Cultural value conflicts encountered by international students who are living in a different cultural context would negatively influence their psychological and social wellbeing. For example, many African students from Kenyan, Nigerian, and Ghanaian cultures, which emphasise communalism, harmony, collectivism and cooperation, may experience cultural conflicts when interacting with white American students, who tend to value independence and self-reliance in relationships (Markus and Kitayama 1991; Swagler and Ellis 2003). These African international students who treasure a highly communal lifestyle struggle to define themselves in the American individualistic society that tends to disparage dependence on others (Constantine et al. 2005). Such conflicts are highly likely to incur the sense of loneliness and isolation among those international students (Rousseau, Mekki-Berrada, and Moreau 2001). Lin and Yi’s (1997) study draws a similar finding with Asian students in America. Most Asian students feel uncomfortable when they interact with Americans because assertiveness and negotiation are highly valued in American culture, but they are not compatible with some aspects of Asian culture such as deference and non-assertiveness. According to a research conducted by Burchard and Laurence (2011) on female international students and sexual health, it reveals that they have poor sexual health knowledge compared with local students.

生活在不同文化文化環(huán)境下的留學生遇到的文化價值沖突會對他們的心理健康和社會生活質(zhì)量帶來負面影響。例如，中國有很多來自肯尼亞、尼日利亞和加納的非洲留學生，他們非常看重公社主義、和諧、集體主義和合作，所以當他們在與白種美國留學生打交道的時候，就會感受到文化沖突。因為美國人在人際交往中更偏好獨立和自力更生(Markus and Kitayama 1991; Swagler and Ellis 2003)。這些高度認同公共生活方式的非洲留學生會極力將自己與美國個人主義式社會保持距離(Constantine el. 2005)。這種文化沖突非常容易造成非洲留學生相對于其它留學生的孤獨感和孤立感(Rousseau, Mekki-Berrada, and Moreau 2001)。Lin and Yi’s (1997)對在美國求學的亞洲留學生進行了研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)了同樣的現(xiàn)象。大多數(shù)的亞洲學生在與美國人打交道的時候會感覺不舒服，因為美國文化重視自信和談判，但是這與亞洲文化的某些方面格格不入，例如順從和自信不中。根據(jù)Burchard and Laurence (2011)對女性留學生和其性健康狀況的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，與當?shù)嘏畬W生相比，女留學生的性健康知識非常匱乏。

Another factor influencing the degree to which international students adapt to their new socio-cultural environment is deficient intercultural communication competency. According to Hall (1990), “communication constitutes the core of culture and indeed of life itself” (1). Based on a review of literature on intercultural communication, six factors are identified relating to communication competency: language competency, social decentring, knowledge of the host culture, adaptation, communication effectiveness, and social integration (Arthur 2004; Redmond and Bunyi 1993). Due to deficient intercultural communication competency, international students usually feel that it is difficult to communicate effectively with native speakers. They are unfamiliar with communication patterns such as the way people send and receive information, express emotion and influence each other, and they generally know little about the rules and conventions of interpersonal interaction in the new cultural context (Ward, Bochner, and Furnham 2001). Unsuccessful intercultural communication caused by deficient intercultural communication competency exerts a negative effect on these students’ psychological wellbeing. Redmond and Bunyi (1993) examined the relationship between psychological stress and intercultural communication competency among 644 international students attending a university in the United States. They found that two factors of intercultural communication competency – adaptation and social decentering – accounted for 16% of the variance in the amount of stress reported, and communication effectiveness, adaptation, and social integration accounted for 46% of the variance in reported effectiveness in handling stress.

影響留學生適應新社會文化環(huán)境的另一因素是缺乏跨文化溝通能力。Hall (1990)認為：“溝通是文化和生活的核心。”(1)在對跨文化溝通進行理論回顧的基礎上，可以總結出與溝通能力有關的六個因素：語言能力、去中心化社交能力、對東道國文化的了解、適應能力、溝通有效性和社會融合性(Arthur 2004; Redmond and Bunyi 1993）。由于缺乏跨文化溝通能力，留學生難以與當?shù)厝擞行贤?，因為留學生不了解當?shù)厝说臏贤ǚ绞?，例如：人們?nèi)绾蝹鬟_和接收信息、如何表達情緒、如何影響他人；留學生往往對新文化環(huán)境中的人際交往規(guī)則和慣例也知之甚少(Ward, Bochner and Furnham 2001)。由于缺乏跨文化溝通能力導致的跨文化溝通失敗會對留學生的心理健康造成負面影響。Redmond and Bunyi (1993)研究了644位在美國求學的留學生的心理壓力和跨文化溝通能力。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，適應能力和去中心化社交能力這兩種跨文化溝通能力因素，在感受到社交壓力的留學生的影響比重是16%；而溝通有效性、適應能力和社會融合性占留學生有效處理壓力比重的46%。