How can Chinese international students' host-national contact contribute to social connectedness, social support and reduced prejudice in the mainstream society? Testing a moderated mediation model

Guided by the contact hypothesis, this study examined host culture adoption of Chinese students sojourning in France as a mediator between their host-national contact (i.e., face-to-face contact and online contact) and social connectedness, perceived social support and reduced prejudice in the mainstream society. We also examined whether face-to-face contact served as a moderator that modified the impacts of online contact. A group of 211 Chinese students in France responded to a web-based survey. Results from structural equation modeling analysis revealed that face-to-face contact significantly predicted Chinese students' adoption of the host culture. Host culture adoption, in turn, influenced social connectedness, perceived social support and prejudice. In contrast, online contact was not predictive of host culture adoption, but had significant direct effects on social connectedness, perceived social support and prejudice. However, direct face-to-face contact did not moderate the relationship between online contact and the predicted variables. Bootstrapping methods were employed to investigate the mediating effects of host culture adoption and revealed that host culture adoption was a full mediator between face-to-face contact and the outcome variables.