Perceived discrimination and Asian cultural values are associated with beliefs about psychological services among Chinese international students

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore Asian cultural values as a mediator of the predictive effects of Chinese international students’ perceived discrimination on their beliefs about psychological services. We explored this issue with measures of perceived discrimination (Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire-Community Version, PEDQ-CV; Brondolo et al., 2005), Asian cultural values (Asian Values Scale, AVS; Kim et al., 1999), and beliefs about psychological services (Beliefs About Psychological Services scale, BAPS; Ægisdóttir & Gerstein, 2009) within a structural equation model. Our study quantitatively examined the relationships of these variables among a sample of 439 mainland Chinese international students attending a college or university in the U.S. Results of a structural equation model with three latent variables indicated no mediation; however, perceived discrimination was positively associated with beliefs about psychological services very modestly in isolation, but when traditional Asian cultural values was added to the model, the association of beliefs about psychological services was increased. Specifically, higher levels of perceived discrimination and lower levels of Asian cultural values (less traditional orientation) was associated with more positive beliefs concerning psychological services. This study extends previous work with international student populations and expands the empirical literature on Chinese international students. Implications for clinical work and future research with this population are discussed.