Trust, Social Support and Adaptation: A Study of International Students in Japan

Abstract—Research suggests that there are two kinds of trust, generalized trust and particularistic trust. This study focuses on international students studying in Japan and investigates the relationship between their generalized trust of others, the social support they receive from both Japanese people and same-language speakers, and their sense of acceptance (SOA). A self-reported questionnaire survey was conducted, producing 206 valid responses. Multiple regression analysis showed that the respondents’ self-esteem, generalized trust of others, and social support from Japanese people and same-language speakers all had significant effects on SOA. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that self-esteem not only had strong direct effects on SOA, but also had strong effects on an individual’s generalized trust of others, which had mediating effects on social support from Japanese people and on SOA. However, no similar mediating effect on SOA was detected when the social support was from the same-language speakers. Implications of the study’s findings are discussed.

Index Terms—International students in Japan, trust, social support networks (SSN), sense of acceptance (SOA).

Shaoyu Ye is with the Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba, 3058550 Japan (e-mail: shaoyu@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp).

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Cite: Shaoyu Ye, "Trust, Social Support and Adaptation: A Study of International Students in Japan," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 13-18, 2018.