Page 54 - Never Too Far Away? The Roles of Social Network Sites in Sojourners’ Adjustment

Discussion
This study aimed to test a model which proposed that concurrent communication (FtF interaction with the host-country, Facebook interaction with the host- and the home-country networks) of international students predicts perceived social support, which, in turn, predicts depressive symptoms. We extended previous theorizing by investigating the reciprocal associations between communication and perceived social support, as well as between perceived social support and depressive symptoms. We tested the model under two separate temporal assumptions, the long- and short-term reciprocal associations, using cross- lagged and non-lagged path analyses, respectively. We controlled for gender and length of stay in the host-country since they were identified as relevant in international students’ psychological adjustment (Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Zhang & Goodson, 2011). We found that FtF interaction with the host-country network increased perceived social support in the short-term. In turn, perceived social support lowered depressive symptoms both in the long- and short-term. Moreover, depressive symptoms lowered perceived social support in the short- term, indicating the mutual influence of perceived social support and depressive symptoms in the short-term. Also, Facebook interaction with the host-country network lowered perceived social support in the long-term. In turn, perceived social support increased Facebook interaction with the host-country network in the long- and the short-term.
Concurrent communication model and perceived social support
Host versus home-country network. The results showed that only the interactions with the host-country networks (both Facebook and FtF), and not Facebook interaction with the home-country network, were associated with perceived social support. A previous study indicated that CMC communication with the home-country networks predicted perceived social support (Cemalcilar, 2008). The differences in the results could be due to the use of the concurrent model of communication in our study, which was lacking in the earlier study. Our results suggest that by taking into consideration the concomitant impacts of FtF interaction with the host-country network and Facebook (CMC) interaction with the host- and the home-country networks, Facebook interaction with the home-country network may be relatively less relevant for perceived social support. Previous studies have shown that international students tend to hesitate when
52 Chapter 2