LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND ADJUSTMENT - THE ROLE OF LINGUISTIC SELF-CONFIDENCE IN THE ACCULTURATION PROCESS

Research in both cross-cultural psychology and the social psychology o f language has examined the changes in identity and language behavior that occur when two ethnolinguistic groups come into contact. This stu dy attempted to integrate these two fields of inquiry through an inves tigation of the relations between identity, interethnic contact, lingu istic self-confidence, and psychological adjustment in 179 Chinese uni versity students. The findings indicated that exclusive identification , with either the first or second language group was the most commonly endorsed identity. Correlational and path analyses of the relations b etween interethnic contact, self-confidence in using the English and C hinese languages, Chinese and Canadian identities, and adjustment vari ables supported the proposed model in which communication variables me diate the influence of inter-ethnic contact on identity and adjustment . The results are interpreted within the context of current formulatio ns of acculturation and intercultural communication.