like language proficiency, depression and their thinking patterns, no holistic model has been
introduced to explain the culture-based identity development process of this student population.
Because of the distinct education settings and the cultural background, deductions from the
studies on Chinese students (studying in China) or international students in a general sense
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 35
cannot be applied to Chinese international students. Moreover, the internal differences within the
group of Chinese international students should also be taken into account. The reviewed
researche was conducted in the single university in middle or northern United States, whereas the
majority Chinese students are studying in the east and west coasts of America. So it is important
to choose the samples from a university that can sufficiently represent the diversity within this
student population. Last but not least, these research findings as reviewed above can also be tied
into the different vectors of Chickering’s theory, even though none of them is a direct application
of this model. Therefore, the proposed research can utilize the existing findings, being aware of
the limitations of their research methodology and integrate the relevant topics into a new
research design.
Summary
First published in 1969 then revised in 1993 with Reisser, Chickering’s Education and
Identity introduces his theory including seven vectors of college student’s psychological
development; it is regarded as the foundation of college student development study. Following
the steps of Eric Erikson, Chickering concentrates specifically on college students (young adults),
and his theory is one of the most widely applied student development theories. The seven vectors
include developing competence, managing emotions, moving through autonomy toward
interdependence, develop mature interpersonal relationship, establishing identity, developing
purpose and developing integrity, and each of them represents one major highway during the
sojourning process of young adults to move toward complexity and maturity. The seven vectors
provide a straightforward measurement to locate the phase of development on a linear model,
which makes it convenient to implement in student affairs and programming. At the same time, a
rich body of researches is conducted to testified to the theory’s validity among diverse student
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 36
populations in multiple higher education settings. However, the seven vectors cannot be
sufficiently generalized to minority student populations like African-American, Asian-American
and LGB students, for the model lacks the consideration of multicultural issues and the
uniqueness of the development pathways among minority student populations. Women are
significantly influenced by interpersonal relationships when developing autonomy during the
college, and they are more developed than their male peers in the vector of establishing
relationship and intimacy. Sexual identity formation comprises the core of LGB student’s
identity development, which is not fully addressed in the Chickering’s model. The vectors
developing mature interpersonal relationship and developing purpose are where LGB students
experience struggles, and the milestone event, considered to be of crucial importance in their
sexual identity development, is missing in the seven vectors (Tomlinson, 2000). African-
American students appear to move slower in the first four vectors, and no significant evidence
shows that they have been through other vectors during their college time (Gibson, 1995).
Difficulty in developing intellectual competence, establishing intimate relationships on campus,
and constructing confidence are three reasons that prevent them from progressing to higher
levels of developing complexity (Gibson, 1995). As for Asian-Americans, Chickering’s model
overlooks the influences from Asian collectivist culture and family values, and students show
disparate development paths, particularly in the vector of managing emotion and moving through
autonomy toward interdependence.
International students are also one minority student group that deserves attention,
although they are not traditionally considered to be part of this group. Chinese international
students comprise one of the largest international student populations in the United States; they
experience struggles concerning language barriers, low social self-efficacy, acculturation stress,
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 37
and their unique thinking patters during their sojourn abroad (Wei et cl. 2007; Zhang, 2008; Lin
and Betz, 2009; Open Doors, 2014). Chinese culture is the predominant factor guiding students’
perceptions towards self, others, and campus life. These students have lower self-efficacy when
they are interacting in English speaking environments compared to interacting in their native
language. And the struggles with communication along with the acculturation stress that
originated from the maladaptive beliefs in perfectionism make Chinese international students
extremely vulnerable to depression. Bearing the family expectations and the inner pressures to be
academically successful, Chinese students are identified as a high-risk group who has more
psychological problems than their peers. Despite the fact that cross-cultural experience can have
significant positive influence for international students (S. P. Lin and Pedersen 2007), cultivating
our students to be become excellent all-rounders is required to fulfill the mission of higher
education (Chickeirng & Reisser, 1993). Apparently, the existing literature lacks representations
of comprehensive analysis of identity development of Chinese international student. Given the
discrepancies of cultural backgrounds and the special psychological status of being international
students, previous researches on Asian international students and Chinese students studying in
their home country are from a different trajectory and cannot be used as the only sources to
predict the actual development process of Chinese international students. Moreover, the samples
of existing studies are all drawn from single universities located in the middle or north of
American, which cannot be generalized to the diverse Chinese student populations in the United
States. Therefore, more research should be proposed to explore the identity development
pathway of Chinese international students in order to increase the knowledge of the the largest
international student group; to address the issues that would impede the holistic development of
international student as the college minority; and to provide insights to student affairs
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 38
professionals to better assist with the students’ academic, personal, and career goals as well as
anyone concern about improving the educational experiences of all college students.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 39
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD
This study explores the identity development process of Chinese International students by
applying Chickering’s (1993) seven-vector-model theory to their collegiate experiences by
conducting qualitative interviews in T University. The research is intended to answer the
following research questions through a qualitative case study among the Chinese international
student populations in T University:
1. What do Chinese international students experience during their identity development
process in college as they move through the vectors identified by Chickering (1993)?
2. What contextual factors contribute to the process of Chinese student’s identity
development in higher education settings?
3. How can student-helping professionals, faculty, and institutions better accommodate
Chinese international students’ needs to develop identity throughout the college and
how can their effort could initiate or respond to institutional change concerning
diversity issues?
This chapter will cover the the methodology of this research and the discussion about the
validity of the research design and methods, including design of the Study, sample selection, data
collection and analysis, validity and reliability, research bias and assumptions, and translation
issues.
Design of the Study
Qualitative Design
The study utilizes a qualitative approach that all research findings were generated from a
case study in T university. Since the identity development process is largely based on students’
interpretations of their college experiences and self-defined identity, qualitative design is the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 40
most appropriate to uncover the meaning Chinese international students attribute to their
experiences and how their development process is influenced and constructed. In existing studies
concerning collegiate experiences and identity, students from China are generalized as
“international students” as their counterparts from other major international student export
countries like Korea and India. However, the purpose of the study is to highlight the unique
identity development path particularly of Chinese students so that individual story is highly
valued in order to gain a thorough understanding of the differences within the international
student group, which makes qualitative research methodology a desirable choice for the research
purpose.
Because socio-cultural context plays a crucial role in framing the identity development of
Chinese international students, the proposed study is designed to discover varied meanings of the
identity development process from a complex view of these students’ self-interpretation as well
as their interactions with others. In this case, Qualitative inquiries rooted in Social
Constructivism can correspond with the research questions on context-bound description and
interpretations of the multiple realities demonstrated in the pertinent sociocultural backgrounds
(Cresswell, 2007). In addition, a number of existing research that applied Chickering’s theory to
understand the identity development process of a specific student group incorporates qualitative
method (Merriam, 2008). Individual interview is the most frequently practiced approach to
unveil the collegiate experiences particularly of minority students with oppressed socio-historical
backgrounds (Merriam, 2008).
A Case Study
Since the identity development of Chinese college international students is the primary
focus of this research, their experiences and the educational settings that interact with their
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 41
experiences comprise the unit for analysis. Applying Chickering’s theory to a Chinese
international student population means the study is intrinsically bounded in a “case” (bounded
system) (Merriam, 2009). Considering the nature and the purpose of this research, a case study is
chosen to capture the dynamics in the bounded system through in-depth description and analysis.
Sample Selection
Participants. Chinese international students in this study are Chinese citizens enrolled in
college in the United States to pursue a college degree and acquire learning experiences with a
student visa. Students who are born in or grow up since childhood in other countries while
maintaining Chinese citizenship are not defined as Chinese international students in this
research; Chinese citizens who do not have experiences studying in China prior to college are
also excluded from the sampling; students who hold citizenship of Hong Kong and Macao are
considered to be Chinese students in the sample selection.
Setting. T university, the setting for this case study, is a four-year private research
institution located in the Los Angeles, California, in the United States and has been particularly
favored by Asian international students due to its renowned reputation along the Pacific Rim and
its commitment to recruiting (Balassone, 2013). According to the Open Door report released on
Nov.11, 2013 by the Institute of International Education, T University is one of the the higher
education institutions in the United States that hosting the most number of international students
for the 12
th
year in a row. Chinese students comprise 38 percent of the university’s international
student population, which represents the largest segment of this student group in the T university.
As the enrolled number of Chinese students continue to grow, the most recent report shows
4,515 Chinese students (including 129 Hong Kong citizens) are currently studying in the T
University as of 2015. Given the large Chinese international students population here, students
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 42
coming from different demographic backgrounds as well as students at different educational
levels are well represented in T university. In addition, this institution has developed a relatively
mature system of supporting services specifically for international students, which provides an
additional perspective to look into the dynamics between these students’ identity development
and the helping professions in higher education settings.
Selecting criteria. Because Chickering’s vectors were intended more for students at
undergraduate level, all research participants were selected from undergraduate students to keep
the samples homogeneous. Purposeful sampling was used to draw 12 student interviewees who
are currently studying at T university from the 716 undergraduate Chinese international student
there. The sample included three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors, and three seniors in
order to gain a holistic picture of how the identity development of these student progress
throughout college.
Except for education backgrounds, the sample also represents the discrepancies within
the target student population in demographics, gender, sexual orientations, marital status,
language proficiency. Because students will go through the seven vectors at different pace
(Chickering & Reiss, 1993), age is not counted as a factor for the emphasis of this study is the
developmental process. Moreover, students with disabilities are rare among Chinese international
students because their families might prevent disabled students from applying and actually
attending foreign institutions considering the commitment of time and efforts to study abroad,
especially when the generation born in 1990s are mostly the only child in their family. Although
disabled students are not purposefully included in the sampling, they are not excluded from
sample selection process. Regarding these variables, the group of interviewees entails six female
and six male students and all other variables are not mutually exclusive.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 43
The Chinese Students & Scholars Association (CSSA) and the Office of international
services (OIS) in T University assisted in identifying and reaching out to the potential
participants via email or Wechat, a Chinese messaging and calling app. Students’ participation
was voluntary and snowball-searching was used to approach more participants if the number of
interviewee was not sufficient. The basic information of the interviewees is shown below:
Table 1
Basic Information of Participants
Pseudonyms Gender Year Major

Sexual Orientation Relationship
Status
Amy Female Freshman Applied
Mathematics

heterosexual In relationship
Tina Female Freshman Economy heterosexual Single
Brain Male Freshman Narrative Studies heterosexual Single
Claire Female Sophomore Communications heterosexual Single
Sun Male Sophomore Computer Science heterosexual In relationship
Sean Male Sophomore Architecture heterosexual In relationship
John Male Junior Electrical
Engineering
heterosexual Single
Debbi Female Junior Game Design heterosexual In relationship
Gary Male Junior Business
Administration

homosexual Single
Chloe Female Senior Accounting heterosexual Married
Ren Female Senior Entrepreneurship heterosexual In relationship
Steve Male Senior Computer Science heterosexual Single

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 44
Data Collection and Analysis
Conducting Interviews
The researcher conducted person-to-person interviews with each of the 12 students
chosen in the sample, and semi-structured, open-ended questions were employed in each
individual interview. Because of the limitation of time and resources, longitudinal research that
continues observing the students’ identity development process throughout their collegiate years
is not practicable in the chosen case. Therefore, rather than observing, researchers can
communicate with students to learn about their feelings, behaviors, perceptions, and
interpretations concerning their identity at this moment by referring to Chickering’s seven
vectors. In this case, interviews were an appropriate approach to collect data in the “intense case
study of a few selected individuals” (Merriam, 2008, p. 88). More importantly, in-depth
conversations with the students allowed the researcher to probe into their past experiences and
gain insight of how some students reach certain vector of identity development and what the life-
decisive events are that have been altering or guiding their developmental process. Furthermore,
interview as an effective coping strategy in psychotherapy allows researcher to work towards
students’ resistance, thus unveiling underlying issues that lack representation in the existing
identity development model.
All interview questions were prepared in Chinese and English to prevent the potential
distortion of the meanings expressed by the participants due to language barriers. Participants
can choose either language that they feel more comfortable to communicate during the interview,
but only one of the 12 interviewees choose English over Chinese. A pilot interview was
conducted in English with a Chinese international student prior to data collection and the
feedback from this student helped modify the questions to be more specific and understandable.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 45
The structured part of the interview questions covers the identity development pathway
concerning the seven-vector of Chickering (1993) whereas the less structured questions are used
to explore emerging topics or themes during the conversation. Every interview lasted 50 to 70
minutes, and participants were given the full right to refuse to answer any questions or skip
questions during the interviews. A prior consent was signed by the participants to get their
approval to record the interview by voice memos. The audio recording and researchers’ notes
were used for interview data analysis.
Analyzing Data
The data analysis is accompanied with the collection process to avoid the data being
“unfocused, repetitious, and overwhelming” (Merriam, 2008, p.171). The data obtained from the
qualitative interview include the audio recording of all the interviews, the researcher’s memo of
reflection, interview notes, and the demographic information of the participants. By using the
constant comparison as the major analyzing method, common themes are identified to generate
inductive findings (Merriam, 2008). In order to answer the three research questions, collected
data were divided into three segments that contain possible answers of each question.
Categorical information was draw from the interviewees and further classified the data into units
that can be compared respectively to the seven vectors in Chickering’s identity development
theory. Through open coding of the data, emerging themes and other discoveries are gathered in
a separate category to draw unexpected findings that can enrich the existing knowledge within
this field. After categorizing all tentative data, the organized categories are theorized to construct
a holistic picture of the case study. Then the researcher will answer the three proposed questions
by generalizing how Chinese students’ identity developed and shaped in T University to the
entire Chinese international student populations.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 46
Validity, Reliability and Ethics
Member check (respondent validation) was used to increase the internal validity of the
study. Member check is a strategy to gather feedback from the participant in order to avoid
misinterpretation of the results (Merriam, 2008), and it can be particularly useful for this study
because the data analysis might be influenced by language barriers. The preliminary analysis was
send back to the interviewees and ask for their suggestions to refine the researcher’ interpretation
in order to capture their perspective and experiences to the largest extent. Some participants
required a copy of their tapes, which was sent out with their written consent.
All interviews were conducted in ethical manners to ensure the validity and reliability in
qualitative research (Merriam, 2008). To adhere to the unique value system in Chinese culture, a
person-to-person interview instead of a focus group was chosen to ensure the authenticity of the
information collected from the participants’ response and the genuine manner of researcher-
student interactions. Influenced by the collectivism in Chinese culture, the interviewees might be
self-constrained in expressing personal opinions or inclined to agree with other voices if the
interview is conducted in groups. Particularly for students who possess cultural-sensitive
characteristics like homosexual orientation, there may be a tendency to disguise their experiences
of developing identity in front of the focus group which is a natural response to the prevalent
oppressed culture in Asian countries. Given these considerations, individual interviews rather
than focus group were conducted to create a safer space that accustomed to Chinese culture and
to facilitate free interactions and communication between the researcher and the Chinese
international student.
Additionally, the samples were selected based on maximum variation principle to make
the results transferrable to other higher education institutions, then to the entire Chinese student
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 47
population. The consideration of keeping differences within the focus group also contributes to
the generality of the findings to various sub-groups of the Chinese international student body.
Research Bias and Assumptions
Sharing the same educational experiences with the research participant, the researcher
might expect the answers that accord with her own identity development path. The questions will
reflect the researcher’s assumptions about Chinese international student population and she may
be inclined to explore the areas that beyond her knowledge. Since the researcher is the primary
instrument of the data collection and analysis (Merriam, 2008), the common themes generated
from the collected data might be built on the researcher’s personal collegiate experience and the
perception that Chinese students are going through a disparate identity development process
from what was described by Chickering in his seven-vector model. Another assumption is
cultural-specific topics and new knowledge will emerge from the Chickering’s existing theory,
thus enriching or modifying the seven vectors of college student identity development.
Translation Issues
The researcher serves as the translator of the interview questions and the collected data.
All interview questions were prepared in Chinese and then translated verbatim into English by
the researcher. Back translation is used to verify the accountability of the translation. Before
conducting the interviews, the English version of questions was reviewed by a professional in
bilingual studies of English and Chinese, and back translated into Chinese to ensure the
reliability of the translating results.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 48
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS
The focus of the study was to frame the identity development pathway of Chinese
international students in American higher education institutions using the seven vector model of
college student identity development theory (Chickering, 1993). The research project utilized
qualitative methods to probe into the experiences of Chinese students as they develop their
identity in a foreign institution and aim to provide postsecondary institutions and higher
education professionals with practical solutions to help this student population overcome the
unique challenges they encountered during this development process. This chapter will report
and analyze the outcomes of the twelve interviews conducted with Chinese international
students. Findings are organized in three parts to answer the research questions, which include
the following: seven vectors of identity development related to Chinese international students,
the contextual factors that contributes to their identity development process, and their
perceptions of the student services provided by institutions.
Seven Vectors of Identity Development
There are seven major developmental vectors identified by Chickering (1991) for young
adults: Developing Competence, Managing Emotions, Moving Through Autonomy Toward
Interdependence, Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships, Establishing Identity,
Developing Purpose and Developing Integrity. The development pathway of Chinese students
aligned with some components of each vector while revealing further discrepancies between this
group with traditional student population. The major findings in this section is listed below and
are later explained with quotes from the interviewees:
Table 3
Findings and Vectors
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 49
Vector Major Findings
Developing Competence Intellectual Competence:
• General GPA over 3.5
• Fear for falling behind: Maladaptive Perfectionism thinking
• Strong sense of competence

Physical and Manual Competence:
• Not active in searching athletic or artistic activities
• Do it for entertainment, not for acquiring skills
• Participation largely depends on whether their friends are
going.

Interpersonal Competence:
• Developing through taking part in student organizations,
university activities and networking
• In most occasions developed within Chinese student
community

Sense of Competence:
• Language barriers makes them nervous in class
• Lack of confidence when compared with domestic students
academically
• Cultural shock
• low self-regard

Managing Emotions • Students were reluctant to disclose when asked about
questions concerning this vector. Some of them refused to
answer first, and then opened up at the second half of the
interview or they mentioned it at the end of the interview.
• Choose to withhold their emotions or talking with the
intimate friends. Disclosure to parents and the depth of
conversation depends on topics.
• Academic pressure and relationships are two primary source
of negative emotions. Long distance relationship increases
their pressure.

Moving through
Autonomy towards
Interdependence

Emotional Independence and Instructional independence
• Natural partition between family and students
• Make their own decisions
• Only report the good news to parents but never mentioned
the bad

Interdependence
• Developed within Chinese international student group
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 50
• Struggle to find their roles in a broader context

Developing Mature
Interpersonal Relationship
Tolerance and Appreciation of Difference
• Increase tolerance of differences by engaging in cross-
cultural activities or student organizations with members
from diverse backgrounds
• Cultural conflicts may amplify their identity crisis thus add
resistance to further interaction with non-Chinese groups
• Prefer to establish intercultural relationship naturally

Capacity for intimacy
• Family opinions about student’s relationships are valued
• Cultural difference instead of language barriers is the
fundamental factor to prevent this student group to start an
intimate relationship with the non-Chinese

Establishing Identity:

Not a separate vector, but
a problem solving process
of identity crisis
throughout their entire
identity development
pathway.
Comfort with Gender and Sexual Orientation
• Have strong sense of gender equality--one child policy and
family support
• Perception of money and consumption habit arise issues in
intercultural relationship
• Developing sexual identity a also a challenge for Chinese
international students

Self-Acceptance
• Peer pressure from Chinese peers and domestic students
lead to low self-esteem
• Strong sense of competitiveness
• Pop culture, worry about future career

Developing Purpose Vocational Plans and Personal Interests
• Coming to study in the United States is part of their career
plan.
• Family will give them suggestions but they make the final
decisions.
• Shows career maturity
• Change major or choose a minor to increase their
competitiveness in the job market

Interpersonal and family commitment
• Big decision to make: stay here or go back to China.
• Take care of family
• Want to take advantage of the social capital they have in
China

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 51
Developing Integrity Humanizing Value:
Cultural classes help them reflect on their own values and become
more open-minded about the diversity in the campus.

Personalizing Value:
Not completely abandoned their previous values, but modify or add
new values to the existing system that allows their individualized
interpretation

Developing Congruence:
Without supervision from the family and the support from local
community, their transition to the new socio-cultural contexts
aggravates the changes of their values.

Developing Competence
Described by Chickering as a three-tined pitchfork, the first vector is made up of four
components: Intellectual Competence, Physical and Manual Competence, and Interpersonal
Competence as three tines, and Sense of Competence as the handle. Because all four aspects of
competence are fostered or inhibited by different sets of conditions and experiences, this section
will discuss each of them separately.
Intellectual competence. Characterized by the development of intellectual skills and
acquisition of information, intellectual competence can be examined by test assessments on
measures of general information, general intelligence, and critical thinking ability. In this way,
their self-reported GPA and Chinese students’ own reflection of their learning outcomes
provided reliable evaluation criteria for students’ development of this aspect of competence.
Although all interviewees said they currently experience or used to experience struggles
academically, their GPAs overall are above 3.5/4.0. Self-efficacy and peer pressure are two
influential factors that impede or motivate their efficient learning and academic performance.
First year students disclosed their fear of falling behind, which defined by them as “getting a B.”
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 52
“What if I couldn’t find a job because I didn’t learn well enough during the college?” shared
Amy, a first-year studying Applied Mathematics.
The low self-efficacy among the first-year students responds to the maladaptive
perfectionist thinking of Chinese students that they intend to view imperfect performances as
failure (Hamamura & Laird, 2014). Moreover, peer pressure from Chinese counterparts who are
in the same major or took classes with them is one crucial catalyst for developing intellectual
competence. All three first-year interviewees constantly mentioned that the outstanding
performance of their peers challenged them to work harder because “learning is like rowing
upstream; either you keep forging ahead or you keep falling behind.” Study participants in in
their third year and fourth year are more inclined to compare themselves with entire student body
rather than only Chinese nationals. Gary, John and Chloe show a clear shift of learning purpose
from academic excellency to career development to competing with American students and peers
from other countries in the job market. They are more strategic when choosing courses and
selecting learning opportunities to build up their professional experiences while seeking visa
sponsorship from potential employers. It is not clear whether the low self-efficacy and peer
pressure could negatively affect the development of intellectual competence for Chinese students
because they have long been in school settings that are filled with high pressure and intensive
competition.
Physical and manual competence. Because of maladaptive thinking of perfectionism
and a full commitment to be academically successful, it is rare for the interviewees to actively
search for athletic or artistic activities on top of learning opportunities for the purpose of
acquiring physical and manual skills. However, the students in this study did enjoy outdoor
activities, visiting museums, and some of them maintained an exercise routine. Their
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 53
participation largely depended on their friends’ willingness or their affiliated student
organization. John mentioned he joined a Dragon Boat student club that involved intensive
exercise and training:
I went hiking and swimming with my team members, and we even spent three hours
every day on training during the race season. It doesn’t matter to me whether we won the
College Cup or not. It is more important that I feel relaxed and content at the end of the
day.
The participants sought to hang out with friends to experience western lifestyle and culture
through athletic and artistic activities. Tina shared her relevant experience: “We usually visit
museums, exhibitions, or go see a concert during the weekend or maybe go explore the city a
little bit. We will definitely travel out of the state if we have a vacation.” The students in this
study were passive about engaging in activities that foster a healthy-living style and they
mentioned they would not participate in athletic or artistic activities without a companion, which
reflects the collectivism thinking of Chinese students in general.
Interpersonal competence. During the interview, the majority of students demonstrated
their interpersonal competence by taking part in student organizations, university activities, and
attending events as well as expanding their social networks with both domestic and Chinese
students. Interviewees in different years in college did not show discrepancies in their
interpersonal competence, which is defined by Chickering (1993) as skills of listening, asking
questions, self-disclosing, giving feedbacks, team-work, contributing to dialogues, being
empathetic with others, and facilitating communications. John and Anna have practiced
leadership in the university’s Chinese Scholars’ Association; Gary and Debbi are fraternity and
sorority members; Sean is the founder of the university’s first Snooker Club; and other research
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 54
participants reported positive team work experiences in the coursework or in the workplace.
Debbi described her experiences in a student start-up organization:
I joined a student start-up organization last year, and it inspires me a lot. I always want to
have my own business in graphic design and probably software development, but you
know you are not able to achieve anything without the support from others. We meet
every week to discuss business ideas and help each other, and it is this type of
communications really teaches me many hands-on experiences concerning teamwork and
leadership in a start-up team. The organization also hosts a summit that invited many
well-renowned entrepreneurs, and that is technically my first step of professional
networking.
As Gordon, Habley and Grites (2008)’s suggested that Chinese international students on a
campus tend to prefer to communicate with their fellow nationals than others; participants in this
study also demonstrated a strong pattern of group decision-making and their interpersonal
competence in most occasions is developed within the Chinese student community. Ren, a senior
student said:
I have some non-Chinese friends, but most of the time I am around with Chinese friends
outside of the class. I met many of my friends in the Chinese Student Association and
almost every time we hang out, they introduce more Chinese to me. It is great that we
support each other and really feel connected to each other in a foreign country. They are
also amazing people, and we had a great time working together, having fun together and
even taking classes together.
Sense of competence. Identified as individual’s assessment of their own capabilities by
Chickering (1993), sense of competence is directly related to the reality of their competence.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 55
Chinese international students in this study exhibited lower self-regard as freshmen than those
students who were further along in school. The high school-college transition issue combined
with cultural transitions may decline students’ self-regard academically as well as socially. Amy
said she became extremely nervous during the class because of her language ability:
I have to be fully concentrated to understand all the concepts explained in English. It is
really a lot of pressure in order to catch what the professor is talking about. My English is
not very good so I am afraid to speak out in class and my Chinese accent sounds weird to
my classmates.
The other two freshmen and one second-year interviewees shared the same experiences with
Amy. They mentioned that it was difficult for them to stay positive in a foreign language setting
where they need to make more efforts than domestic students to succeed:
My American classmates write so fast. They can finish a short paper in one day, and that
is impossible for me, especially [because] I have to review my paper and check
grammatical mistakes. And they can easily resonate with what we learned in class,
especially some culturally loaded content. One day we talked about Jazz Age in class,
and suddenly all my American classmates started to sing a song and our professor even
joined them. The whole class is singing together! But I was just sitting there and had no
idea what they were doing. Of course I learned American history in my high school and I
know the Jazz Age, but I feel the cultural differences also become barriers for my study,
because I am not able to relate what I learned in class to my own experiences.
Along with the determination to achieve perfection in schoolwork, Chinese international students
also felt insecure and bewildered about their future job-searching, which results in low self-
confidence after entering the college.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 56
Managing emotions
The development along this vector is characterized as the capability to control feelings
and balance negative emotions with positive ones in appropriate ways of expression and
constructive actions (Chickering, 1993). The sources of the toxic feelings or negative emotions
among the interviewees mainly come from two categories: academic pressure and relationships.
According to Chickering (1993), increasing awareness of emotions is an indicator of
students’ capacity to manage emotions as they learn to identify and accept feeling as normal
reactions to life experiences. Chinese international students exhibited high sensitivity to their
own emotions during the interview and demonstrated a strong self-protective mechanism that
prevents them from being overwhelmed by negative energy while being able to search for
solutions on their own. At the end of the interview, Amy finally disclosed the truth that she was
actually in a relationship:
I am sorry I lied to you when you asked about my relationship status. Now I am ready to
talk about it. I have a boyfriend in China. I feel very frustrated these days because we
often quarrel on phone, and I am already under big pressure from schoolwork. I know it
is hard for us to maintain a relationship in this way, so I tried not to commit too much
into this relationship. Sometimes I feel it is easier for both of us if we break up, so we can
find someone that can really accompany us. So I guess I am ready to face the truth.
As for the coping strategies, Chinese international students choose to withhold their emotions or
talk with the intimate friends as a way of expression. Family is another reliable choice for their
self-disclosure, but the depth of the conversation largely depends on the topic.
I won’t tell my parents about anything really negative, because I don’t want them to
worry about me or lecture me. As for my relationship status, sometimes I will tell them if
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 57
it went well, but I only talk about it if they ask. When I am under big pressure or have a
very bad day, I will think about talking to my mom in the first place.
This quote was shared by Amy, the first year Applied Mathematics Major.
What worth noticing is how participants were managing emotions during the interview.
When asked about what is the last time they were bothered by negative emotions such as
depression, anxiety, nervousness and anger, some interviewees at first were hesitant about
answering this question. One third of the participants said they refused to talk about certain
topics for they were cautious about disclosing their private experiences related to these issues.
However, when the trust level developed as the interview went to the second half or the end, they
said they were ready to disclose. Four of them asked for copies of tapes so that they could reflect
later in private, which indicates that they needed time to process their emotions and had
relatively strong resistance to be expressive at that moment. Additionally, all participants
mentioned they never went to see a counselor when they had emotional struggles, which will be
further explained in the next section of their utilization of student services.
Academic pressure. Academic concern is the primary source of anxiety and depression
among Chinese international students. Aligned with the literature concerning the oppressed
Asian society, Chinese students guided by the emotional discipline of their cultural heritage are
apt to constrain their emotions (Kodama et. al., 2002). English writing, especially the individual
writing assignment, is the biggest academic challenge for this student population. Claire, the
second year Communications major student said this:
When you are in the School of Communications where language ability is extremely
valued, you are comparing your disadvantage with native speakers’ advantages. We need
to do many writings every week, and my writing speed is much slower than American
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 58
students’. What makes it worse is my GE (General Education) classes often give me a lot
of writings too.
Another Computer Science major student, Sun, also felt defeated when it comes to writing
assignment:
I thought it is more important for me to learn writing code than writing essays. I am so
afraid to fail the writing class this semester. I still need to take one more compulsory
writing course, but I think I won’t take it until I am ready.
To deal with the stressful academic struggles, Chinese students choose to resolves their negative
feelings through talking with their family or friends, but most of time trying to erase these
feelings on their own:
I usually get better after clearing my mind about all the unhappiness and focus on
something interestingto distract my attention. I don’t want to let my family and friends
know about my bad feelings because I don’t want them to worry about me or affected by
my negative energy.
This quote was shared by Sean, a second-year architecture major.
Relationships. Regardless of whether the student is single or not, Chinese students
experience certain struggles with relationships in a foreign institution. Besides the prevalent
relationship problems among all young adults, long distance relationships become an
unavoidable issue for international students, which is described by some interviewees as “high
stakes” in terms of the commitment and efforts they invested to maintain the stability and
exclusiveness of the relationship. Time differences, lack of communications, and disconnection
between the couple’s living environments can easily fuel the conflicts and arise negative feelings
like insecurity, fear, anxiety, anger, guilty, and shame. Moreover, these feelings can be
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 59
exacerbated by their concerns for choosing between all new life possibilities after coming to a
new country. As Sean shared:
I get very frustrated every time I think about the future of our relationship; we have been
together for five years and I can’t give up the relationship. But I am afraid I might stay
here to work for a couple of years after graduation, and I can’t promise her that I will
come back.
Chinese international students have mixed responses to the question whether they will disclose
their emotional struggles concerning relationships to their parents. Half of them are willing to
share part of their relationships experiences with their family, whereas the other half viewed
pertinent topics a taboo during their communications with parents. Amy, a first year student
majoring in Applied Mathematics, explained the reasons that she preferred to talk about
relationship issues with friends rather than parents:
I never start the conversation about whom I am dating or whom I have a crush on with
my parents. I am an adult now, and I can take care of my personal matters. Sometimes
they get very curious. I just lie to them that I am not dating anyone to end the
conversation. I feel more comfortable discussing my relationships with my close friends
if I need support.
Moving through Autonomy toward Interdependence
There are three components involved in this vector: emotional independence,
instrumental independence, and interdependence; the most important step for college students to
move through autonomy toward interdependence is to deal with the relationship with family
(Chickering, 1993). Different from other student populations, families as the central units of
decision-making in China, are seen to provide the primary and life-long support for their
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 60
children, which makes it more challenging for Chinese students to function independently after
going to another country for college. The detachment from family is a forceful step for some
international student,s while the others are expecting the freedom to live their own life without
interference from parents. In general, the interviewees perceive themselves as independent adults
except for the economic aspects.
Emotional independence and instrumental independence. The first two components
require students to decrease their reliance on parents, become self-sufficient in carrying out
activities, and be able to live well after moving to another place/status. Because the
insurmountable distance and time difference create a natural partition between Chinese students
and their families, participants had no choice but to rely on themselves and possible assistance
from peers and local community; Sean said, “Distant water are powerless against near fires. You
can text your parents about an emergency. However, the issue has already been solved when they
wake up. Therefore, it is no need to bother my parents. I can deal with emergencies on my own.”
As for the Instrumental independence, they learn to make independent decisions and do things
for themselves as they are trying to adapt to the unfamiliar sociocultural environment along with
the independent lifestyle with no control from parents. Tina thought it was exciting that she
could make all decisions on her own, especially economically:
I feel amazing that I can manage my budget and everything individually. The level of
trust my parents give me is very high because they don’t know how I am spending their
money because it is so far away. I get to decide where I want to spend more. And I enjoy
living with my peers. It is just a lot of freedom and you don’t need to worry that parents
might interfere in your personal life or try to make decision for you.
Therefore, it is evident that the research population develops Emotional Independence and
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 61
Instrumental Independence simultaneously. Given the unique context for Chinese international
students to become emotionally and instrumentally independent, the major resistance originates
from the communication habit between students and their parents. The study participants
contacted their parents once or twice a week and their communications with families are usually
initiated by the students themselves.
According to the responses of the students in this study, parents always show stronger
willingness to have regular communications compared to their child, and the situation may vary
depending on the number of children in that family. As Tina, a first year economics major
shared:
I really don’t miss my family a lot because there is so much for me to explore here, and I
feel content about my current life although I have to do my own laundry and learn to
cook now. My family also gives me freedom to do anything. I am an adult now so I can
totally manage my own affairs appropriately. My parents are not contacting me that
often. I guess that is because my family is a little bit different. I have a brother at home to
keep my parents busy.
Additionally, when asked about what they usually talked with their parents, they shared a
common principle: only report the good news but never mentioned the bad. Anna said “telling
parents about the pressure or stress is definitely not helpful. They will worry about you and can’t
really help because they don’t understand about the lifestyle and everything here.” Her
experiences indicate the detachment between these students and parents are not only a result of
physical distance, but the discrepancies in their construal, which further enhanced their
autonomy emotionally and instrumentally.
Interdependence. This is the stage within Chickering’s model when students encounter
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 62
various challenges to recognize their influence on others and learn about reciprocity, help-
seeking, compromise, cooperation, and commitment to a larger community (1993). These
participants easily connected with or got involved in the Chinese student community on campus
or the Chinese community in the local area at this institution because there is a large number of
Chinese students. Many of them have experiences working in Chinese Students & Scholars
Association (CSSA) to help their peers with job searching, career development and social
networking. Although they honed many skills necessary to achieve interdependence within the
Chinese community, they experience struggles to find their roles in the campus and the western
culture setting. This situation strengthens their interdependence with the Chinese group while
limiting their opportunities to build up interpersonal relationships in a broader scope, as Ren
said:
There is a lot we can learn from American students, like their persistence, their open-
mindedness, self-confidence, and their economic independence. It is easier to
communicate with people with Asian heritage than European heritage because the
cultural difference is there. But I am still spending most of my time with Chinese students
here. And we eat in Chinatown a lot, so I am pretty familiar with the areas of local
Chinese community here.
The challenge to find meanings in their college life in the dynamic social, economic, cultural,
political framework of American higher education continues as they move through Vector Four
and Vector Five.
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships
Students who reached this vector can be identified by their tolerance and appreciation of
difference and the capacity for intimacy (Chickering, 1993). As for the Chinese international
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 63
students, their development of mature interpersonal relationships involved the inevitable
problem-solving of cultural stereotypes, ethnic conflicts, integration barriers, and identity crisis.
This research found out the participants still bear the Chinese views of intimate relationship that
emphasis on honesty, stability, and unequal power differential between the partners. Moreover,
they are constantly challenged by the individuality in western culture and are resilient enough to
adopt the components of equality, openness, and empathy to reconstruct a new set of relationship
principles that reflect values of both cultures.
Tolerance and appreciation of difference. Chinese international students’ interaction
with domestic students and other cultural groups can sufficiently increase their tolerance of
diversity and the opportunities for them to engage in more cross-cultural activities. Participating
in student organizations with members from disparate backgrounds is the most common way for
Chinese students to get face-to-face interaction with other populations. Gary offered the
following thoughts:
My fraternity members are all business majors and social stars. I used to be an introverted
person, but all my brothers are always so supportive and they teach me a lot about pop
culture. The fraternity life completely changed my personality into extroversion.
Debbi have a different perception towards her Greek life:
I rushed an Asian sorority in my second year in order to better integrate myself into
American student life. But I quickly found out sorority life requires a huge time
commitment and sometimes I really feel exhausted. They have four parties every week,
which I think started to affect my time for study.”
Gary and Debbi’s Greek life experiences shed light on the struggles and opportunities this
student group faced during cross-cultural interactions. On the one hand, increasing involvement
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 64
helps them develop new knowledge and skills to establish interpersonal relationships with
diverse groups; on the other hand, as the conversation goes deeper, language barriers, and
cultural conflicts may amplify their identity crisis, thus adding resistance to further interaction.
Some students will actively search for opportunities to get exposure to local culture, but the
majority prefer to establish intercultural relationships naturally. Sean shared his opinion:
You don’t need to think about whether your friends are American or Chinese, or how can
you meet more people of either group. You just make friends naturally, not intentional.
You feel happy to be with this person. Most importantly, you enjoy having conversation
with this person. I have some non-Chinese friends here and it just happens.
Capacity for intimacy. Chickering (1993) sees the capacity for intimacy in growing
tolerance, empathy, and openness but fails to address these components in a multicultural
context. Family plays a vital role in target population’s development of intimate relationship and
parents’ opinions, although not decisive, are extremely valued by their children. In this way,
intercultural and interracial relationships may encounter more barriers when family get involved.
More than half of the interviewees disclosed they are not open to dating people other than
Chinese because it is highly possible that their parents will disapprove. Chloe, a senior majoring
in Accounting, has been married to an American-born-Korean (ABK) for one year. She said it is
fortunate that her parents support this relationship and her husband’s Asian heritage is definitely
one of the reasons. Chloe explained the situation as follows:
We speak English so communication is never a problem for us. We have been dating for
two years and both of us are very committed into this relationship. So when it comes to
the question whether I should stay here or go back to China after graduation, we decided
to get married so we can stay together. We have similar eating habits and lifestyle, and
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 65
everything went very well. My husband also said it would be easier for me to find a job
with a green-card.
However, not every Chinese student is confident enough to date an English speaker like Chloe.
Cultural differences instead of language barriers may be fundamental factors that prevent this
student group to start an intimate relationship with the non-Chinese. Steve noted:
I had a crush on an American-born-Chinese. She looks like Chines,e but her lifestyle is
completely westernized. I think she has the same feeling for me, but it looks like she is
trying to alienate me recently. I asked her to be my girlfriend once, but she rejected. I
heard from others that she complained I never asked her out, but you know we are having
lunch and dinner together every day, we usually go to study in library together and we
have known each other for a long time. Sometimes I feel so confused and have no idea
what she is thinking about.”
Steve’s experience pointed out the disparate perception of declaring a relationship between
Chinese culture and American culture. This discrepancy can also become an obstacle for Chinese
students to build up deep connections with friends with different culture backgrounds.
Establishing Identity
Various components from Erikson (1959), Marcia (1966), Josselson (1987)’s studies
about identity formation has been used to conceptualize this vector in Chickering’s (1993)
identity development theory. In contrast to the linear model of the seven vectors, this research
discovered that Chinese international students might begin developing components in this vector
along with their progress from vector one Developing Competence to vector four Developing
Mature Interpersonal Relationships. the According to Chickering (1993), the experiences and
skills young adults acquire after successfully completing the development tasks for competence,
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 66
emotions, autonomy and interrelationships contribute to form a solid concept of self that reflects
their affirmed values and inner foundation. However, as Chinese internationals students enter a
sociocultural context that constantly challenges their existing values and familiar ways of
managing life activities, their growing feelings of uncertainty, alienation, and loneliness can lead
to identity crisis. Although Chickering stated individuals can develop in more than one vector at
a time, it lacks the discussion about how identity crisis affect college students’ development of
identity in the previous four vectors.
Therefore, Establishing Identity should not be viewed as a separate vector in Chinese
students’ identity development in the foreign institutions, but a problem-solving process of
identity crisis throughout their entire development pathway. Accordingly, this section will
discuss the most distinct components in this vector that resonate with the research populartion:
Comfort with Gender and Sexual Orientation, and Self-acceptance.
Comfort with gender and sexual orientation. As for the study participants, gender role
stereotyping is more reflected in developing intimate relationships than career choice. Since the
majority of the study participants belong to the single-child generation, they have strong sense of
gender equality and their family’s support gives them confidence to pursue a career regardless of
their genders. However, it is still a prevalent concept that males should make more monetary
commitment to a relationship and have higher income than their partners, which imposes
enormous pressure on Chinese male students. This traditional belief arises issues for interracial
relationships between Chinese students and other cultural groups concerning the perception of
money and consumption habit. Debbi shared her experiences of dating an American born
Chinese:
My boyfriend is nine months younger than me, and sometimes he seems to be a little bit
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 67
immature. He is very smart and extroverted, and are very ambitious about his career. I
was attracted to his personality, but I am making more compromises in this relationship
than he is. We always split the bill and both of us are so independent in every aspect. This
is different from China, but gradually I get used to that. Now we have similar lifestyles.
He is completely Americanized, but his mother still holds traditional Chinese views on
relationship. His mother doesn’t like me after knowing I am a Chinese. She thought I was
spoiled by my parents because I am the only child in the family, so I am going to be very
demanding. But actually I haven’t given my boyfriend any financial burden now.
Developing Sexual identity is a challenge for homosexual Chinese international students. Being
away from family and coming to a more homosexual friendly environment does not decrease
their resistance to disclose their sexual orientation. Gary, a third year gay student said he never
mentioned his sexual orientation to anyone including his close friends and parents:
I knew I was attracted to males when I was young, and I never experienced confusion
about my sexual orientation. But I really don’t want to tell others, including the brothers
in my fraternity because I don’t want them to judge me or see me in a different way.
Some girls show me affection but I just rejected them without explanations.
His case shows the conflict between self-perceptions and other’s perception regarding their
homosexual orientation, which is an important component of identity formation given
Chickering’s theory (1993). Although campus environment is crucial for gay or lesbian students
to develop self-acceptance and homosexual identity, Chinese international students rely more on
external recognition from interpersonal relationships and cultural acceptance to achieve a
peaceful inner self.
Self-acceptance. Chickering (1993) asserted the increasing self-confidence and the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 68
feelings of self-worth can contribute to establishing a stable and integrated identity. During the
interviews, Chinese students show relatively low self-esteem based on their comparison with
other students, including their fellow nationals and domestic students. A number of interviewees
pointed out Chinese international students in the same campus, even though the very majority
coming from upper middle class or above, also varies in their family wealth and education
backgrounds. John admitted he felt unconfident in interpersonal relationships compared to other
Chinese peers from higher socioeconomic status:
People are getting so realistic these days, so are students. Studying in a private school, I
am around rich kids. It is funny to say this, but I think it is hard for me to find a
girlfriend; speaking about the economic aspects. And you know, male students care about
their “face”, their image as a responsible male. So I won’t allow girls to pay for the
dinner or split the bill with me. So dating is very money-consuming, and I am not
competitive compared to other wealthy peers.
As a result, the comparison within their Chinese community generates tremendous peer pressure
not only economically, but also academically. Nine out of twelve participants come from
international schools, the most expensive high schools in China that adopted western education
model. These students received English instructions for all classes and already took A-level or
AP courses in high school, thus reported no language barriers or transitioning issues during the
interview. In contrast, students graduating from normal high schools feel unconfident about their
academic and social competence, as Brain described:
All my Chinese friends here come from affluent families, and they like to go to some
costly places, which gives me a lot of economic pressure to hang out with them. They can
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 69
do start-ups, they can try different things, and they can pay for the cost of failure--but I
can’t.
This statement illustrates how social capital these students bring from the home country can
affect their current college experiences in the United States. The group who have better language
capacity, bear no financial concerns, and get used to western education model will experience
less barriers to gain enough confidence from schoolwork and social lives to develop a positive
self-regard. Moreover, as for the comparisons with domestic students, the research group also
encountered more obstacles than their American peers to integrate into the campus life, as Claire
said:
I have no problem communicating with domestic students but it is just hard to feel
connected. Their conversation is most of the time about pop culture, and I have no idea
what they are talking about.
Apart from the social stress, Chinese international students worry about their career after
graduation considering the challenges to compete with domestic students in the job market and
secure a position with visa sponsorship. Gary, a business major sophomore said:
I want to find a summer intern in a consulting firm because this is the first step for me to
get a consulting job after graduation. But it is already so hard for international students to
get good internships. This is a high profile field and of course extremely competitive. I
know I can’t blame my international student identity. I know I am not working hard
enough, and this is part of the reasons that I can’t find a good internship. Some of my
cohort participated in some business cases competitions, and some of them take summer
courses in some elite business schools out of the state. Although I have a 3.8 GPA, I feel
it is not enough for me to compete with domestic students, especially for consulting jobs.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 70
Developing Purpose
The sixth Vector entails college students’ capacity to identity their interests, to clarify
vocational aspirations, and to make plans to achieve career goals with the consideration of family
as well as interpersonal relationship (Chickering, 1993). During the interview, Chinese
international students manifest the capability to articulate their career plan based on their
interests and resources. None of them enrolled into the college as an undecided major because
they already had determined their career direction in mind before entering the college. Apart
from that, they also told the researcher that they choose America instead of another country for
its specific strengths in the field they were interested in, which is well manifested in their
claimed majors, including computer science, electrical engineering, business, accounting,
finance, mathematics, architecture, and design.
As discussed in the previous section of Moving through Autonomy towards
Interdependence, Chinese students are able to identify the field of their interests and choose their
major in college rather than conforming to the family’s preference, which contrasts the
traditional family-centered decision-making model in Asian Culture (Kodama, McEwen, Liang
& Lee, 2001). More freedom of choice is given to younger Chinese generations regarding their
college-going and career decisions-making, and this trend is even more apparent on recently
enrolled Chinese students than their senior fellows. The major difficulty encountered by this
student group in Vector Six is to determine whether staying in the American or coming back to
home country after graduation.
Vocational plans and personal interest. Despite the fact that most Chinese international
students are entering the field of study with high earning potential such as finance, computer
science and engineering, their choice of major takes personal interests and future job
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 71
opportunities into account. Coming to study at United States instead of other foreign countries is
part of their career plan. They believe America can provide them with the best learning resources
and professional development opportunities in the field of their interests. Sean explained how he
related his interests in architecture to his college-going decision:
I am very interested in designing things that could capture the relationship between
humans and the environment, and architecture is exactly the field that integrates culture,
history, and human-environment relationship into one concrete creation. Even though
Europe has been the origin of the art of architecture, America is now the center of
modern architecture and has the most advanced education programs in this field. After
researching online and consult with some professionals, I decided to major in architecture
in the United States.
He also shared in the interview that he traveled to several big cities in America to see different
forms of modern architecture to find inspirations for his work. Chinese students show career
maturity as they are able to acquire job information, qualification requirements, financial returns
to formulate career plans, and eventually reaffirm their career choice. Gary’s remarks manifest
this process:
I’ve known I want to work in the top consulting firms for a long time. I choose to study in
the United States because they have the best business schools in the world, and my family
agreed with my decision. I have been searching for internship opportunities both in China
and American, but I don’t really care about the work location as long as I am working in
the field of my interest.
When Chinese students go through the Vector Six, they are keep exploring their interests through
learning or avocational activities, which may later influence their career decisions. Five out of
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 72
twelve interviewees have at least one minor, and four others have changed or intended to change
their majors. The reasons for choosing a minor or switching majors include acquiring more
knowledge in their new interested field, feeling unsatisfied about instruction content of current
major, and increasing competitiveness in job-searching. Brian, the first-year Narrative Studies
major shows his intention to change major:
There are only nine major-required courses in my department, and this is not enough for
me. The career path after graduation is also too narrow. That’s why I wish to transfer to
the Communication department where I can express my own ideas through writing and
expand my career opportunities.
Interpersonal and family commitment. As stated by Chickering, students should be
able to make compromises to balance their vocational aspiration, avocational interests, and their
commitment to interpersonal relationships to develop purpose successfully. Family is an
important factor to influence Chinese international students’ career-decision because they are
facing a difficult choice between working in American or coming back to China to take care of
the family. Amy explained:
I need to go back to China eventually because I am the only child and I have to take care
of my family. Even though I might get green card in the future or my family plan to get
United States citizenship through investment immigration, my parents would like me to
become American citizen instead of them. Since they cannot come with me, I have to
come back.
Although these students want to be economically independent, they also recognize the value of
their families’ social network in China and understand they have to start over with almost no
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 73
interpersonal capital in a new country once they choose to stay at the the United States. Ren’s
remarks have shown her consideration of the social capital:
I am never an outsider in the investment business because my family has been doing
investment for many years. Some of my mom’s friends are very successful in this field,
and I was able to observe how investment works in their companies. I learned from them
that one of business is all about understanding humanity, which has a huge influence on
my career interests. I can really learn a lot from these people and they can also offer me
many opportunities to talk to some of the most influential investors. This network is no
doubt very valuable to me, and I would consider come back to China to expand my
career.
Given all these considerations, Chinese students in general planned to come back to China after
acquiring years of working experiences in America. More illustrations of their career plans are
discussed in the section of Existence Stress as a contextual factor.
Developing Integrity
Once student reach Vector Seven, they start the journey to explore the link between
values and behaviors as they go through three overlapping but sequential stages: Humanizing
Values, Personalizing Values and Developing Congruence. This is the vector where the influence
of contextual factors is most identical and fosters the participants’ process of reconstructing
values, redefining principles, and reaffirming beliefs in the foreign institution. The contrast
between American and Chinese culture and lifestyles helps correct stereotypes against each
other, validate the students’ values through cross-cultural experiences, and most importantly,
confirm their previous answer to the question “Who am I?”
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 74
Humanizing values. Chinese international students bring their cultural norms and values
to the foreign institution and are constantly trying to form a ground where all their inner conflicts
can be explained and validated. Higher education itself provides opportunities for Chinese
students to reflect on their own cross-cultural experiences and learn to be open-minded about the
diversity in the campus. Steve mentioned the cultural classes are helpful for him to understand
the western values and become more open-minded towards culture discrepancies:
The professor taught us about the difference between collectivism and individualism, and
I think I can totally relate to that as an international student who so get used to the
Chinese collectivism thinking. Knowing how collectivism is developed in our thousand-
year-history, I feel the pride of being a Chinese and am willing to share my points of
view regarding Chinese culture to my American classmates. Our communications make
me kind of understanding more about many social and political issues happening in
China and America, and learn not to be judgmental about both cultures. Just like I said,
although I do think it is dangerous for people to have guns in the United States, it is true
that guns can also be used to protect people, and it makes a lot of sense after seeing the
racial issues here.
His response illuminates how he was able to embrace contradictory views that are incongruent
with his previous values, and how he learned to tolerate the ambiguity in lives given his analysis
of the context, evidence, and his own interpretations.
Personalizing values. After recognizing the discrepancies between different culture-
based values, Chinese international students move towards internalizing a more solid value
structure to assess behaviors of themselves and others, and are able to generate their personal
principles. The interviews found out these students all have some sort of experiences moving
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 75
away from the Chinese values system held by their families during the acculturation process.
However, they do not completely abandon their previous values but instead, modify or add new
values to the existing system that allows their individualized interpretation. Steve, a senior
student shared his thoughts on being more “independent”:
It is kind of a shock that how independent my American classmates are. They take care of
almost everything on their own and seem to be very experienced living without the
support from their family. Some of them are working to support their study. Compared to
them, I feel I need to be more independent in my thinking, lifestyle, and many different
aspects of life. But after four years of study here, I’ve learned to make my own decision,
take care of myself, and think critically instead of taking in everything I learned in class,
heard from TV, or saw on the websites. Sometimes I feel so lucky to be raised in a
culture that your family supports you in everything, but now I gradually realize I should
not take that for granted, and I need to be able to support myself. I am so eager to be
economically independent and I really appreciate that my family is willing to invest in
my education.
His remarks show how he gradually switched from the Chinese value that family should fully
support the child to the western value that praises independence.
Developing congruence. After experiencing more struggles, confusion and inner-
conflicts, Chinese students are finally able to achieve an equilibrium between their own values
and the value system of a broader context. They learn to develop their personalized core values
and principles that are clear to both themselves and others through a wide range of intellectual,
cultural, and social experiences. Without supervision from the family and the support from local
community, their transition to the new socio-cultural contexts aggravates the changes of their
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 76
values and helps navigate their value reconstruction by trial-and-error. The experience of John
manifests the specific challenges this group of student faced to develop congruence:
I remembered we were watching a video in class about global education resources. After
that, the professor said American universities should stop educating Chinese. His words
already made the whole class very uncomfortable. As he continued saying something
negative about Chinese, I stood up and told the professor that he should stop saying
things like that. He responded, ‘any questions?’ That is the first time in my life I felt
discrimination. Although the professor didn’t listen to me, one of my Asian classmates
came to me after class and praised what I did. And my other white and black classmates
respected me more after that confrontation with the professor. That experience taught me
that we should respect our own identity first if we want others to respect us. I used to try
very hard to be like an American student in order to integrate myself into local culture.
But now I think I know what is the right thing to do.
This experience allows John to reaffirm his core value of being a Chinese and be able to behave
congruently with his individualized principals within the context of American culture.
Contextual Factors that Influence Identity Development Process
The research identifies multiple influential but intertwined contextual components that
contribute to the identity development of Chinese international students. Three most significant
contextual factors that represent the synthesis of those elements will be discussed and analyzed
in the following section including Discrimination, Existence Stress and Value Collision.
Discrimination
Discrimination and micro-aggressions against Chinese students’ nationality, Asian
culture heritage and internationals student identity are found to have considerate negative
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 77
influence on Chinese students’ psychological identity development in a foreign institution. There
are two major ways this student population used to deal with discrimination: striving to integrate
by assimilating their heterogeneous characteristics, and confronting the different voices by
recognizing their identity. The majority of participants choose the second coping strategy but
their action is rather passive than active. Annie shared her experience of being discriminated by
white students in class:
I expect an inclusive environment that everyone is rewarded and recognized by others for
their efforts, at least in the campus. I always do my group assignments with Chinese
classmates because you know it is just natural for me to choose the easy way out. Last
time when four of us Chinese girls were having a group presentation, we did a lot of
preparation and the results turned out to be very well. Our professor had very positive
feedbacks for us while a couple of white girls in class are jeering on us during our
presentation. They were so obvious that many other students in class also noticed that. I
feel defeated and upset. It is not because I really cared about what they say, it is just I
despised myself for not even courageous enough to defend my own work.
As described by Anna, the discrimination from privileged group jeopardizes her self-esteem, her
respect of her Chinese identity as well as her academic confidence. Other participants also
reported negative experience of being offended or embarrassed by micro-aggression during the
interaction with non-Chinese groups, and their reaction is “giving up trying to integrate.” Sean
explained:
You can’t force others to befriend with you just like you can’t lie to yourself that you are
happy being with them. I feel much more relaxed talking to Chinese because I don’t need
to bear the burden of maintaining a good image of Chinese.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 78
Hence discriminations inhibit Chinese students from interacting or establishing mature
interpersonal relationships with other ethnic groups in campus, which is normally the first step of
their integration into a broader context. Additionally, the interviews indicate that faculties in
general have higher level of cultural tolerance than college students in general but the
communications between Chinese international students and the professors are strictly limited to
the classroom settings.
Existence Stress
Different from Acculturation stress that previous studies used to define the international
students’ negative symptoms associating with their adaption to dominant culture, Chinese
international students demonstrate stressors that are more related to career and future navigation.
Since the number of the international students have increased significantly in the past decade,
Chinese students who now represent the biggest segment of this student population in college are
no longer excluded from campus culture. Instead of being forced to accommodate the western
values and principles, they can now adopt or abandon the cultural components by choice while
contributing to the heterogeneity of the current American higher institutions. When integration
became an option rather a mandate, the origin of their dominant stressors among this student
group has shifted from campus setting to the job market, where their paramount needs of
independence, freedom and recognition can be truly realized. Based on the interviews, the
concerns for career development and future success are shared by Chinese international students
across the majors and ages. Sun, the second year computer science major said:
I know it seems to be too early for a sophomore to find internships in the bay area, but
starting earlier means I can have more working experiences than my peers, which is a big
advantage for me in the future job searching. As an international student, it is definitely
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 79
more difficult for me to find a job. And we even need to compete with other international
students, like Indian students. I planned to graduate in three years and take an additional
year to get a Master’s degree. Nowadays everyone has a master, so I need to have a
Master’s too.
Chloe has been working as an intern in a Fortune 500 accounting firm for one year and she
described the application of HIB visa as a nightmare:
I am so lucky to avoid this ultimate challenge for all international students and are able to
continue working in my current company after graduation. Because I obtained green card
after I married to my husband, I don’t need to apply for H1B visa, but all my other
Chinese friends do need to apply and wait for the results. Some of them are interning in
big companies that would sponsor their H1B visa, so their next step is waiting for the 40
percent chance. Some others are just interning without any promise from the company
concerning their H1B sponsorship. Pressure is on, all the time. And at the same time, you
need to work hard.
This population view themselves as unprivileged in a foreign institution and believed they need
to work twice or third times harder in order to realize their value as equal as domestic student in
the future job-hunting. The self-concept of being unprivileged can generate tremendous stress as
they encounter more obstacles to complete life tasks in the vector one to four, which further
motivates their efforts to achieve outstanding academic performance, be acknowledged by others
through practicing leadership in student organizations, and to seek for networking opportunities.
On the perspective of their individual expectation, these students wish to be economically
independent, realize their individual values in a community and prove themselves by securing a
positions that matches their foreign education background. Claire wants to work in the movie
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 80
industry in the future and her career plan is an example:
I considered applying for a graduate degree in film production, but now I changed my
mind because I want to be economically independent so bad. It doesn’t matter whether I
stay here or come back to China once I graduate, because the movie market of China is
rising now. But I really want to take advantage of mature market here in the Unites States
to get more experiences. I think I would only consider big companies even for my first
job where I believe my knowledge can be sufficiently utilized in my works.
Besides the realization of their personal values, they wish the knowledge, skills and experiences
they acquire during the four years could worth their family’s investment and really make them
proud. With all these considerations in mind, Chinese students focus their attention to develop
vocational purpose but are unable to articulate their strengths and career aspirations confidently
because of the existence stress in America.
Value Collision
Collisions between western and eastern cultures are reflected in every vector of identity
development of Chinese international students. The research suggests that the concept of money
highlight values discrepancies and has significant influences especially on the vectors of
Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships, Developing identity and Developing Integrity.
One confusion for Chinese students is to draw the borderline of material commitment in
interpersonal relationships. John described the following experience:
I happen to have a meeting with other members of the student government on my
birthday. I was in a pretty good mood that day and though it would be great idea that I
shared this moment with my friends. So I bought bobas for everyone and brought the
drinks and some snacks to our meeting. However, my friends seemed to be very
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 81
uncomfortable and some of them even asked me why I bought boba for them. And that is
really a lesson for me and I think sometimes it is better to use the American ways to
express my feelings.
His experience demonstrates the Chinese and American students’ divergent views on material
value and how they result in disparate social behaviors as well. This is one of the pivotal
moments when Chinese students recognize their detachment from the dominant culture is not
about their language, appearance or competence but the ideology which entail the collection of
attitudes, values and beliefs that their family and themselves hold to be important for
generations. It is the same case with establishing identity when research group begin to blame
themselves for relying on parents’ financial support whereas their non-Chinese counterparts
already started to be economically independent. Triggered by these vital life events, Chinese
students start intensive self-reflection on their identity in the dominant culture and eventually
come to the choice between compromising to integrate or enclosing themselves from other
cultural influences. However, the interviews suggest these students normally choose an eclectic
approach that they intend to maintain their Chinese identity while experimenting external values,
which accord with the vector seven Developing Integrity that they learn from the consequences
and expect to achieve congruence within or beyond the foreign institution settings (Chickering,
1993).
Utilization of Student Services
Given the interview results, the existing student services and resources are extremely
underused by Chinese international students. All participants only meet with their advisor twice
or less and there is no increase of utilization of advising services as they move from the first-year
to the fourth year in college. Apart from meeting with advisors, Chinese international students
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 82
had a few experiences using other institutional support services. The Writing Center was the
most frequently used campus resource by this student group. Others mentioned by interviewees
include international student services, health center, campus transportation, and the writing
services in career center.
Academic Support Services
Differences in cultural factors and the learning styles of Chinese international students
result in the low utilization of the advising and learning support services in universities. Gary
said “I never go see an advisor or counselor because I just don’t want others to help me with my
study.” His response reflects the self-support learning style among Chinese students, which is
originated from the exam-oriented education model in China that characterized by rigorous
competition and individual success. A third of the interviewees stated that they used to
experience struggles academically in middle schools and they blamed their unsatisfied exam
results on their own. This self-accused thinking pattern continues to impact their learning
experiences in the foreign institution because “study should be your own business and advisors
can’t really help you with that”, as said by Ren. When asking about turning to academic support
departments for assistance, all interviews’ answers accord with the identity of international
students in literature that fellow nationals are the first choice for them get advices and
information (Gordon etc., 2008). As Claire indicated, compared to talking to advisors,
communicating with Chinese friends who came to study abroad earlier can be more efficient and
comfortable because they had been through the same struggles as she did.
The reasons why Chinese international students hold the negative perceptions towards the
advising services vary with students’ majors. STEM major interviewees Sun (Second-year), John
(third-year), Steve (Fourth-year) disclosed that their advisors are not science majors so that they
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 83
were skeptical about the effectiveness of the services provided. The major advising needs of
STEM Chinese students are changing major and course selection and there is an evident trend
among this student group to switch their majors to Computer Science, which is recognized as the
most employed science major in the job market. Since changing majors and transferring credits
involves institutional logistics they are not familiar with, the only way for them to get pertinent
information is to ask advisors for assistant. Similar to STEM majors, students specializing in
Economics or relevant disciplines have shown strong willingness to transfer to Finance and
Accounting major, which they thought might increase their opportunity to find a high-paid
position in the field of financial advisory, auditing and assurance, tax and consulting services. In
this way, the advising services they used most frequently are about changing majors and finding
internship opportunities. As for participants in other majors, they only went to see advisors at the
mandatory sessions in their first year which for very majority of them turned out to be unsatisfied
experiences because they were still in the phase of adjusting to English-speaking environment.
For the research population in general, they inclined to search help from their own department
advisors because they are not aware of the existence of similar services provided by other
university academic support divisions.
Counseling and Medical Services
None of the participants had experience using counseling services and they have no idea
where they can see a counselor or what they can get from counseling sessions. Chinese
international students had a stereotype against counseling services that only people with mental-
disorder need to see a counselor. Even though some of them disclosed they had anxiety or
acculturation stress, they choose to digest all the negative feeling through inner forces. “I don’t
think I need help to managing my emotions or negative feelings” said by Sean. Another way for
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 84
Chinese international students to deal with emotional issues is communicating with family and
friends, who considered to be reliable and empathetic. As Chloe said, “having a deep
conversation with my closest friends can be helpful. Friends usually support each other in this
way, especially when living in a foreign country.” However, Debbi, a third year student
complaint that there are no specific counseling services for international students to
communicate about their stress from course work, social relationships and cultural shock.
Furthermore, it is also rare for Chinese students to utilize the medical services provided
by the university health center because they usually bring medicines with them when they
entered a foreign country for college. Most of the students in this study were not aware that their
medical fees could be covered by their health insurance.
Writing Center
All of the interviews have experiences using writing center to help them with essay
writing, especially the individual paper as the midterm or final assignment. As mentioned in the
interviews, a writing course is the biggest challenge for Chinese international students and self-
efficacy has always been an issue for them throughout their college life when it comes to writing
assignments. Sun, a second year Computer Science major expressed his worry about
continuously getting low grades in a compulsory writing course, “there will still be grammar
mistakes even if I review my paper several times and I really have no idea why I get a D again
for my writing.” His concerns illustrate the two most common struggles Chinese international
students have about English writing: what are the issues with their papers and how they can
improve them. Although quite a few of them still rely on their Chinese peers for assistance, the
majority chose the Writing Center because “having a native speaker proofread your paper and
make sure there are no grammar mistakes can relieve your nerves for final,” as shared by Sean.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 85
Different from other services that are underused by this population, Writing Center received
relatively positive feedbacks from senior students and their recommendations have become the
biggest motivation for incoming Chinese students to use this service.
International Student Services
Office of International services (OIS) is the first higher education department Chinese
students get familiar with as they entered a new country with the I-20 issued by OIS, get their
passport verified and participated in international student orientations in their first day as college
students. However, it is surprising to find out most of the Chinese students never had further
interaction with OIS after the freshmen orientation until their senior year. The reasons include
their unawareness of the services provided and the misunderstanding of the function of OIS.
Most of the interviewees said they never read the email newsletters or ever checked the website
of OIS as Debbi said, “I think I don’t need to approach OIS as long as I am not in trouble with
my visa status.” Her remarks well demonstrate Chinese students’ misperception towards student
services that they only need to be advised when they are stuck in dilemma and are not able to get
rid of it on their own efforts. One of the research participants John, a third year Electrical
Engineering major student disclosed that he used to work with OIS to solve his visa issue after
coming back from surgery rehabilitation for three months. Because his suspension of schooling
had not been reported to OIS before going back to China for the surgery, his F1 student visa was
violated for he did not meet the minimum enrollment requirement for international students. OIS
counselors eventually helped him regain his F1 visa after intensive negotiation with the
immigration department, and John admitted that he should have met with counselors or looked
up for pertinent information on OIS website before making such a reluctant decision. Except for
the immigration status consultation, workshops about career development and working visas are
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 86
popular among Chinese international students. Despite the fact that students can be informed
about the application process of OPT, CPT or H1B through OIS website, they are more willing
to schedule an appointment with international student counselors or attend workshops to obtain
the pertinent information directly.
Career Counseling
Chinese international students are sensitive to career-related resources and they become
more active in help-seeking as they move from first year to the last year. Interviewees who are
freshmen and sophomore mentioned job hunting is too far away from them and coursework is
their first priority at this point. The second-year Architecture student Sean said “I would like to
do an internship this summer but I really don’t have time to prepare interviews while doing my
projects. I am so exhausted with my course load now and maybe I am just not ready.” His
pessimistic attitudes towards job searching explained why first year and second year Chinese
international students are prioritizing their academic work over career development. In contrast,
the junior and senior students are vigorously reaching out to any possible career opportunities,
including attending career info-sessions and job fair, using career center to refine their resumes
and interview skills and participating in professional networking events. “I go to career center
three times this semester to refine my resume and do mock interviews, but I wish the workshops
could be more specific on international student group,” said Steve, a senior specializing in
Computer Science. However, it is a consensus among all interviewees that they do not use career
counseling services for they are more willing to seek consultation from their parents or peers.
Mentoring Programs
Mentoring programs, another student service well utilized by Chinese students, received
mixed feedback. According to their descriptions, they were more likely to get Chinese mentors
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 87
who are senior students or alumni studying the same discipline. First-year students are more
interested in involving in a mentor program for a networking purpose. John said he had a very
positive experience with the mentoring program organized by his department:
I participated in the mentoring program of our computer science department in my first
year, and it is actually very helpful. My mentor is a 40-year-old graduate from my major
many years ago and he is very experienced in this field. He offered me a lot of career
advices and he even wrote recommendation letter for me. We maintain very close
relationship until now and we meet each other once a while. I also sent him a gift this
Christmas! Because this is very helpful for me, I want to be part of it and to help others.
So I joined this program as a mentor now to help the freshmen in my major.
On the other hand, Gary had negative feedback for the LGBT student mentor programs he used
to participate in his freshmen year. His mentor is homosexual senior student and he never felt
their communications were as in-depth as he expected. “He has more problems than I do so he
can’t really help me,” said by Gary. He mentioned that there are not many resources available for
LGBT international students and he would never intend to seek assistance from others because
he did not want to disclose his sexual orientation to anyone. Additionally, it is worth noting that
no female participants mentioned the mentoring programs during the interviewees.
Summary
The interview findings regarding twelve Chinese international students’ responses to the
three research questions illustrate the discrepancies between Chickering’s seven vector theory
and this student group’s actual identity development pathway. The study considers the collegiate
experience of Chinese students aligned with the major components in the seven development
vectors and the variations are largely rooted in their interaction with the dynamic sociocultural
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 88
context of American higher education. This chapter offers the narratives and analysis of the
twelve students’ experiences as they move through the seven vectors identified by Chickering;
identified discrimination, existence stress and value collision as three contextual factors that
influence the development process; and address the gap between this population's’ needs and
existing institutional resources. Influenced by the collectivism thinking and the value principles
of their cultural heritage, Chinese international students demonstrate strong capacity of self-
discipline, self-reflection and career goal articulation, which continues motivate them to strive
for success academically and professionally. They developed intellectual competence, physical
and manual competence and interpersonal competence through a variety of learning activities
whereas failed to increase their sense of competence as they are transitioning to an English
speaking environment.
In the second vector, pressure from school work and relationship issues including the
long-distance relationship are two primary sources of negative emotions for Chinese students.
But they rarely express their feelings and have already get used to internalize all emotions on
their own. When it comes to the next vector where Chinese students quickly learn to develop
independence and autonomy after they come to the foreign country and start to live on their own.
They successfully develop interdependence in the Chinese community whereas struggling to
develop interpersonal relationships with other cultural or racial groups in vector four. This is the
stage when Chinese students learn to tolerant and appreciate individual differences through
interacting with people from diverse backgrounds in student organizations. However, managing
cross-racial relationship is much more difficult than making friends with non-Chinese because of
the interference from family and cultural discrepancies in establishing intimacy.
What worth attention is for Chinese international students, the vector five does not
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 89
distinct enough to stand as a separate vector for the identity development tasks for this specific
group is throughout their entire development pathway. Even though the stress and conflicts
between Chinese culture and western cultures are reflected in every vector, it is not until the
vector five that the influences of contextual factors become evidently powerful. During identity
formation, the Chinese student group face tremendous peer pressure from both their fellow
nationals as well as domestic students, which impede their development of self-acceptance. As
for the vector six developing purpose, Chinese students show career maturity and determinations
to carry out their vocational plans based on their interests while also taking their commitment to
family and interpersonal relationship into account. The only confusion in their career-decision
making is to choose between working in the United States or going back to the home country.
Eventually Chinese students are able to reaffirm their corn values after experiencing all the value
conflicts and inner struggles and try to develop congruence with the broader context as they
reach the vector seven.
This study identifies three contextual factors that have most significant influences on the
identity development of Chinese international students: discrimination, existence stress and value
collision. All three factors greatly hinder Chinese students’ development of international
relationships with diverse groups, jeopardize their sense of self-worth and increase their
resistance to further integrate with the campus culture. Apart from that, there are not sufficient
resources in the higher education institutions that are tailored to help or effectively utilized by
Chinese students to overcome the difficulties they encountered during their identity formation.
As self-supported learners, they are more willing to turned to peers to seek help rather than
seeing an advisor or counselors, but they still seek help from institutional resources when they
have serious issues or are unfamiliar with administrative logistics. The existing institutional
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 90
support services are extremely underused by the participants. Writing centers, mentoring
programs and career centers are services relatively well utilized by this population.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 91
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
The increasing number of international students draws attention to the multiple racial and
cultural concerns of this group in the higher education settings. Representing the largest portion
of American international student population, Chinese students encounter multiple sociocultural
barriers to acquire as meaningful learning experiences as domestic students due to language
barriers, lack of sense of belongings and acculturation stress. Given the globalizing context and
research gap concerning the psychological development of this group, the study is designed to
probe into the identity development of Chinese international students in the foreign higher
education institutions through the use of Chickering’s (1993) seven vector theory. The previous
chapter analyzed the data and organized the findings to answer the three research questions:
What Chinese students experience during their identity development process as they move
through the vectors identified by Chickering (1993); What contextual factors contribute to this
process; and How can institutions and higher education professionals address their needs of
developing identity and pertinent diversity issues? This chapter will focus on providing solutions
from institutional perspective to initiate corresponding changes to help this student group with
their identity development from the areas of cultural class, counseling services, international
student services and mentoring programs. Limitations and directions of the future research will
also be discussed in this chapter.
Limitations
There were four limitations inherent in this study. First, researcher as the primary
instrument to collect and analysis qualitative data might impose her personal values during the
interview process as well as the discussion of findings. There arises the confusion of the
objectivity of data interpretation. In the case of this study, the researcher emphasized illustrating
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 92
the discrepancies between Chickering’s model and the actual development pathway of the
research population, instead of providing a comprehensive picture of the entire development
process. It is the same case with the data collection that the researchers may guide the
interviewees to have more in-depth discussion in areas where could potentially different from the
original vectors. Second, the study is conducted in one single institution where Chinese
international student community already reached a considerable size. Although the large Chinese
student population in this institution provides huge sample pools, the research findings might
vary if the study is conducted in institutions with homogeneous student ethnicity. Third, the
qualitative model restrains the interpretation of the diversity within Chinese international student
population, including their difference in age, socioeconomic status, origin of financial support
etc. Consequently, it still remains ambiguous how these personal characteristics could influence
the identity development pathway of the research population.
Implications for Practice
As Chickering (1993) suggests, a more relaxed and harmonious campus environment can
make the transition process easier for students who struggles with life-changing events, so it is
necessary for higher education institutions to strengthen their commitment to a more inclusive
and diversity-friendly campus climate. This section will provide solutions to bridge the needs of
Chinese international students and the joint efforts from institution, advisors and faculty in the
American college settings in the following four areas: developing diversity and cultural course,
strengthening counseling services, expanding international student services, and strengthening
mentoring programs. Suggestions will be discussed in each category with attention to the needs
of Chinese international students’ and their identity development and college challenges. The
proposed solutions aim to include the challenges experienced by this student population into the
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 93
diversity agenda of institution and wish to inspire future practices of the higher education
stakeholders concerning the pertinent topic and with regard to university resources.
Diversity and Cultural Class
The study revealed the discrimination and value collision that Chinese international
students experienced in academic settings and in their social lives, which inhibited their
development of mature interpersonal relationships and establishing integrity in a western-value
dominant context. This disconnect calls for the need to educate domestic students and
international students about culture and the diversity issues in the global contexts. Chickering
(1993) pointed out learning experiences that illuminate the connection between individual and
others can assist students find a place in the larger whole and bring awareness to contributing to
the social structure that they are part of. A diversity and culture course would help domestic
students to recognize the heterogeneity of the campus culture and build up their tolerance and
appreciation for non-dominant cultures, while deepening the understanding of the western
culture and lifestyle to international students. In this class, all students regardless of their
ethnicity and cultural backgrounds can acquire lessons about working cross-culturally where
they can practice group decision-making and completing assignments through collaborating with
diverse groups. Most importantly, this course should be mandated to all college freshman and
never limit its accessibility to certain populations to help resolve the resistance students have
towards interacting with specific population. In this way, all students are able to get face-to-face
interactions with different cultural groups, and learn to establish a positive self-concept in the
sociocultural context.
Counseling Services
There are both individual and contextual factors that contribute to the Chinese students’
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 94
low utilization of counseling services in foreign institutions. As discussed in previous chapters,
their internalizing approach to manage emotions and digesting negative feeling add resistance to
their help-seeking behaviors. The lack of corresponding advising mechanism in their previous
schooling experiences in home country and collectivism thinking results in their reliance on peer
consultation. Although this student group is in need of professional guidance to manage their
stress and potential psychological issues, the majority of them do not even know where those
services are provided. Hence institutions and counselors should take the initiative to approach
these students and encourage their usage of the counseling services when needed. Counselors
should mandate a counseling center check-in as part of the internationals student orientation to
help them map out the counseling support provided in the campus and address the need of self-
care with these students. Apart from increasing access, another factor that prevent Chinese
students from using counseling center is their negative perception that counseling is only for
people with mental disorder. To correct this misconception, institutions should consider
separating the counseling center with other health services and collaborate with related
departments to informed the students about the benefit of utilizing these resources. As this
population have relatively low self-confidence and their self-evaluation are primarily based on
comparisons with others, unconditional positive regard and motivational counseling are
recommended strategy to empower them to develop positive self-perception.
International Student Services
As the first and most widely known student service department among the research
population, reorganizing the function and structure of international student services is the heart
of all proposed suggestions. The study suggests that Chinese students only seek advice for severe
problems and they only see international student advisors for visa consultations, which means
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 95
these students are not aware of other institutional efforts focusing on increasing their cross-
cultural experiences. This situation brings controversy to the decentralized structure of student
affairs department of the T university where this study was conducted. International students find
it challenging to reach out different offices to get what they need. If this population is already
passive in request for help, the decentralized model will further discourage them of utilizing
support services in general. Therefore, considering their unique help-seeking behavior, it would
be ideal for institutions to offer one-stop services for international students that addresses
multiple dimensions of their concerns and needs for identity development. Services could
include but not limited to language course, cultural classes, career counseling, immigration/visa
advising, cultural-mingle events, mentoring, and alumni networking. As it is tailored to fulfill
their needs and convenience, this structure could increase the Chinese international students’
utilization rate of all services and further navigate them through the process of cultural
integration and identity formation. If the institution already has an international student resource
center or similar office, expanding the existing service scope would be an efficient approach.
Mentoring Programs
Chinese students in this study responded positively to mentors and writing coaches
whereas the actual mentoring programs received mixed feedbacks. This finding suggests that
one-on-one mentoring is a more acceptable approach than advisors-model to provide support
services to this student population academically, professionally and personally. Different from
academic advisors or counselors who is viewed as authority figures by Chinese international
students, mentors ease the students’ nerve during the communications and make it easier for
them to self-disclose. In this way, it would be helpful for this special student population to
partner with mentors that can assist them with the services that they need most: career guidance,
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 96
academic tutoring, cultural integration and social networking. One practical model is pairing a
student with Chinese Alumni who graduated from the same major and can advise them on job-
searching, visa sponsorship, mock interviews and resume editing. As for the cultural and
academic aspect, the international services department can help student find a mentoring who is
native English speaker to assist them with English writing, developing social networking skills
and learning American cultures. These two mentor programs can be operated under pertinent
academic departments, international student services or cultural centers depend on the structure
of the university, and confidentiality of both sides can be protected through an informed consent
under supervision of the institution. The mentoring relationships are expected to enhance the
cross-cultural awareness of both groups and should base on empathy, authenticity and
reciprocity.
Future Research
Future research can be conducted to further the understanding of identity development
pathway of Chinese international students or international students in general in the following
three areas. More studies can be designed to increase the generalizability of the findings through
researching on multiple institutions instead of a single unit. Since the campus culture might vary
given the locations of institutions, the student demographics and the cultural environment in the
local community, research sites can be expanded to public four-year institutions, community
colleges, or universities with more exclusive campus climate. Moreover, in order to further the
understand of how dominant culture can shape international students’ identity, institutions in
other countries that also have large number of Chinese students like United Kingdom, Australia,
and Singapore can also be ideal research site to conduct control group studies. Students’
interaction with diverse communities outside of campus is another contextual factors to consider
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 97
in the following researches. In addition, longitudinal study of this research topic can enrich the
findings by offering a direct application of the seven vector model, and generates a new theory
that integrates the special development tasks and experiences of Chinese international students
with the original theory. More research is needed to probe into the identity development of
Chinese graduate students, as this population has increased significantly in American higher
education institutions.
Conclusion
It is a global phenomenon that the enrollment of international students is expanding
sharply and the United States has been the leading host country that mostly favored by this
student population. However, the institutional accommodations for this increasing population are
far from satisfactory for international students still belongs to the underrepresented group that
suffers from the chilly environment within or outside of the campus. Although there is a growing
body of literature focusing on the Chinese international students, no previous study has probed
into their psychological development in a foreign institution. To increase the knowledge of cross-
cultural influence on the process of developing international students’ identity, this qualitative
case study of Chinese students’ psychological development was designed to utilized
Chickering’s (1993) college student identity development model as the theory framework to
consider this topic.
The data was collected from twelve person-to-person interviews and are analyzed
through constant comparison to highlight the major challenges and opportunities as these
students move through Chickering’s (1993) seven vectors of identity development. The findings
show that Chinese students do experience disparate development pathway due to multiple
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 98
contextual factors and their interactions with the dynamic American higher education
environment.
Maladaptive thinking, originated from Asian culture that views imperfection as personal
failure, motivates Chinese international students to achieve excellency in coursework, career
development and leaderships of student organizations. However, their maladaptive thinking
negatively influences their self-efficacy, self-acceptance and self-regard, which inhibits their
development of vocational purpose, interpersonal relationships with non-Chinese groups and
congruence with the western culture settings. Apart from that, this thinking pattern can generate
toxic feelings and tremendous pressure for this student group, and further impede their
development of capacity to manage emotions.
The study also documented the passive help-seeking behaviors of this student group and
their low utilization of the supporting services provided by the institutions. Since the
generalizability of the research outcomes is one limitation of the study, future research can
include multiple institutions sites in different cultural contexts and more diverse samples
considering the in-group differences to provide a more comprehensive picture of the Chinese
student group. Longitudinal research on the topic can enrich the current findings by providing a
direct application of Chickering’s model and further test the validity of the theory on diverse
populations.
The findings of this study suggest that the collegiate experiences of this student group
aligned with most of the components in the vectors identified by Chickering whereas the
discrepancies lie in the specific development tasks and the vector five: establishing identity.
Different from the linear approach in this theory, Chinese students are forming and reaffirming
their identity through a wide arrange of academic, social and professional activities throughout
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 99
their entire college life. The findings also pinpoint discrimination, existence stress and value
collision three major contextual factors that greatly influence students’ self-perception, self-
esteem and career planning during this development pathway.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 100
References
Altbach, P. G., Gumport, P. J., & Berdahl, R. O. (Eds.). (2011). American Higher Education in
the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political and Economic Challenges (3
rd
ed.). Baltimore,
MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Andrade, M. S. (2006). International students in English-speaking universities Adjustment
factors. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(2), 131-154.
Balassone, M. (2013, November 11). USC leads nation in international students for 12
th
year.
Retrieved from: https://news.usc.edu/57207/usc-leads-nation-in-international-students-
for-12th-year-2/
Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, 29, 697–712.
Branch-Simpson, G. (1984). A study of the pattern in the development of black seniors at the
Ohio State University. Dissertation Abstract International, 45-08A, 2422.
Cheatham, H. E. & Berg-Cross (1992). College student development: African Americans
reconsidered. Journal of College Student Psychology, 6, 167-191.
Chickering, A. W. (1969). Education and identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chickering, A. W., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity (2nd ed.). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Cormier, S., Nurius, P. S., & Osborn, C. J. (2012). Interviewing and change strategies for
helpers: Fundamental skills and cognitive behavioral interventions (7th ed). Pacific
Palidsdes, CA: Brook/Cole-Thomson Learning, 25-26.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative enquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. CA: Sage.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 101
Erikson, E. H. (1980). Identity and the life cycle. New York: Norton. (Original work published
1959)
Erwin, T. D. (1979). The validation of the Erwin Identity Scale. Dissertation Abstracts
International A: The Humanities and Social Sciences, 34, 4818A-4819A.
Erwin, T. D. (1987). Erwin Identity Scale: Manual. Harrisonburg, VA: Developmental
Analytics.
Evans, N., Forney, D., & Guido-Dibrito, F. (2010). Student development in college: Theory,
research, and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Evans, N. J., & Wall, V. A. (Eds.). (1991). Beyond tolerance: Gays, lesbians and bisexuals on
campus. Alexandria, VA: American College Personnel Association.
Foubert, J., Nixon, M. L., Sisson, V. S., & Barnes, A. C. (2005). A longitudinal study of
Chickering and Reisser's vectors: Exploring gender differences and implications for
refining the theory. Journal of College Student Development,46(5), 461-471.
Gibson, G. E. (1995). Chickering's model of student development and the academic performance
of African American college students on a predominantly white campus
Gordon, V. N. (1992). Handbook of academic advising. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Gordon, V. N., Habley, W. R., Grites, Thomas J. (2008). Academic advising: A comprehensive
handbook (2
nd
ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Gurin, P., Dey, E. L., Hurtado, S., & Gurin, G. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory
and impact on educational outcomes. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 330-367.
Hamamura, T., & Laird, P. G. (2014). The Effect of Perfectionism and Acculturative Stress on
Levels of Depression Experienced by East Asian International Students. Journal of
Multicultural Counseling and Development,42(4), 205-217.
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 102
Hamcke, A.J. (1993). Emotions and identity: The relationship between sexual identity
development and management for emotions for lesbian undergraduate students.
University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
Heggins III, W. J. & Jackson, J. F., & (2003). Understanding the collegiate experience for Asian
international students at a Midwestern research university. College Student Journal, 37(3),
379-391.
Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., & Ediger, E. (1996). Perfectionism and depression: Longitudinal
assessment of a specific vulnerability hypothesis. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology, 105(2), 276.
Hughes, M. S. (1987). Black students’ participation in higher education. Journal of College
Student Personnel, 28, 532–545.
Johnson, A.G. (2005). Privilege, Power, and Difference. New York: McGraw-Hill, 69-153.
Jordan-Cox, C. A. (1987). Psychosocial development of students in traditionally black
institutions. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 504–511.
Kodama, C. M., McEwen, M. K., Liang, C. T., & Lee, S. (2001). A theoretical examination of
psychosocial issues for Asian Pacific American students. Journal of Student Affairs
Research and Practice, 38(4), 409-435.
Kodama, C. M., McEwen, M. K., Liang, C. T., & Lee, S. (2002). An Asian American
perspective on psychosocial student development theory. New Directions for Student
Services, 2002(97), 45-60.
Lee, J. J., & Rice, C. (2007). Welcome to America? International student perceptions of
discrimination. Higher Education, 53(3), 381-409.
Lin, Y. N. (2010). Taiwanese university students’ perceptions of university life. Counselling
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 103
Psychology Quarterly, 23(2), 189-202.
Lin, S. P., & Betz, N. E. (2009). Factors related to the social self-efficacy of Chinese
international students. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(3), 451-471.
Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. Handbook of adolescent psychology, 9, 159-187.
Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley
& Sons.
McClellan, G. S., Woodard, D. B., Zhou, Q., Marques, C., Reséndiz, J. E., & Kwandayi, H.
(2011). The global practice of student affairs/services: An exploratory international
survey.
McEwen, M. K., Roper, L., Bryant, D., & Langa, M. (1990). Incorporating the development of
African American students into psychosocial theories of student development. Journal of
College Student Development, 31, 429–436.
Milem, J. F., Chang, M. J., & Antonio, A. L. (2005). Making diversity work on campus: A
research-based perspective. Washington, DC: Association American Colleges and
Universities.
Open Doors. (2014). Fast Facts: International students in the U.S. Retrieved from:
http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Fast-Facts
Rosario, M., Schrimshaw, E. W., & Hunter, J. (2004). Ethnic/racial differences in the coming-
out process of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths: A comparison of sexual identity
development over time. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10(3), 215–
228.
Rosario, M., Schrimshaw, E. W., Hunter, J., & Braun, L. (2006). Sexual identity development
among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths: Consistency and change over time. Journal of
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 104
sex research, 43(1), 46-58.
Schuh, J. H. (1994). [Review of the book Education and identity (2nd ed.)]. Journal of College
Student Development, 35, 310–312.
Sternberg, R. J. (1988). Mental self-government: A theory of intellectual styles and their
development. Human Development, 31, 197-224.
Sternberg, R. J., Wagner, R. K., 8c Zhang, L. F. (2003). Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised.
Unpublished test, Yale University.
Swagler, M. A., & Ellis, M. V. (2003). Crossing the distance: Adjustment of Taiwanese graduate
students in the United States. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(4), 420.
Taub, D. J. (1995). Relationship of selected factors to traditional-age undergraduate women’s
development of autonomy. Journal of College Student Development, 36, 141-151.
Taub, D. J., & McEwen, M. K. (1991). Patterns of development of autonomy and mature
interpersonal relationships in Black and White undergraduate women. Journal of College
Student Development, 32, 502-508.
Tomlinson, M. J. (2000). The applicability of Chickering's theory of psychosocial development to
lesbian college students: the role of sexual identity development and campus climate.
Wei, M., Heppner, P. P., Mallen, M. J., Ku, T. Y., Liao, K. Y. H., & Wu, T. F. (2007).
Acculturative stress, perfectionism, years in the United States, and depression among
Chinese international students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(4), 385.
Zhang, L. F. (2008). Thinking styles and identity development among Chinese university
students. The American journal of psychology, 255-271.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 105
Appendix A
Semi-Structured Interview Protocol
Date: January xx, 2016
Interviewees: Chinese international students in a west-coast four-year institution (10 people)
Demographic Information (Obtained from inviting email):
• Name (name on passport)
• Year in School
• Year lived in America
• Major
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation
• Hometown (where do you grow up)
• Education prior to come to the United States (Graduate/ Undergraduate / High school/
transfer experience)
• Marital Status
• Live off-campus or at campus

Opening remarks:
It is nice to see you, XX. Thank you for taking the time to do the interview. I am going to
ask you some questions about your college life here in the XXX university. All your information
will be kept strictly confidential and please be relaxed that no one will access the interview notes
or any data obtained from our interview. Your participation of this study is crucial for higher
education professionals or anyone who cares about our development in a foreign university to
better understand the Chinese international student population. Please feel free to tell me
anything you think is relevant and give me as many information as possible. Let’s start the
interview.
1. Which year are you enrolled in this program? How do you like it so far?
a. Why you choose to study here (Country, program, major).
b. What is your GPA last semester? What did you learn from your major?
c. Do you feel like you have learned things you want from this program? Why?

2. How often do you contact your family? Did you miss anything in China? Why?
a. Do you think you are an independent adult or not? How do you know that?
b. Are you able to make independent decision now? What are those
decisions/What are some factors that prohibit you from making independent
decisions on those things?

3. Are you in relationship now/when do you get married?
a. If yes, how long did you get together? Tell me more about it. What is your
attitude towards getting married?
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 106
b. If no, why are you single now? Would you describe what you think the ideal
relationship would be like?
c. What are some external factors that you think might challenge your perception
towards intimate relationships or prevent you from establishing relationships?

4. How your life changes after coming to the United States? What are some of the
differences you noticed between China and America? Give me some examples.
a. Did you feel comfortable with how you look, what you did and how others
think about you because you are a Chinese international student?
b. Did you feel comfortable with how you look, what you did and how others
think about you during your interaction with other Chinese?
c. How do you usually deal with the cultural differences? Does it work out well?

5. What’s your plan after graduation? Why?
a. What factors contribute to your decision (interests, family and relationships)?
b. What is your short-term plan now in order to achieve this goal? What are
some barriers or obstacles in your way of goal-achieving?

6. Did you think you are living yourself right now? What are some circumstances you
have to compromise?
a. Are you comfortable with your lifestyle now? Are you confident about the
decision you have made?
b. What is your ideal life look like? Describe it to me.

7. How do you get along with your peers/roommates/classmates? Did you make friends
here? What do you usually do with you friends?
a. Do you have non-Chinese friends? How many?
b. What is your attitudes towards making friends with people other than
Chinese?

8. Is there something bothers you emotionally? What are they?
a. When is the last time you cry (feeling depressed, anxious, nervous, angry,
etc.) and why?
b. How do you usually handle those emotions?

9. Did your family influence your choice of college and major? Describe your
relationship with your family to me. During your contact with your family, did you
hide something from them? Why?

10. How do you like your life in the United States? (Rate from 1 to 10). What would you
give it that rating?

11. What are the biggest concerns or challenges you have right now? What are some
things you worry about in the future?

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 107
12. Is your life as a college student here in the United States meet your expectations? If
you can change your life as you want, how would you like to change your life? Why?

13. Do you want to stay in the United States or coming back to China?
a. If choosing XX over another, why?
b. If indecisive, why?

14. How will you describe yourself now as being how many percent of Chinese and how
many percent of American? Why?
a. Do you think your values are Americanized? Why or why not?
b. And how your college life and your experiences here shape your values?
c. What are some misconceptions you have towards your life in the foreign
country in general before you come here?

15. How often did you see your advisor? Do you think the advising is helpful for you?
a. If yes, give examples.
b. If no, why are you not seeing your advisor/ why you think it is not helpful?

16. Are there any other services you have used during your stay here? What are your
thoughts about the supporting services on this campus?
a. What are some areas of improvement?
b. What are difficulties or concerns you have that you feel like there are no
resources to assist you with those yet?

Thank you for your time and cooperation! Here is a small gift as a token of appreciation. Please
verify your contact information with me and I will send you the preliminary analysis of the data
obtain from our interview for you to review. If you have any questions about the data or my
interpretation of anything you said, please be sure to contact me.

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 108
Appendix B
Research Questions, Theoretical Frameworks and Instrument
Research Questions Methodology Interview Questions
What do Chinese
international students
experience during their
identity development
process in college as
they move through the
seven vectors identified
by Chickering?

Chickering’s seven
vectors of identity
development (1993)

Vector one: Developing
Competence
Which year are you enrolled in this
program? How do you like it so far?
a. Why you choose to study here
(Country, program, major).
a. What is your GPA last semester?
What did you learn from your
major?
b. Do you feel like you have
learned things you want from
this program? Why?
Vector Two: Managing
Emotions
Is there something bothers you
emotionally? What are they?
a. When is the last time you cry
(feeling depressed, anxious,
nervous, angry, etc.) and why?
b. How do you usually handle
those emotions?
Vector Three: Moving
Through Autonomy
Toward Interdependence
How often do you contact your family?
Did you miss anything in China? Why?
a. Do you think you are an
independent adult or not? How
do you know that?
b. Are you able to make
independent decision now? What
are those decisions/What are
some factors that prohibit you
from making independent
decisions on those things?

Did your family influence your choice
of college and major? Describe your
relationship with your family to me.
During your contact with your family,
did you hide something from them?
Why?
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 109
Research Questions Methodology Interview Questions

Vector Four: Developing
Mature Interpersonal
Relationships
Are you in relationship now/when do
you get married?
a. If yes, how long did you get
together? Tell me more about it.
What is your attitude towards
getting married?
b. If no, why are you single now?
Would you describe what you
think the ideal relationship
would be like?
c. What are some external factors
that you think might challenge
your perception towards intimate
relationships or prevent you
from establishing relationships?

How do you get along with your
peers/roommates/classmates? Did you
make friends here? What do you usually
do with you friends?
a. Do you have non-Chinese
friends? How many? How does
speaking English/English
environment impact your social
life/making friends?
b. What is your attitudes towards
making friends with people other
than Chinese?
Vector Five: Establishing
Identity
How your life changes after coming to
the United States? What are some of the
differences you noticed between China
and America? Give me some examples.
a. Did you feel comfortable with
how you look, what you did and
how others think about you
because you are a Chinese
international student? How does
speaking English impact your
relationships?
b. Did you feel comfortable with
What do Chinese
international students
experience during
their identity
development process
in college as they
move through the
seven vectors
identified by
Chickering?
CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 110
Research Questions Methodology Interview Questions
how you look, what you did and
how others think about you
during your interaction with other
Chinese
Vector Six: Developing
Purpose
What’s your plan after graduation?
Why?
a. What factors contribute to your
decision (interests, family and
relationships)?
b. What is your short-term plan
now in order to achieve this
goal? What are some barriers or
obstacles in your way of goal-
achieving?
Vector Seven:
Developing Integrity
How will you describe yourself now as
being how many percent of Chinese and
how many percent of American? Why?

a. Do you think your values are
Americanized? Why or why not?
b. And how your college life and
your experiences here shape
your values?
c. What are some misconceptions
you have towards your life in the
foreign country in general before
you come here?
What contextual factors
contribute to the
process of Chinese
student’s identity
development in higher
education settings?

Cross cultural influences,
Acculturations
How your life changes after coming to
the United States? What are some of the
differences you noticed between China
and America? Give me some examples.
a. How do you usually deal with
the cultural differences? Does it
work out well?
How do you like your life in the United
States? (Rate from 1 to 10). What would
you give it that rating?

CHINESE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 111
Research Questions Methodology Interview Questions
What are the biggest concerns or
challenges you have right now? What
are some things you worry about in the
future?

Is your life as a college student here in
the United States meet your
expectations? If you can change your
life as you want, how would you like to
change your life? Why?

Do you want to stay in the United States
or coming back to China?
a. If choosing XX over another,
why?
b. If indecisive, why?
How can student
helping professionals,
faculty and institutions
better accommodate
their needs of
developing identity
throughout the college
and how their effort
could initiate or
respond to institutional
change concerning
diversity issues?

How often did you see your advisor? Do
you think the advising is helpful for
you?
a. If yes, give examples.
b. If no, why are you not seeing
your advisor/ why you think it is
not helpful?

Are there any other services you have
used during your stay here? What are
your thoughts about the supporting
services on this campus?
a. What are some areas of
improvement?
b. What are difficulties or concerns
you have that you feel like there
are no resources to assist you
with those yet?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The increasing number of international students has drawn attention to the multiple racial and cultural concerns of this group in higher education settings. Comprising the largest portion of the American international student population, Chinese students encounter multiple sociocultural barriers to acquire learning experiences as meaningful as domestic students’ due to language barriers, lack of belonging, and acculturation stress. Given the globalizing context and research gap concerning the psychological development of this group, this study was designed to probe into the identity development of Chinese international students in foreign higher education institutions using Arthur Chickering’s (1993) seven vector theory. Employing qualitative case study methodology, the researcher conducted 12 interviewees at T university, an international-student-populated four-year institution located in the western United States. The study found the psychological development pathway of Chinese international students aligned with most of the components in the vectors identity by Chickering, whereas the discrepancies lie in the specific development tasks in each vector. Discrimination, existence stress, and value collision are three contextual factors that significantly influence Chinese international students’ psychological development and their passive, help-seeking behavior result in generally low utilization rate of the institutional support and services. Developing cultural classes, strengthening counseling services, expanding international student services and mentoring programs are four recommendations proposed by this researcher.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Self-perceptions of student identity in community college students with disabilities

PDF

Alternative spring break and internationalization: a qualitative study using Chickering’s theory of student development

PDF

Perceptions of inequality: racism, ethnic identity and student development for a master of education degree

PDF

A phenomenological study of Black student leaders in a predominantly White institution

PDF

Mental health experiences of undergraduate college students in outpatient treatment

PDF

Study abroad and the ethnoracial identity development of Latinx students

PDF

A study of student affairs administration professional preparation in Chinese higher education

PDF

“Ask a lot of questions and hope you meet the right people”: a case study analyzing the transition experience of community college transfer students involved in the transfer program at a selectiv...

PDF

Ethnic identity development, ethnic student organizations, campus racial climate, cultural integrity, and sense of belonging for Filipino American undergraduate students at a selective predominan...

PDF

Experiences of Latina student-mothers in community college: a study based in community cultural wealth

PDF

The experiences of successful higher education Latino administrators and educational leaders in selected western United States community colleges

PDF

What is the impact of same-race alumni mentoring on the career development of African American students attending predominantly White Universities?

PDF

The effectiveness of a peer mentorship program: a mixed methods study

PDF

First year experiences contributing to foster youth higher education attainment

PDF

"Sino ka ba?" The impact of community gatherings on Pilipinx American students' identity formation and sense of belonging in higher education

PDF

Academic success of students who come from highly stressful homes

PDF

Preparing for the field of student affairs: White graduate students and the social justice and inclusion competency

PDF

Chinese students’ college choice: targeting the U.S as the top study destination

PDF

The psychosociocultural model as it relates to Latino/a college students and their academic success: a literature review

PDF

Humanizing career development for international graduate students: an exploration of career development support offered by a higher education institution

Asset Metadata

Creator Cheng, Shuo (author)

Core Title A case study of the applicability of Chickering’s theory of psychological development of Chinese international students in the American higher education settings

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Master of Education

Degree Program Education Counseling

Publication Date 07/25/2016

Defense Date 06/08/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Chickering,Chinese international students,identity development,OAI-PMH Harvest,vectors

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Venegas, Kristan (committee chair), Hoffman, Jaimie (committee member), Tobey, Patricia (committee member)

Creator Email chengshu@usc.edu,cs0932313@126.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-276820

Unique identifier UC11280278

Identifier etd-ChengShuo-4605.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-276820 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-ChengShuo-4605.pdf

Dmrecord 276820

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Cheng, Shuo

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA