textThe present study investigates the role of CMC in international students’
adjustment to the U.S. It is divided into two parts. The first part tests a structural
equation model (SEM) in which international students’ adaptation to the new
culture during is predicted by CMC use, home and host national identification,
and perceived social support. Psychological, socio-cultural, and academic
adaptations are measured as the outcomes of acculturation. Two-hundred-eighty
first year international students attending the University of Texas at Austin
responded to a web survey after they had moved to the U.S. The results of the
SEM analysis confirm that the model developed and tested in this study is
plausible in explaining adaptation of the international students. The findings
suggested that international students frequently use computers as tools for
sustaining contact with family and friends at home as well as the native social and
culture life. Continuous contact with home affects the sojourning individuals’
maintenance of home identity and the acquisition of host identity, and their
perceptions of available social support. All of these factors combine to affect the
students’ adaptation to the new culture. Further comparisons of high and low
CMC users indicated that CMC use has diverse effects on the adaptation of the
international students. Likewise, the acculturation strategy adopted by students
influences the three adaptation processes differently. Biculturalism and integration
emerged to be more effective acculturation strategies than separationalism and
marginalism. The second part of the study makes comparisons between prearrival
and post-arrival measures to detect the changes students go through during
the initial phase of cross-cultural transition. Ninety international students from
the same population responded to a series of questionnaires first before their
move and again two months after their arrival to the U.S. Results of repeated
measures of analyses of variance tests supported the notion that cross-cultural
transitions result in behavioral and psychological changes in international
students. In the post arrival phase, international students’ frequency of CMC use
significantly increases whereas their psychological well-being significantly
diminishes relative to the pre-arrival phase. The findings of this study are also
supported by the qualitative data collected from another group of international
students of the University of Texas at Austin in a pilot study.Educational Psycholog