國際交換學生海外適應與生活滿意度關係之研究：社會支持觀點

An Inquiry into the Relationship between Overseas Adjustments and Life Satisfaction of International Exchange Students: Social Support as an Antecedent Variable

本研究在於探討，不同的社會支持來源對國際交換學生在不同的海外適應層面上的影響，以及各層面的海外適應與生活滿意度的關係。國際交換學生在海外學習可能面臨的適應問題應該含括三個層面，第一、一般適應；第二，互動適應；第三，學習適應。許多研究指出，個人特質可以降低適應上的困難。本研究則試圖從組織的觀點著手，探討社會支持對適應的影響。交換學生的社會支持至少有三個來源：母校、交換學校以及家庭。因此，本研究假設是以社會支持作為海外適應的前因變項，探討外適應與生活滿意度的關係。研究結果發現，在短期的交學生計畫中，以交換學校所提供的社會支持對學生在海外適應上幫助最大，其中一般適應與互動適應的效果最為顯著。然而，母校與家庭所提供的社會支持卻造成學生在海外適應上不良的情形，以學習適應的效果最為顯著。可能的原因是，來自母校與家庭的社會支持非但無法造成適應上的幫助，更形成學生對母國種種的依賴，使學生在海外的適應上更加困難。另外，交換學生的一般適應是影響其海外學習間生活滿意度的重要因素。最後，本文針對短期的交換學生計畫提出幾個方向的建議。

This study aims to explore the impacts of various sources of social support on overseas adjustments, and the relationship between overseas adjustments and life satisfaction as well. The adjustment problems that international exchange students might encounter include general adjustment, interaction adjustment and study adjustment. Some studies find that personal traits could mitigate adjustment difficulties, but this study attempts an investigation of the impact of organizational factors, namely social support, on the relationship between adjustment and satisfaction. In the context of overseas study, social support is at least from three sources: exchange schools, parent schools, and families. In our theoretical framework, social support is treated as an antecedent variable of overseas adjustment, and assumed to be positively correlated with overseas adjustments and life satisfaction. The results indicate that, in the short-term exchange program, social support provided by exchange schools is effective n improving adjustments difficulties, in particular, those of general adjustment and interaction adjustment. Whereas, social support provided by parent schools and families result in negative effects on overseas adjustments, specifically, study adjustment. That is to say, students would not be able to rely on the support from their home countries to effectively solve overseas adjustment problems. The reason is probably that the high extent of home country support leads to a high level of student’s dependence and then impedes their overseas adjustment. In addition, the results reveal a salient relationship between general adjustment and exchange student’s life satisfaction. Finally, we highlight some implications for the future practices and studies of short-term exchange programs.