跨越文化和跨社交媒體平台 : Facebook與Instagram上的社會支持以及台灣外籍人士的心理調節 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文治. 政. 大. 立Master’s Thesis. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 y. Nat. 跨越文化和跨社交媒體平台: Facebook 與 Instagram 上的社. er. io. sit. 會支持以及台灣外籍人士的心理調節. n. Crossing a l cultures and platforms: v n i the psychological Social support on Facebook C h vs. InstagramU and n g c h i in Taiwan adjustment ofesojourners. Student: Pascaline Baltel Advisor: Tsung-Jen Shih. 中華民國 109 年 7 月 July 2020. DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(2) 跨越文化和跨社交媒體平台 : Facebook與Instagram上的社會支持以及台灣外籍人士的心理調節 Crossing cultures and platforms: Social support on Facebook vs. Instagram and the psychological adjustment of sojourners in Taiwan. 研究生: 白小玲. Student: Pascaline Baltel. 指導教授: 施琮仁. Advisor: Tsung-Jen Shih. 國立政治大學. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大. 國際傳播英語碩士學位學程. Nat. er. io. sit. y. ‧. 碩士論文. al. n. A Thesis iv n Ch Submitted to International Master’s Program in U i e h n gc International Communication Studies National Chengchi University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the degree of Master of Arts. 中華民國109年7月 July 2020. ii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(3) Acknowledgement First, I would like to take this opportunity to express my immense gratitude to my advisor Dr. Tsung-Jen Shih who introduced me to statistics and guided me in all the time of research and writing of my thesis. His thoughtful suggestions and his exigence pushed me further than I thought I could go. Besides my advisor, I would like to deeply thank the rest of my thesis committee members: Dr. Jih-Hsuan Tammy Lin and Dr. Wen-Ing Liu, for their encouragement, insightful comments, and sincere enthusiasm toward my research. My sincere thanks also go to the TA of IMICS, Margaret, whose assistance and genuine kindness. 治政大love and support. I am also grateful to my friends and family for their continuous 立 To my dear friend Pauline, thank you for the tough love and the relentless pep talks that push me undoubtably helped me to complete this Master's program serenely.. ‧ 國. 學. to keep going.. To my travel soulmate Noémie, thank you for being such an inspiration and for always checking. ‧. on me.. sit. y. Nat. To my life partner Jordan, thank you for unconditionally believing in me, praising my work, and. io. stress of the past two years.. a. er. cheering me up. Your loving encouragements infused the strength that helped me survive the. n. v to continue my studies in l offered me the opportunity Last but not least, to my parents who ni Ch. U. i n g c h although Taiwan, I thank you for always trusting myedecisions, they are often fierce ones, and. for allowing me to pursue my dreams. I profoundly appreciate you and everything you have done for me.. iii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(4) Abstract Cross-cultural adjustment is often accompanied by feelings of psychological distress such as homesickness and anxiety, and sojourners depend on social support to maintain their psychological well-being in the host country. Previous studies have found that sojourners get social support using social media, which help them to find information, to meet new people, and keep in touch with home country members. In recent years, the impact of social media use on the psychological adjustment of sojourners has received scholarly attention. However, most studies do not differentiate the results between platforms. The present study applied the social support coping theory to examine the role of emotional support, esteem support, network support,. 政治大 role on the psychological adjustment of sojourners in Taiwan. An online survey was conducted 立. informational support and instrumental support on Facebook and Instagram, and to explore their. ‧ 國. 學. targeting the adult foreigners sojourning in Taiwan (N=426). Findings indicated that host country communication on Instagram was positively related with psychological adjustment while home. ‧. country relations was negatively correlated with psychological adjustment. Perceived informational support on Facebook was found to predict psychological adjustment. The results. Nat. sit. y. also indicated that perceived informational support on Facebook mediated the relationship. er. io. between the frequency of Facebook use and psychological adjustment. Multicultural personality. n. predicted psychological adjustment. a Furthermore, this study brings new insight into the different. l. iv. n social support dimensions perceived onC Instagram and Facebook. hengchi U. Keywords: psychological adjustment, social support dimensions, Instagram use, Facebook use, sojourners, multicultural personality.. iv DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(5) Table of Contents. 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. RESEARCH BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1. Sojourning in Taiwan .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.2. Defining sojourners ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.1.3. Social media and social support .................................................................................................. 3 1.2. RESEARCH AIM .................................................................................................................................... 4 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. THE ADJUSTMENT OF SOJOURNERS ...................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 Defining adjustment ..................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2. The psychological adjustment of sojourning .............................................................................. 5 2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................. 6 2.2.1. Social support coping theory ....................................................................................................... 6 2.2.2. The five dimensions of social support .......................................................................................... 7 2.3. SOCIAL SUPPORT ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ................................................................................ 8 2.3.1. Communication with home and host country relations................................................................ 9 2.3.2. Social support on social media platforms .................................................................................. 10 2.3.3. Social support on Facebook ...................................................................................................... 11 2.3.4. Social support on Instagram ...................................................................................................... 13 2.4. MULTICULTURAL PERSONALITY ........................................................................................................ 15. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 3. METHOD .............................................................................................................................................. 17. ‧. sit. y. Nat. 3.1. PROCEDURE ...................................................................................................................................... 17 3.2. PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................................... 18 3.3. MEASUREMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 18 3.4. PRE-TEST........................................................................................................................................... 20. al. er. io. 4. RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................ 21. v. n. 4.1. SAMPLE .............................................................................................................................................. 21 4.2. EFFECTS OF HOME COUNTRY COMMUNICATION ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ............................... 22 4.3. EFFECTS OF HOST COUNTRY COMMUNICATION ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ................................ 22 4.4. EFFECTS OF PLATFORM USE FREQUENCY ........................................................................................... 23 4.5. MEDIATING EFFECT OF SOCIAL SUPPORT DIMENSIONS BETWEEN PLATFORM USE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT ............................................................................................................................................. 26 4.6. MULTICULTURAL PERSONALITY ........................................................................................................ 29 4.6.1. Multicultural personality and psychological adjustment ........................................................... 29 4.6.2. Moderating effect of multicultural personality .......................................................................... 29. Ch. engchi. i n U. 5. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................................ 36 5.1. FACEBOOK VS. INSTAGRAM: COMMUNICATION ORIENTATION ...................................................................... 36 5.2. FACEBOOK VS. INSTAGRAM: SOCIAL SUPPORT DIMENSIONS......................................................................... 37 5.3. MULTICULTURAL PERSONALITY ............................................................................................................. 38 3.4. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH ...................................................................................................... 39 6. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 40 6.1. RELEVANCE AND CONTRIBUTION ............................................................................................................ 40 6.2. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 41 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 43 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................................. 48 v DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(6) List of figures & tables. Figure 1. Research model .................................................................................................................... 16 Table 1. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of IVs on Psychological Adjustment ............................ 21 Table 2a. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of Facebook Use Frequency and Facebook Host vs. Home Country Communication (IVs) on Facebook Social Support Dimensions (DVs) ...................... 24 Table 2b. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of Instagram Use Frequency and Facebook Host vs. Home Country Communication (IVs) on Instagram Social Support Dimensions (DVs) ..................... 25 Table 3a. Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Emotional Support (M) ............................................................. 26. 政治大 Table 3c. Mediation Model: Indirect立 Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Network Support (M) ............................................................... 27 Table 3b. Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Esteem Support (M) .................................................................. 27. ‧ 國. 學. Table 3d. Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Informational Support (M)........................................................ 28. ‧. Table 3e. Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Instrumental Support (M) ......................................................... 28. y. Nat. sit. Table 4. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of MPQ Traits on Psychological Adjustment ................ 29. er. io. Table 5a. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Emotional Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 30. al. n. iv n C h eEffect Table 5b. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect h i UUse Frequency (IV) on n gofcFacebook Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Esteem Support (M) Moderated by. Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 30 Table 5c. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Network Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 31 Table 5d. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Informational Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 31 Table 5e. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Instrumental Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 32 Table 6a. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Emotional Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 33. vi DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(7) Table 6b. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Esteem Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 33 Table 6c. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Network Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 34 Table 6d. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Informational Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 34 Table 6e. Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Instrumental Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo) ............................................................................................................. 35. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. vii DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(8) 1. Introduction 1.1 Research background 1.1.1. Sojourning in Taiwan. Every year, the networking website for expatriate InterNations collects the answers of more than 20,000 sojourners and ranks 64 countries around the world regarding the respondents' living conditions abroad on such criteria as the quality of life, the job satisfaction, the cost of living, the health care system, financial situation, and ease of settling in (Forbes.com, InterNations.com). Taiwan, which is consistently at the top of the list, was ranked second in. 治政大 showed an impressive overall in the world for expatriates to live in. The results the 2019 survey 立 satisfaction rate of 86 percent from sojourners living in Taiwan for an average of only 75. 2018, fourth in 2017, and first in 2016. Last year, Taiwan was once again voted the best country. ‧ 國. 學. percent from sojourners living in the rest of the surveyed countries. In effect, most foreigners living in Taiwan are satisfied with the quality (92%) and affordability (89%) of the healthcare. ‧. system, the level of personal safety (96%), and their financial situation (85%). Moreover, they concur that Taiwanese people are very friendly and find it easy to interact with them, despite. y. Nat. sit. the difficulty of learning Mandarin. The cultural richness, as well as the beauty and diversity. er. io. of the nature offered by the island, are also an important upside for sojourners and it is not. al. v i n C hwith the country's U extending their stay after falling in love e n g c h i hospitality. As the number of sojourners moving to Taiwan is consistently growing, the need to understand n. uncommon to find accounts of people who came to Taiwan for a short trip and ended up. their adjustment to this country becomes more important. Moreover, the criteria examined by Internations’ Expat Insider survey focus on the sociocultural aspects of adjustment and it would be insightful to complement them with emotional components.. 1 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(9) 1.1.2. Defining sojourners. The improvements in transportation and communication technologies as well as the increasing economic and political ties across our globalized world have participated in the acceleration of international mobility in recent years. The internationalization of professional opportunities encourages people to widen their job search beyond the borders of their home country, and companies are increasingly assigning some of their employees to work and live abroad. Individuals working in a foreign country are often referred to as expatriates, whom Von Koppenfels (2014) define as ''those who are either on short-term intra-company transfers or working for international companies for the longer term''. Moreover, the increase of international mobility also brought new demands in terms of. 政治大. qualifications and so-called global skills, such as mastering foreign languages or holding a diversified cultural knowledge, are now key resume features that stimulate employability.. 立. Studying abroad is therefore encouraged and more sought by students. Thus, in order to stay. ‧ 國. 學. competitive, many universities are proposing exchange and double-degree programs abroad. This is particularly true for Taiwan, which saw a spectacular increase of international students. number of non-citizens students in Taiwan has increased by 59,3%.. Nat. y. ‧. in the past few years. According to the Ministry of Education, between 2013 and 2018, the. sit. Recent years have also seen the emergence of new professions that entirely depend on the. er. io. Internet such as bloggers, vloggers, and social media influencers. It also contributed to the. al. v i n their job from anywhere in the world as have access to a steady Internet connection. Clong h easnthey i U h c g Individuals working under such conditions are commonly called digital nomads, which is the n. development of online outsourcing with more companies hiring remote freelancers who can do. appellation for any individual who has the ability “to work remotely from their laptop and use their freedom from an office to travel the world” (Thompson, 2018). Expatriates, international students and digital nomads: three categories that have in common the fact that they are settling abroad for other purposes than tourism and are doing so for a relatively long period of time that could be from five months to five years with the mindset that their stay is temporary, whether they know the date of departure or not. Therefore, they can be considered as being part of the larger group of sojourners, which is the word that will be used throughout this study.. 2 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(10) Contrary to permanent migrants, sojourners are characterized by the transience of their stay abroad and are subjected to less administrative constraints, thus allowing them to bypass the rigorous restrictions on entry for long-term settlement (Cohen, 2008). It also grants them more mobility freedom and the chance to travel around the world while pursuing their studies or earning a living. However, whether it is for studying or working purposes, they all have responsibilities and a real-life routine, which differentiate them from tourists. These obligations translate into a certain commitment to the host country that obliges sojourners to adjust to the new environment. According to Askoy (2017), sojourners represent a multicultural community in which they face similar challenges of settling in, adjusting, and joining in social life in a new culture. This adjustment is often accompanied by feelings of psychological distress such as homesickness, acculturative stress, and loneliness. In the host country, sojourners depend on. 政治大. social support to alleviate acculturative stress and thus maintain their psychological well-being.. 立. 1.1.3. Social media and social support. ‧ 國. 學. The challenges induced by the uncertainty and the unfamiliarity of living in a foreign. ‧. environment make sojourning a particularly meaningful context to study the social support attributes of social media platforms. Indeed, social support has been found to be an essential. y. Nat. sit. predictor of successful adjustment and social media platforms are ideal providers of social. er. io. support. In effect, by breaking the limits of time and space, the Internet allow sojourners to. al. v i n Csojourners social media sites. On these platforms, maintain communications with kins and U h e n g can i h c n. interact with their existing social networks and to connect with new individuals, notably using. friends in their home country while finding the information necessary to navigate their host. country, both of which have been proven to be essential constituents of adjustment (Bierwiaczonek & Waldzus, 2016; Smith & Khawaja, 2011). The use of social media has been found to positively influence the adjustment of expatriates, who are using such platforms to develop friendships, to gather survival information about the host country (Aksoy, 2016), and to preserve their connection with their home country (Zaw, 2018).. 3 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(11) 1.2. Research aim Most of the research investigating the use of SNS within the context of the cross-cultural adjustment regards social media in its ensemble without separating the findings per platform. Yet, previous studies suggest that, as some social processes differ from a platform to another (Pittman & Reich, 2016), extrapolating the effects of one platform to all SNS can be ill-suited (Wilson, Gosling & Graham, 2012). Hence, the study of social media deserves to be differentiated by platforms. As Facebook and Instagram are the two main platforms used by sojourners in Taiwan, the present study will examine how the five dimensions of social support are perceived and allocated on these two social media platforms. A substantial amount of research suggests that Facebook can provide all five dimensions of social support. Furthermore, the positive. 政治大. correlation between Facebook Use and the cross-cultural adjustment of sojourners have been found in multiple studies. However, the type of social support gained using Instagram and its. 立. impact on adjustment are yet to be investigated. Hence, the present study aims to fill this gap.. ‧ 國. 學. Moreover, it would be meaningful to gain more insight into the type of social support that sojourners are seeking on social media and if they are varying on different platforms. Some. ‧. scholars have argued that social support should not be studied as a unidimensional construct and have prompted researchers to examine how different social media platforms facilitate. y. Nat. sit. different forms on social support (Kramer et al., 2014). Previous research has found that social. al. er. io. media can facilitate different dimensions of social support and that some platforms “may be. n. better-suited than others for provision and accessing of specific types of support” (Hayes et al., 2016).. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold. The first is to examine the effect of Facebook and Instagram on psychological adjustment. The second is to test whether the five social support dimensions mediate those relationships. And as it has not been the effect of the different social support dimensions have not been differentiated in the present literature that relates Facebook and Instagram use to cross-cultural adjustment, this research intends to fill this gap.. 4 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(12) 2. Literature review 2.1. The adjustment of sojourners. 2.1.1. Defining adjustment Sojourners are evolving in unfamiliar surroundings and need to adapt to different social norms, interactions, and behaviors (Ward et al., 2001). Scholars have referred to this process as acculturation, sometimes as cross-cultural adjustment, or as cultural adaptation (Popadiuk & Arthur, 2004). In this study, the term adjustment is selected, and the definition formulated by Ward et al. (2001) is followed. According to Ward and her colleagues, cross-cultural. 政治大 The former relates to the capacity to effectively navigate a culturally different environment 立 while the latter refers to the emotional outcomes of a cultural transition. Sociocultural. adjustment comprises two constructs: sociocultural adjustment and psychological adjustment.. ‧ 國. 學. adjustment regards the sojourners’ ability to navigate the host country, whereas the psychological adjustment regards their psychological well-being. These two constructs are. ‧. interrelated yet independent because they concern different facets of adjustment and are not. y. Nat. predicted by the same variables. In effect, while the sociocultural adjustment depends on. sit. cognitive variables such as the language proficiency and the cultural knowledge as well as the. er. io. length of stay and the cultural distance, the psychological adjustment is predicted by variables. al. n. v i n C h on the adjustment to examine the effect of social support e n g c h i U of sojourners, the construct of. like coping strategies, personality traits, and social support. Hence, as the present study aims. psychological adjustment is the one selected here and will be alternatively referred to as adjustment and psychological adjustment throughout this thesis.. 2.1.2. The psychological challenges of sojourning. The challenge of dealing with unfamiliarity coupled with a lack of familiar landmarks create a favorable ground for the development of psychological distress symptoms. First, moving to a foreign country represents a consequent life change that involves multiple stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Those stressors include cultural differences, working or studying in a new environment, shifting to new routines, and sometimes changing financial status (Haslberger & Brewster, 2008). Sojourners must apprehend those changes while being separated from their. 5 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(13) family members and friends back home. Bahn (2015) considers being away from loved ones for an extended period as an additional stressor. Previous studies have found that sojourners who failed to effectively deal with the aforementioned stressors were more likely to show symptoms of depression (Truman et al., 2012), to experience higher levels of psychological distress (Anderzén & Arnetz, 1999; Silbiger & Pines, 2014; Truman et al. 2012), and had a higher tendency to abuse drugs and alcohol (Anderzén & Arnetz, 1997; Truman et al., 2012). Furthermore, some scholars have found that separation from home can cause sojourners to feel homesick (Thurber & Walton, 2012) which can itself increase loneliness, generate anxiety and hinder adjustment (Stroebe, van Vilet, Hewstone, & Willis, 2002).. Since sojourners are physically separated from friends and relatives, their initial social support. 政治大. system is disrupted (Fontaine, 1986). Hence, the formation of social ties in the host country plays a crucial role in the maintenance of their psychological well-being. In fact, previous. 立. research found that the perceived available support that sojourners can get from their social. ‧ 國. 學. surroundings may alleviate the psychological distress that they experience while adjusting to the host country, also referred to as acculturative stress (Sumer, Poyrazli, & Grahame, 2008).. ‧. 2.2. Theoretical background. sit. y. Nat. er. io. 2.2.1 Social support coping theory. al. n. v i n C h support copingUtheory (SCT) which describes how The current study is grounded in the social engchi. individuals cope with the challenges of adjusting to a new environment (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Zhou, Jindal-Snape, Topping, & Todman, 2008). When individuals experience important life changes, they have to face difficulties that often results in psychological stress. And according to SCT, individuals must engage certain coping processes in order to manage these difficulties and alleviate this stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). As described above, moving to a foreign country constitutes an important life event implicating numerous stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), therefore the social support coping theory is applicable to the situation of sojourners. The social support coping theory recognizes social support as an essential coping process for the adjustment to a new environment (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Indeed, social support has the potential to enhance the sojourners' adjustment. For instance, in a systematic review of the. 6 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(14) predictors of international students’ psychosocial adjustment to life in the United States, Zhang and Goodson (2011) found social connectedness to be negatively correlated to acculturative stress. Furthermore, Ward et al. (2001) have found the variable of social support, which refers to the help and care one receives via interpersonal relationships (Albrecht & Goldsmith, 2003), to significantly alleviate the anxieties related to cross-cultural adjustment. In other words, the more sojourners feel socially supported, the more they can effectively deal with stressful experiences (Baba and Hosoda, 2014). A number of scholars (Brisset et al., 2010; Chelliah et al, 2010; Rujiprak, 2016) have also found social support to predict the cultural adjustment of international students. Their findings show that individuals lacking social support may feel disconnected from the culture of the host country and therefore tend to develop symptoms of psychological distress and are more likely to struggle with the adaptation to the foreign. 政治大. environment (Rujiprak, 2016). This suggests that perceived social support positively impacts the adjustment of sojourners.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. 2.2.2. The five dimensions of social support. ‧. Previous studies established that to find the social support that they need, sojourners make use of their social networks. The social networks of sojourners can be composed of their friends. y. Nat. sit. and family back home, new local acquaintances, and other foreigners in the host country (Kim,. al. er. io. 2001; Ye, 2006). Within a social network, the connected individuals interact and exchange. n. resources (Ye, 2006) that are diverse in nature and can comprise emotional support,. Ch. i Un. v. information, financial support, goods, and services (Rajapaksa & Dundes, 2002, Garza, 2015).. engchi. This suggests that the social networks of sojourners provide them with different sorts of support. Moreover, Kramer (2014) argued that social support should not be examined as a unidimensional construct. Thus, in order to examine social support in all of its forms, the present study follows the five dimensions identified by Braithwaite and Waldron (1992). In a study examining the communication of social support in computer-mediated groups, the researchers found five types of social support behaviors expressed in online messages, namely informational support, emotional support, tangible assistance, network support, and esteem support. The first type, informational support, referred to any behaviors helping an individual to cope with a problematic situation through the provision of information, such as situation appraisal, feedback, referral of an expert, and general advice. The second category was emotional. 7 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(15) support, which addressed empathetic behaviors including messages validating or reciprocating the emotions of the recipient and expressing concern about their situation. Instrumental support or tangible assistance involved messages offering concrete actions to help the recipient, such as the donation of goods or the provision of services. Network support included the messages that aimed to enlarge the recipient’s social network by building connections with similar others. Finally, esteem support referred to positive messages that reassured the recipient’s self-concept or performances through compliments, validation, or relief from blame.. 2.3. Social support on social media In recent years, the perception of the social support that individuals get through social media. 政治大. has drawn increasing scholarly attention (Rains, Peterson, & Wright, 2015), and studies have recognized the faculty of social media to provide lines of communication with weak and strong. 立. ties simultaneously and to directly allow individuals to seek social support (Wang & Wellman,. ‧ 國. 學. 2010; Carr & Hayes, 2015). According to the existing literature on online social support, individuals are increasingly using social media platforms to look for emotional and. ‧. informational support (Rains & Keating, 2015; Wright & Miller, 2010). Moreover, social network sites are useful tools to keep contact with existing relationships as well as creating. y. Nat. sit. new ones (Ye, 2006). The social support on social media can be manifested through verbal. er. io. communication in comments and direct messages and via behaviors such as likes and shares. al. v i n an individual is seeking help through C hsocial media, the Usupportive responses received can engchi n. (Hayes et al., 2016; Kramer, et al., 2014). Furthermore, previous studies have found that when. effectively alleviate feelings of loneliness (Shaw & Gant, 2002) and reduce levels of stress and depression (Wright, 2012). By allowing instant long-distance communications and information gathering, social media is the main space for sojourners to communicate and reinforce their social networks while in the host country. A number of scholars found the use of social network sites to be positively correlated to cross-cultural adjustment (Hofhuis et al., 2019; Ellison et al., 2007, Adikari & Adu, 2015; Askoy, 2016), and a plausible explanation for this outcome is that sojourners receive social support from their interactions on social media platforms. Indeed, the literature suggests that sojourners get social support from their social networks through social media platforms (Billedo et al., 2019). Therefore, the present thesis aims to examine the mediating effect of the social support dimensions on the relationship between social media use and cross-cultural adjustment.. 8 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(16) 2.3.1. Communication with home and host country networks. Billedo et al. (2019) found that sojourners use social network sites to maintain contact with their home country relations. Indeed, while decades ago the decision of sojourning implicated to be completely separated from friends and family over a long period, social media sites provide ways to interact with them instantly and more frequently, making the expatriation easier for the sojourners and their kins back home. In a study examining the impact of social media usage on the intercultural adjustment of international students, Sawyer and Chen (2011) found that the students relied on social network sites to keep in touch with their home country relations in order to alleviate psychological distress, which increased their feeling of comfort in the host country. Furthermore, Ye (2006) found that students who received more support. 政治大. from their home countries’ relations tended to score higher levels of emotional adjustment. However, the findings of Lin and her colleagues (2012) indicated that the frequency of. 立. interactions with home country networks on Facebook was positively correlated with social. ‧ 國. 學. adjustment, but not with emotional adjustment. Considering these contradictory findings, I formulate the following research questions:. ‧. RQ1: What is the relationship between home country communication on a) Facebook and b). y. Nat. er. io. al. sit. Instagram and psychological adjustment?. v. n. RQ2: How is home country communication on a) Facebook and b) Instagram impacting the. Ch. perceived dimensions of social support?. engchi. i Un. Social network sites can also have a bridging function between sojourners and the host country for social interactions. In order to determine the impact of SNS on the acculturation process of sojourners in the Netherlands, Hofhuis and his colleagues (2019) conducted a survey examining how they used social media platforms to communicate with relations in both their home country and the host country. They found the contact with host country relations to be positively related to the host country participation: through social media, sojourners were able to socially interact with locals which helped them to develop and strengthen friendships. Previous literature also suggests that the use of social media can help sojourners to overcome cultural barriers and generate a sense of belonging in the host culture (Sawyer & Chen, 2011). Furthermore, Lin et al. (2012) found that communication with host country. 9 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(17) relations through Facebook resulted in better social adjustment for sojourners. However, the relationship between host country communication on Facebook or Instagram and the psychological adjustment of sojourners is yet to be examined. Thus, I postulate the following research questions:. RQ3: What is the relationship between host country communication on a) Facebook and b) Instagram and psychological adjustment?. RQ4: How is host country communication on a) Facebook and b) Instagram impacting the perceived dimensions of social support?. 政治大. 2.3.2. Social support on social media platforms. 立. Most of the research on social media shows that individuals use different social media. ‧ 國. 學. platforms concurrently (Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004; Quan-Haase, 2007), which suggests that each platform serves different purposes for their users. Therefore, different social media. ‧. platforms are unlikely to have a uniform impact on the sojourners' adjustment. Yet, in the literature, it appears that the influence of social media on the different psychological challenges. y. Nat. sit. faced by sojourners is either focused on Facebook or extrapolated as an ensemble. Facebook is. er. io. the most used social media platform amongst sojourners in Taiwan, like it is the case for most. al. v i n cultural adjustment (Hofhuis et al., 2019; C h Adikari & Adu,U2015; Askoy, 2016). Indeed, Mark engchi n. countries. Previous literature found the use of Facebook to be positively correlated to crossZuckerberg’s platform displays a high versatility and holds interactivity at its core: groups, pages, marketplace and event pages, it offers features that are specially created for the collaboration of individuals and the recommendation of services, making it an ideal platform to look for any type of social support.. H1: Facebook use is positively correlated with psychological adjustment.. In terms of frequency, the second place of platforms used by sojourners in Taiwan is occupied by Instagram, but the sojourners’ use of the image-based platform is yet to be studied and its effects on cultural adjustment remain unknown. Therefore, the present study will examine and compare the perceived social support dimensions of Facebook and Instagram and their impact. 10 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(18) on the psychological adjustment of sojourners, as well as the mediating effect of the social support dimensions on the relationship between the use of those two platforms and adjustment.. RQ5: How is Instagram use impacting psychological adjustment?. 2.3.3. Social support on Facebook. First, Chen and colleagues (2010) found that expatriates interact with peers to find informational support, which is provided on Facebook. For instance, a study using content analysis to examine intercultural communication among expatriates on Facebook groups (Aksoy, 2016) showed that they generally used this social network to gather the information. 政治大. necessary for their survival in the host country. In effect, they found that expatriates used Facebook to seek knowledge and guidance from other supposedly more experienced. 立. expatriates when it came to living as a foreigner in the host country. Furthermore, in a study. ‧ 國. 學. examining the usage of social networks in cultural adaptation, Adikari and Adu (2015) found that, prior to their departure, the respondents joined Facebook groups devoted to informing. ‧. foreigners about the host country, which allowed them to learn a lot about its culture. On the platform, the respondents were able to accumulate such information from both locals and other. y. Nat. sit. foreigners who resided in the host country. In Taiwan for instance, many Facebook groups are. française. Ch. à. er. al. "Communauté. n. 臺灣外籍劇團",. io. made for sojourners to discuss and help one another, such as "Foreigners society in Taiwan. v ni. Taiwan",. engchi U. "Residentes. Latinos. en. Taiwan/拉丁裔居民在台灣”, "Foreigners in Taipei & Taiwan/外國人在台北 & 台灣《生活 Live & Life /資訊 Information /工作 Jobs ", etc.. Since gaining knowledge about the host culture greatly helps sojourners to alleviate the apprehension of moving to a new country, decreases acculturative stress and therefore positively impacts their cross-cultural adjustment (Adelman, 1988), I posit the hypothesis that the perceived informational support gained from the observed social media platforms is positively related to the cross-cultural adjustment of sojourners.. H2: Perceived informational support mediates the relationship between Facebook use and psychological adjustment.. 11 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(19) Secondly, more than solely connecting sojourners for the exchange of survival knowledge, Facebook acts as the bedrock of the foreigners’ social life in the host country. The platform provides sojourners with the possibility to find like-minded people and to develop social connections. Indeed, a study found that sojourners used Facebook to maintain ties with fellow expatriates (Askoy, 2016). In Taiwan for instance, the Facebook group "Taipei Ladies" connects women located in Taipei, while the group "Communauté Française à Taiwan" gather French-speaking people living in Taiwan and is used to share events related to French culture, and people passionate about gastronomy can share recipes and restaurant addresses on the group "Foodies in Taipei". Facebook can also have a social bridging function between sojourners and the host country. In order to determine the impact of SNS on the acculturation process of sojourners in the. 政治大. Netherlands, Hofhuis and his colleagues (2019) conducted a survey examining how they used Facebook to communicate with relations in both their home country and the host country. They. 立. found the contact with host country relations to be positively related to the host country. ‧ 國. 學. participation: through Facebook, sojourners were able to socially interact with locals which helped them to develop and strengthen friendships. Furthermore, previous literature also. ‧. suggests that the use of Facebook can help sojourners to overcome cultural barriers and generate a sense of belonging in the host culture (Ellison et al., 2007). Likewise, the findings. Nat. sit. y. of Adikari and Adu (2015) showed that sojourners use Facebook “to enhance [their]. io. er. socialization in the host culture through frequent interaction, planning offline social events, etc with new friends.” Such usage permitted the respondents to develop new host country. n. al. relationships into closer friendships.. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. H3: Perceived network support mediates the relationship between Facebook use and crosscultural adjustment.. Facebook can help sojourners to connect with locals and other foreigners in the host country while enabling communication with their home country relations. In fact, previous studies have demonstrated that the main motive to use Facebook was the maintenance of existing social ties including keeping up with friends, family, and acquaintances (Quan-Haase & Young, 2010). In other words, in addition to permitting the connection with new relations, Facebook allows the maintenance of existing friendships, both of which can provide emotional support to sojourners. Indeed, in their study examining the usage of SNS of sojourners, Adikari and Adu (2015) found that sojourners used Facebook to keep in touch with strong ties such as family 12 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(20) and close friends and that the emotional support gained from these interactions help them to overcome feelings of stress. Furthermore, Ellison and her colleagues (2009) found that the emotional support provided by social ties has the potential to alleviate the acculturative stress of the sojourners. Thus, since lower levels of acculturative stress have been related to higher levels of cultural adjustment, one can predict that the perceived emotional support gotten through social media platforms will be positively correlated with cross-cultural adjustment.. H4: Perceived emotional support mediates the relationship between Facebook use and crosscultural adjustment.. Furthermore, for sojourners who cannot read Mandarin, Facebook is greatly helpful in terms. 政治大. of living accommodations, and it is commonly used for apartment hunting as well as for the buying and selling of second-hand items such as furniture and household items since the. 立. alternative options (e.g., 591.tw, Carousell) are not or less English friendly. It can also be used. ‧ 國. 學. to find jobs or to ask for services such as dog sitting or babysitting.. ‧. H5: Perceived instrumental support mediates the relationship between Facebook use and cross-cultural adjustment.. sit. y. Nat. io. er. As the existing literature does not provide any evidence of a positive correlation between esteem support and Facebook use and as there is a gap regarding the relationship between. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. esteem support and cross-cultural adjustment, I formulate the following research question:. engchi. RQ6: How does esteem support mediate the relationship between Facebook use and crosscultural adjustment?. 2.3.4. Social support on Instagram. The literature on the social support provided by Instagram is sparse. In contrary to Facebook, Instagram does not enforce the use of the real names and allows pseudonymous users (Andalabi & Forte, 2017). This suggests that Instagram does not encourage network support, since the social connections made via this platform are often with individuals that users do not know and are unlikely to meet, and more likely to be perceived as one more follower and not as a new. 13 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(21) friend. Furthermore, while Facebook is mostly driven by textual posts, Instagram is an imagecentric platform, which is less favorable to the search for informational support and instrumental support. In a qualitative study investigating the dimensions of social support on different social media platforms, Hayes et al. (2016) found that respondents perceived Instagram as a place where other users “would just make fun of [them], or simply wouldn’t be particularly helpful, in response to an informational inquiry”. The findings of this research also indicated that social media users did not perceive Instagram as potentially providing emotional support, one of the respondents justifying this by declaring that “nobody likes [...] a gloomy Instagram”. Indeed, due to its image-centric nature accompanied with pictures-enhancing features, Instagram encourages a “culture of perfecting and polishing” amongst its users (Andalabi & Forte, 2017). Previous studies have found that the posts on Instagram are often. 政治大. positively biased because users choose to display positive aspects of their lives on the platform (Lup, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015). As the literature suggests that the role of Instagram is more. 立. that of presenting an ideal version of the self, this platform is less likely to be regarded as a. ‧ 國. 學. place to find emotional support. However, recent years have seen the emergence of many Instagram accounts based on emotional support, promoting positivity, and addressing the topics. ‧. of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. These accounts seem to be made in a response to the polished culture of Instagram and have yet to be investigated by the social. sit. y. Nat. support literature.. io. er. However, Hayes et al. (2016) found that Instagram can provide its users with esteem support through positive reactions on their posts, which respondents considered meaningful to them.. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. Still, as there is not sufficient literature on the social support found on Instagram and that is has. engchi. not been yet studied in a cross-cultural adjustment context, I formulate the following research questions:. RQ7: What dimensions of social support are perceived by sojourners on Instagram?. RQ8: How are the dimensions of social support mediating the relationship between Instagram use and psychological adjustment?. 14 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(22) 2.4. Multicultural personality Numerous studies have attempted to investigate the role of personality traits in cross-cultural adjustment, but the results have often been found inconclusive (Church, 1982). Some studies using the Five-factor model of personality, or “The Big Five” (Swagler & Jome, 2005), which includes extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, have successfully found a relationship between personality and adjustment-related factors. For instance, Bhatti and colleagues (2014) found all Big Five personality traits to predict expatriate adjustment. Similarly, Ward and Leong (2004) have found that neuroticism and extraversion to be related to both psychological and sociocultural adjustment, and agreeableness and conscientiousness to psychological well-being. However, other scholars,. 政治大. such as Ercan & McAbee (2013) have only found small to moderate relationships between The Big Five and variables relating to the adjustment.. 立. The researchers van Der Zee and van Oudenhoven (2000, 2001) developed the Multicultural. ‧ 國. 學. Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), a measurement more relevant to multicultural experiences and therefore well-suited to the situation of sojourners. It measures five personality traits that. ‧. were identified as necessary to an “intercultural success” (van Der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2013), namely cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, flexibility, and social. Nat. sit. y. initiative. The cultural empathy trait refers to an individual’s ability to understand the feelings. er. io. and behaviors of people from different cultures, and the open-mindedness trait refers to a. al. v i n emotional stability trait describes theC sojourners’ capacity to keep their self-control under the hengchi U pressure emerging from unfamiliar situations, and the flexibility trait relates to their capability n. positive attitude towards culturally different individuals, without bias or prejudice. The. to interpret such situations as positive challenges. Finally, the social initiative trait refers to the ability to have a proactive attitude during social interactions. The MPQ has been successfully applied to numerous studies examining the cross-cultural adjustment of sojourners (Leong, 2007; Mol, van Oudenhoven, & van der Zee, 2001; van Oudenhoven & van der Zee, 2002). Individuals scoring higher scores of MPQ, which combines the scores of all five traits, are more successfully adjusting to the host country. In a study of the adjustment of Western expatriates in Taiwan, van Oudenhoven, Mol and van der Zee (2003) found that all the scales of the MPQ were positively correlated to adjustment. Similarly, Yakunina and colleagues (2012) found that the traits of social initiative and emotional stability to predict the psychological adjustment of international students in the United States.. 15 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(23) Following the aforementioned literature, I formulate the hypothesis that the total MPQ score predicts the psychological adjustment of sojourners. H6: Multicultural personality is positively correlated with psychological adjustment. Moreover, the extent to which one’s personality is fitted to adjust to a multicultural environment might impact their need to rely on extrinsic support during a process of crosscultural adjustment. As previous literature demonstrated, individuals attaining higher multicultural personality scores tend to adjust better to a new culture, which suggests that they are more likely to get by in the host country without needing the help of others. Thus, they might not use social media to get social support as much as others would. Hence, the present study aims to investigate if the MPQ moderates the effect of platform use on the five. 政治大. dimensions of perceived social support and on psychological adjustment of sojourners.. 立. ‧ 國. 學. RQ9: What is the interaction effect between a) Facebook use and b) Instagram use and multicultural personality on psychological adjustment?. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Research Model. ‧. Figure 1. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 16 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(24) 3. Method 3.1. Procedure An online survey was conducted targeting the adult foreigners sojourning in Taiwan, which excludes tourists and includes any non-Taiwanese citizen above eighteen years old staying in Taiwan for studying or working. The questionnaire received 431 answers and a total of 426 responses were obtained after data-cleaning. The survey was sent through online spaces targeting foreigners based in Taiwan such as the expatriate-based forum Forumosa.tw and numerous Facebook groups. Three cash raffle prizes were offered as incentives for the participation in the study. For representativity concerns, the survey was shared on Facebook. 政治大 occupation (e.g. students, factory workers, teachers, families, etc.) and nationality or language 立. groups made for different Taiwanese cities and for different communities in terms of. spoken. For instance, some of the selected Facebook groups included:. ‧ 國. 學. − Foreigners society in Taiwan 臺灣外籍劇團. ‧. − Foreigners in Taipei&Taiwan/外國人在台北&台灣. y. Nat. − Foreigners in Taiwan jobs hunting / information sharing. n. al. er. io. − Expats in Taiwan. sit. − Foreigners in Taipei 外國人在台北. − Taiwan Expats Association − Foreign Expats in Taoyuan. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. − Foreigners in Taoyuan − Taipei Information Exchange (台北資訊交流) − Taipei 2020 I Exchange & International Students − FSIT: Foreign Students in Taiwan − Communauté française à Taiwan − International students in Taiwan −. Taichung Language Exchange & Life skills sharing. −. Taichung Info Exchange. −. International students in Taiwan. −. Kaohsiung Entrepreneurs. 17 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(25) −. Taiwan factory workers/caregivers. − Taiwan Foreign Teachers Association − Taipei Expats −. Les Francophones de Tainan et Kaohsiung. −. Hsinchu English Teachers. −. Foreign Actors/Comedians in Taiwan. This list is non-exhaustive.. 3.2. Participants. 治政大 owners, and the rest of the were university workers, 36 were unemployed, 16 were business 立 participants were working individuals, from art performers to caretakers and scholars. The Among the 426 respondents, 110 were language teachers, 125 were university students, 40. ‧ 國. 學. average age of the participants was 32 years old, ranging from 19 to 70 years old. About half of the participants were male (50.7%) and the other 49.3 percent were female. Regarding the. ‧. marital status, 199 of the respondents were single, 129 respondents were married, 84 respondents were in a relationship, 12 respondents were separated or divorced and 2 did not. y. Nat. sit. provide any information. The majority of the respondents lived in Taipei (44,4%), while the. er. io. rest mostly lived in major cities of the west coast such as Taichung (12,7%), Kaohsiung (8,7%),. al. n. v i n C hTaipei City. The sample alongside the east coast or around New e n g c h i U was constituted of sojourners. Taoyuan (7.5%), and Hsinchu (6.3%). The 87 participants left lived with smaller cities. from the United States (18.8%), from Indonesia (8%), from France (7.3%), from Canada (7%), from the Philippines (4,7%). The other 231 participants originated from 57 different countries.. 3.3. Measurements Demographics. Respondents had to mention their age, gender, nationality, occupation in Taiwan, as well as the length of their stay.. Instagram use and Facebook use: Facebook use and Instagram use will be measured by the SMactive and SMfreq indexes developed by Su (2017). The SMactive index is a yes-no item. 18 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(26) that determines whether the respondents have an account. The SMfreq index determines the frequency of the use of Facebook and Instagram in days per week.. Home/Host country communication: To measure the tendency of respondents to communicate with their home country relations and their host country relations on Facebook and Instagram, respondents had to indicate how often they communicate with their “family and friends back home” and their “friends and acquaintances based in Taiwan” for both platforms. The answer options included never, rarely, sometimes, and often.. Social support on Facebook and Instagram. The dimensions of social support perceived by sojourners on social media were measured through an altered version of the Online Social. 政治大. Support Scale (OSSS) developed by Nick et al. (2018). In the present study, the OSSS is adapted to be platform-specific, one scale for Facebook and another for Instagram. For. 立. instance, in the scale for Facebook the statement “Online, people provide me with helpful. ‧ 國. 學. information” is replaced by “Facebook provides me helpful information”, and in the scale for Instagram the statement “Online, people help me with causes or events I think are important”. ‧. is replaced by “On Instagram, people help me with causes or events I think are important”. The scales for Facebook and Instagram are both composed of 25 items, 5 items for each subscale:. Nat. sit. y. esteem support (Facebook α= .89; Instagram α= .91) emotional support (Facebook : α= .92;. io. er. Instagram : α= .94), informational support (Facebook α= .89; Instagram α= .93), instrumental support (Facebook α= .87; Instagram α= .92), and network support (Facebook α= .87;. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. Instagram α= .96). The respondents need to indicate their agreement with the statements on a. engchi. scale from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.. Psychological adjustment. Psychological adjustment was measured with the Brief Psychological Adaptation Scale (BPAS), also constructed by Deemes and Geeraert (2014). Respondents had to indicate to what extent they agreed with the statements from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. This scale is composed of 8 items, some of which relate to positive feelings (e.g. “Excited about being in Taiwan”) and others to negative feelings (e.g. “Lonely without your family and friends of your home country around you”). Negatively valanced items were inversely recoded in SPSS.. Multicultural Personality. Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2013) developed a short form of their Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), which is used in the present study. The 19 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(27) short form of the MPQ is composed of 40 items (α= .83) measuring five multicultural personality traits, namely cultural empathy, flexibility, social initiative, emotional stability, and open-mindedness. The items include statements such as “I have a feeling for what's appropriate in another culture” for cultural empathy, “I keep calm when things don't go well” for emotional stability, “I make contact easily” for social initiative, “I function best in a familiar setting” for flexibility, and “I seek people from different backgrounds” for open-mindedness. The respondents had to answer on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. Negatively valanced items were inversely recoded for analysis.. 3.4. Pre-test. 政治大 were understandable and that the selected scales were reliable, a pre-test was implemented with 立 Google Form and sent out through social media and snowball sampling. A total of 34 sojourners In order to test the questionnaire’s technical application and to ensure that all the questions. ‧ 國. 學. residing in Taiwan responded to the pre-test questionnaire and 32 answers were kept after datacleaning. After filling out the questionnaire, respondents were asked a series of follow-up. ‧. questions regarding the clarity of the items, the length of time to complete the survey, and the. y. Nat. general functioning of the survey. The majority of respondents reported a completion time of. n. al. er. io. questions to be redundant.. sit. about 10 minutes. Feedbacks were mostly positive, but several respondents found some MPQ. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 20 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(28) 4. Results 4.1. Sample Among the 426 participants, 96.5 percent (N = 411) had a Facebook account and 70.7 percent (N = 131) had an Instagram account. Regarding the frequency of use, 73 percent (N = 295) of the Facebook users used Facebook every day, while 66.2 percent (N = 198) of the Instagram users reported to use Instagram daily. Among the 411 Facebook users, 41 percent (N = 166) indicated to often communicate with home country relations on Facebook and 39.6 percent (N = 159) to often communicate with Taiwanese acquaintances via this platform. Concerning Instagram users, they were 29.2 percent (N = 88) to often communicate with their friends and. 政治大. family back home on Instagram, and 34.3 percent (N = 103) to often interact with their Taiwanese network on this app.. ‧ 國. 學. Table 1. 立. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of IVs on Psychological Adjustment. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 21 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(29) 4.2. Effects of home country communication on Facebook and Instagram RQ1a and RQ1b explored the association of home country communication on Facebook and Instagram to psychological adjustment. While communication with home country on Facebook did not predict psychological adjustment (β = -.026, p = ns), linear regression showed that home country communication on Instagram was negatively correlated to psychological adjustment (β = -.190, p < .05). RQ2a explored the relationship between home country communication on Facebook sojourners’ perceptions of the social support dimensions Facebook. As shown in Table 2a, multiple regression indicated that communication with home country relations on Facebook positively predicted perceived emotional support (β = .317, p < .001), perceived esteem support (β = .283, p < .001), perceived network support (β = .173, p < .001), perceived informational. 政治大. support (β = .135, p < .01), but not perceived instrumental support (β = .068, p = ns). RQ2b. 立. asked about the relationship between home country communication on Instagram and the. ‧ 國. 學. perceived social support dimensions on Instagram. Linear regression indicated that communication with home country relations on Instagram positively predicted perceived. ‧. emotional support (β = .297, p < .001), perceived esteem support (β = .227, p < .001), perceived. Nat. er. io. sit. perceived instrumental support (β = .329, p < .001).. y. network support (β = .341, p < .001), perceived informational support (β = .363, p < .001), and. 4.3. Effects of host country a communication on Facebook and Instagram. n. iv l C n hengchi U RQ3a and RQ3b investigated whether psychological adjustment was impacted by host country communication on Facebook and Instagram. Communication with host country relations did not predict psychological adjustment when on Facebook (β = .122, p = ns), but did on Instagram (β = .187, p < 0.5). RQ4a investigated the association of home country communication on Instagram with the sojourners’ perceptions of the social support dimensions Instagram. RQ4a asked about the relationship between host country communication on Facebook and the perceived social support dimensions on Facebook. Multiple linear regression (Table 4) demonstrated that communication with host country relations on Facebook positively predicted all perceived dimensions of social support on Facebook: perceived emotional support (β = .161, p < .01), perceived esteem support (β = .143, p < .01), perceived network support (β = .280, p. 22 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(30) < .001), perceived informational support (β = .271, p < .001), and perceived instrumental support (β = .189, p < .001). RQ4b examined the relationship between host country communication on Instagram and the perceived social support dimensions on Instagram. Linear regression demonstrated that communication with host country relations on Instagram also positively predicted all perceived dimensions of social support on Instagram: perceived emotional support (β = .197, p < .01), perceived esteem support (β = .239, p < .001), perceived network support (β = .247, p < .001), perceived informational support (β = .160, p < .05), but not perceived instrumental support (β = .120, p = ns).. 4.4. Effects of platform use frequency. 政治大. Hypothesis 1 posited that Facebook use was positively correlated with psychological. 立. adjustment. As shown in Table 1, linear regression indicated that the frequency of Facebook. ‧ 國. 學. usage was not correlated with psychological adjustment (β = -.068, p = ns). Thus, Hypothesis 1 was not supported. RQ5 examined the impact of Instagram use on psychological adjustment.. ‧. Linear regression indicated that the frequency of Instagram usage was not correlated with psychological adjustment (β = -.053, p = ns).. y. Nat. sit. No significant relationships were found between the frequency of Facebook use and any of the. al. er. io. perceived dimensions of social support. However, the results indicated that the frequency of. n. Instagram use positively predicts perceived emotional and esteem support on Instagram (β = .225, p < .001; β = .223, p < .001).. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Regarding the impact of the perceived social support dimensions on psychological adjustment, only informational support on Facebook had a significant effect (β = .022, p < 0.5).. 23 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(31) Table 2a Multiple Regression Model: Effect of Facebook Use Frequency and Facebook Host vs. Home Country Communication (IVs) on Facebook Social Support Dimensions (DVs). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 24 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(32) Table 2b Multiple Regression Model: Effect of Instagram Use Frequency and Instagram Host vs. Home Country Communication (IVs) on Instagram Social Support Dimensions (DVs). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 25 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(33) 4.5. Mediating effect of social support dimensions between platform use and psychological adjustment. All the indirect effects of the social support dimensions on the relationship between the frequency of Instagram use and the psychological adjustment were found to be insignificant (Table 2). Indeed, in each case the confidence interval contains zero which means that all the perceived dimensions of social support on Instagram do not mediate the relationship between Instagram use and psychological adjustment. Regarding Facebook, we also observe that perceived emotional support, esteem support, network support and instrumental support do not mediate the relationship between Facebook use and psychological adjustment. However, the relationship between Facebook use and psychological adjustment was mediated by perceived informational support on Facebook.. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Table 3a Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Emotional Support (M). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 26 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(34) Table 3b Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Esteem Support (M). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Table 3c Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Network Support (M). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 27 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(35) Table 3d Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Informational Support (M). 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Table 3e Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Instrumental Support (M). ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 28 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(36) 4.5. Multicultural personality. 4.5.1. Multicultural personality and psychological adjustment Hypothesis 6 posited that the total multicultural personality score was positively correlated with psychological adjustment. Linear regression indicated that multicultural personality positively predicted psychological adjustment (β = .271, p < .001), thus validating H6 (Table 1a). RQ9a further investigated whether multicultural personality would moderate the relationship between Facebook use and psychological adjustment. As shown in Table 1b, another multiple regression analysis looking at the five individual traits that constitute multicultural personality indicated that cultural empathy was the only significant predictor of. 政治大. psychological adjustment (β = .136, p < .05).. 立. Table 4. ‧ 國. 學. Multiple Regression Model: Effect of MPQ Traits on Psychological Adjustment. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 4.5.2. Moderating effect of multicultural personality. RQ9a investigated the interaction effect of multicultural personality on Facebook use and psychological adjustment. As indicated in Table 4a to Table 4e, the interaction effects of multicultural personality and Facebook and social support dimensions on psychological adjustment were all non-significant, indicating no mediation were moderated by the level of multicultural personality. The conditional indirect effects further showed that the indirect effects of Facebook frequency of use on psychological adjustment difference through social support dimensions were non-significant when high levels of multicultural personality were scored. Indeed, each 95% confidence interval included zero.. 29 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(37) Table 5a Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Emotional Support (M) Moderated by MPQ. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學 ‧. Table 5b Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Esteem Support (M) Moderated by MPQ. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 30 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(38) Table 5c Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Network Support (M) Moderated by MPQ. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Table 5d Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Informational Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. RQ9b examined the interaction effect of multicultural personality on Instagram use and psychological adjustment. The indirect effect of Facebook use frequency on psychological adjustment through informational support was found to be moderated by multicultural personality. As shown in Table 5d, the conditional indirect effects demonstrated that the indirect effect of Facebook use frequency on psychological adjustment through Facebook 31 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(39) informational support was significant in low MPQ conditions (β = .012, SE = .006, 95% CI = .0012 to .0251). Indeed, the 95% confidence interval excluded zero, which indicates that the effect is significant. In addition, it was insignificant in high MPQ score conditions (β = .004, SE = .004, 95% CI =−.0013 to .0140). Therefore, the questioned moderated mediation by RQ9 was significant for informational support on Facebook, which shows that informational support mediated the effect of the frequency of Facebook use on psychological adjustment only when sojourners scored a low multicultural personality score.. Table 5e Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Facebook Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Facebook Instrumental Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo). 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. However, the interaction effects of emotional, esteem, network, and instrumental support on Facebook, as well as all the social support dimensions on Instagram and multicultural personality were not significant. Therefore, conditional indirect effects of multicultural personality for both platforms could not be observed.. 32 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.

(40) Table 6a Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Emotional Support (M) Moderated by MPQ. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. ‧. Table 6b Moderated Mediation Model: Indirect Effect of Instagram Use Frequency (IV) on Psychological Adjustment (DV) Through Instagram Esteem Support (M) Moderated by Multicultural Personality (Mo). n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 33 DOI:10.6814/NCCU202001147.