Maladaptive Perfectionism and College Adjustment of International Students in Korea: A Moderated Mediation Model of Social Support

Gina Lee, Tae In Park and Hyojin Cho
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Gina Lee: Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management, Sejong 30149, Korea
Tae In Park: Institute for Global Engagement & Empowerment at Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea
Hyojin Cho: University of Seoul, Seoul 02592, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: Due to the increasing demand for international education, the number of international students in Korea has been rapidly increasing. Accordingly, well adjusting to college has been a main interest for both academic institutions and international students as it is key to their success. Previous studies have revealed that maladaptive perfectionism (MP) hampers the college adjustment (CA) of international students, yet little is known about its underlying mechanism. To fill in this gap, this study examined the mediating effect of acculturative stress (AS) in between maladaptive perfectionism and college adjustment; the moderating effect of social support (SS) in the relation between acculturative stress and college adjustment; and the moderated mediating effect of social support in the causal pathway from maladaptive perfectionism to acculturative stress to college adjustment. Results showed a partial mediating effect of acculturative stress, a moderating effect, and a moderated mediating effect of social support. This implies that social support is an essential factor that helps international students better adjust to the new collegiate environment by alleviating their stress caused by maladaptive perfectionism and acculturative stress.

Keywords: maladaptive perfectionism; acculturative stress; social support; college adjustment; international students; Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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