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Acculturative stress has repeatedly been shown to heighten depressive symptoms. However, the explanatory process between acculturative stress and depressive symptoms has been understudied, particularly in the Chinese context. This prospective study aims to investigate emotion regulation difficulties as a mechanism between acculturative stress and depressive symptoms. A sample of 154 Mainland Chinese female university students (Mage = 21.10; SD = 2.13) were recruited in Hong Kong 3 times, with a 4-month lag between assessment points. Mediation findings converged to suggest between-person indirect effect of acculturative stress on symptoms of depression via emotion regulation difficulties, above and beyond established mediators including self-stigma and social support. Specifically, greater acculturative stress was related to a higher level of emotion regulation difficulties. In turn, greater emotion regulation difficulties were related to a higher level of depressive symptoms. The stress-generating effect of depression via emotion regulation was not simultaneously supported. These findings are informative to researchers and practitioners aiming to alleviate depressive symptoms, particularly in the Chinese context of higher education that often involves intercultural contact and stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite the growing population of Mainland Chinese students at the local government-funded universities in Hong Kong, little is known about their acculturation experiences and psychosocial adjustment. Drawing on an acculturation framework (Berry, 2003) and theories of coping (Folkman, 1984), resilience (Masten, 2001), and socioecological processes (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), this article provides an in-depth account of acculturative stress and coping behaviors experienced by Mainland Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Using qualitative research methods, we conducted seven focus groups with a total of 32 Mainland Chinese students from a public university in Hong Kong over a 3-month period. Analytic strategy included identifying the unit of analysis, coding, sorting code, checking code, and creating salient themes. Findings suggested that Mainland Chinese university students faced acculturative stress stemming from "language barriers," "prejudice and discrimination," "cultural differences," and "transport, food, and accommodation." The study also found that the participants used a number of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in the face of acculturative stress. As an extension of this research, future studies should examine the subtle difference between a subculture (Hong Kong) and its mother culture (Mainland China) and how that affects acculturative stress. Implications of these findings are discussed at the levels of theory, policy, and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record