Social identity change as an integration strategy of international students in China
| Published date | 01 October 2021 |
| Author | Rameez Raja,Wei Zhou,Xi Yuan Li,Asad Ullah,Jianfu Ma |
| Date | 01 October 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12827 |
230
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International Migration. 2021;59:230–247.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
Life t ransiti on always entails challen ges that im pact peo ples’ su bjecti ve well-b eing in a new society. Ev en if a tran -
sit ion is ob ser ved as po siti ve, it do es aff ect in divi duals (Mill er, 2010 ) since it chal lenge s the se nse of se lf-co ntin uity
Received: 12 Feb ruary 2020
|
Revised: 31 Octob er 2020
|
Accepted: 30 Dece mber 2020
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12827
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Social identity change as an integration strategy of
international students in China
Rameez Raja1| Wei Zhou1| Xi Yuan Li1,2| Asad Ullah3|
Jianfu Ma4
© 2021 The Author s. Internationa l Migration © 2021 IOM
1Departme nt of Sociology, Scho ol of
Sociology & A nthropology, Sun Yat- sen
Universit y, Guangzhou, China
2Centre for the s tudies of Hong Kong,
Macao and Pea rl River Delta, S un Yat- sen
Universit y, Guangzhou, China
3Departm ent of Rural Sociolog y, The
Universit y of Agriculture, Pe shawar,
Pakistan
4Pakistan C entre, North Min zu University,
Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
Correspondence
Rameez Raja a nd Wei Zhou, Depar tment
of Sociolog y, School of Sociolog y &
Anthropol ogy, Sun Yat- sen University,
South Camp us, Guangzhou, G uangdong
Province, China.
Email: raja@aup.edu.pk;zhouw65@mail2.
sysu.edu.cn
Abstract
This study investigate s the role of social identiti es in the
context of international students’ transition to China.
Sojourners usually confr ont p erceived threats, including
adjustment to life -changes in a new society. The tr ansition
has a general capacity to disrupt t he patterned behaviour
of individ uals that und ermine their health and well-being.
Previous st udies informed by the Social Identit y Model of
Identity Change demonstrate that group membership and
associated social identities can buffer the adverse effects
of transition. H owever, China's stor y concerning interna-
tional students’ social identity change is not yet researched.
To address this issue, in-depth, semi-structured interviews
were conducted with sixt y-three internat ional students.
The results revealed that being disconnected fro m old
social netwo rks due to internet restriction leads to poten-
tial ident ity threats during early transition. However, new
group memberships with co-national and multinational
peers, communication technologies and host-culture adap-
tation enhanced sojourn ers’ well-being and help to adapt
to life-changes in Chine se society.
[Correcti on added on 15th Feb ruary 2021, af ter first onl ine publicat ion: The affili ation for Jianfu M a has been update d in this version .]
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231
EXPERIENCES OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN CHINA
and associ ated social iden tities (Haslam e t al., 2008). Many transitio ns are promising , such as tr ansitioning from
high school to un iversity, where in dividuals enhance their self-esteem and efficacy (Haslam, Haslam, Jetten,
Cruwys, & Steffens, 2020). However, the early ph ase of transition to university st udy is recognised to be a chal-
lenging period for domestic s tudents, but it poses additional challenges for international s tudents (Geeraert, Li,
Ward, G elfand, & Demes, 2019; Colleen Ward, Beth el, & Fetvadjiev, 2020 ). Internationa l students require de-
veloping new skills to manage the stress which is linked with life-changes in order to operate efficiently in a new
culture (Colleen Ward & Szabó, 2019). In these challe nging times, international st udents tend to maintain and gain
social networks for success ful adjustment and well-being (Colleen Ward et al., 2020). Therefore, the prese nt study
aims to understand how life- changes impac t international students' well-being i n China, focusing on the social
identity dim ensions in transition.
International students are short-termed sojourners (Geeraert et al., 2019), whose stay is defined in the host
country and return homeland once they complete th eir studies. The ten dency of studying ab road indicate s an
overarching need to evaluate the essential aspects of sojourners’ cross-cultural encounters (C Ward, Bochner,
& Furnha m, 2001) and factor s that ac t either as facilit ators or detrimental in the p rocess of psychological and
sociocu ltural adjus tment (Colle en Ward & Geerae rt, 2016). Comm only, internati onal exposure enhances per sonal
growth through an independent life pattern of sojourners. Therefore, expanding one's multicultural experiences
can ultimately broaden the level of cross-cultural understanding, self-esteem and creativity (Geeraert & Demoulin,
2013). International ed ucation, training and ex posure to different environm ents have a crucial role in making new
social ties and creating eno rmous future employment oppor tunities within the homelan d and abroad (Ng, Haslam,
Haslam, & Cruw ys, 2018).
On t he flip side, life transition impacts pathways of individ uals’ social identity. The loss of so cial identit y
affects peoples’ well-being (Jet ten, Haslam, Iyer, & Hasl am, 2009). In general, sojourners face unfamilia r edu-
cation systems, in tercultural e ncounters and sociocultur al adjustmen t (Cruwys, Ng, Has lam, & Haslam, 2020 ;
Colleen Ward et al., 2020) . These factors can impac t internatio nal student s’ adaptati on and often cau se iso-
lation from th e host society. For insta nce, Sawir, Marginson, Deumert, Nyland and R amia (200 8) found that
most inter national studen ts reported fe elings of isolatio n and loneliness d uring their earl y transition phas es in a
wes tern count ry. Lik ewis e, a com para tive s tudy was con duct ed by Kh awaj a and De mpse y (200 8) at an Austr alia n
University, which revealed that international students had less social support than local students, which under-
mined their adaptation. Correspondingly, Rienties, Beausaert, Grohnert, Niemantsverdriet and Kommers (2012)
argued that international students struggle harder than loc al students for adjustment to new society because
they could not easily access support from social networks. Similarly, Geera ert and Demoulin (2013) pointed o ut
that social su pport facilitat es self-esteem and ease a cculturative stre ss. These shreds of evi dence show that so-
cial suppor t from group membership has a potential contr ibution in secu ring international students' well-b eing
during their transitory period. More precisely, group membership provides people with a sense of belonging
and social identity (Turner, 1982). Belonging to mu ltiple groups h as been affir med to be a positive predicto r of
peoples’ well-being in the life-chan ging context (Haslam, Jet ten, Postmes, & Haslam, 2009; Jet ten, Haslam, &
Alexander, 2012).
Social identity theory and the social identity model of identity change (SIMIC)
The social i dentity theor y demonstrated by Tajfel and Turner (1979) and self-categorisatio n theory enca psulated
by previous researchers (Turner, 1982; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987) divulge that group mem-
bership is not ex ternal to a n individual's sense of self but, instead, ar e frequently co-opted and integrated into
individual's vie w of who they are? Where do they belong? How do they fit (or fit in)? Membersh ip in various social
groups i nfluences how individuals behave socially in differ ent contexts. It is w ell understoo d that an individual
can and usually does, possess multiple group memberships simultaneously without substituting the constituent
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