Moderating Effects of Perceived Language Discrimination on Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese International Students

The purpose of this study was to test whether self-esteem and social connectedness (SC) in the ethnic community and mainstream society would be moderators that buffer the associations between perceived language discrimination (PLD) and outcomes (i.e., depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms). A total of 201 Chinese international students participated in an online survey. Three hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the 2-way interaction effects, followed by a simple effects analysis to explore the nature of the interaction effects. Our results suggested 3 sets of significant moderation effects in the present study. First, a higher level of self-esteem buffered the strength of the positive associations of PLD with depression and anxiety (but not posttraumatic stress symptoms). Second, a higher level of ethnic SC buffered the strength of the positive association of PLD with depression (but not anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms). Third, a higher level of mainstream SC buffered the strength of the positive associations of PLD with depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Moreover, PLD significantly accounted for an incremental 7%, 8%, and 16% of the variance in predicting depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, respectively, after controlling for perceived language proficiency.