Development and initial validation of the collectivistic coping styles measure with African, Asian, and Latin American international students.

We developed and provided initial empirical validation of the Collectivistic Coping Styles Measure (CCSM), a 9-item scale that assessed the degree to which African, Asian, and Latin American international students utilized social support seeking and forbearance to cope with their problems or concerns. We found evidence of good construct and concurrent validity and good internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the CCSM. Implications of the findings for mental health counseling are discussed.

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Coping has been an extensively researched area in the mental health professions (e.g., Hoffman & Driscoll, 2000; Utsey, Adams, & Bolden, 2000). Although numerous scales have been developed to assess individuals' coping styles and behaviors within a Western context (e.g., Cook & Heppner, 1997; Heppner & Baker, 1997), few studies have examined how coping practices may be informed or influenced by culturally based worldviews, values, and practices that are rooted in aspects of collectivism and interdependence (Cross & Vick, 2001; Utsey et al., 2000). Markus and Kitayama (1991) reported that many individuals from more communal and interdependent cultures, such as African, Asian, and Latin American countries, tend to place primary importance on interpersonal connections and relationships and tend to see others as a part of the self (i.e., they possess high interdependent self-construals or self-conceptions). On the contrary, many persons residing in cultures with generally high independent self-construals, such as the United States, Canada, Germany, and Australia, tend to value uniqueness and may regard themselves as separate from others (Constantine, Gainor, Ahluwalia, & Berkel, 2003). Hence, cultures that are characterized by higher levels of communalism and collectivism are likely to manifest interdependent self-construals much more strongly than independent self-construals (Morling & Fiske, 1999; Singelis, 1994). Although great variability tends to exist in levels of interdependent and independent self-construal within any given culture, self-construals have been found to relate strongly to the use of specific types of coping styles and behaviors (Constantine et al., 2003; Gushue & Constantine, 2003).

Direct coping strategies commonly used in Western culture include assertive self-disclosure, expressing one's own thoughts, and confronting others, as evident in problem-focused and emotion-focused coping styles (Lucas, 2002; Ptacek, Pierce, Eberhardt, & Dodge, 1999; Roussi, 2002). In contrast, members of largely communal or collectivistic cultures, such as many African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, may place greater importance on relational coping strategies or practices when they experience problems (Cross, 1995; Essandoh, 1995; Mori, 2000). That is, many African, Asian, and Latin American international students may prefer to seek help and support from family members and solve problems within their family system or even within close friendship networks. Much of the existing coping research conducted with college students in the United States, however, has utilized Western conceptualizations in terms of understanding and addressing problems or concerns (Gohm & Clore, 2002; Jackson & Finney, 2002), and the results of this literature may be applied erroneously to African, Asian, and Latin American international college students in this country (Cross, 1995; Essandoh, 1995; Leavell, 2002).

The primary goal of this study was to develop and validate a self-report measure assessing specific collectivistic coping styles among African, Asian, and Latin American international college students. For the purposes of this investigation, collectivistic coping is defined broadly as behaviors used within peer, family, community, and other close relationships that require individuals to (a) engage meaningfully with others when attempting to cope with problems and (b) consider important others' well-being in the context of dealing with problems or concerns. Based on a thorough review of the literature identifying various forms of indigenous coping among African, Asian, and Latin American international college students (e.g., Bang, 1998; Daly, Jennings, Beckett, & Leashore, 1995; Daroowalla, 1999; Mori, 2000; Solberg, Ritsma, Davis, Tata, & Jolly, 1994; Wilson, 1996), we found some commonalities in their coping styles and surmised that these behaviors could be conceptualized into two broad categories: seeking social support and forbearance.

SEEKING SOCIAL SUPPORT

As stated previously, the cultural values of many African, Asian, and Latin American international students may affect their use of indigenous collectivistic strategies to cope with stressors in their lives. Because peer and familial relationships are essential aspects of the contexts that define and provide meaning to many African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, this cultural emphasis on interrelatedness is central in explaining attendant collectivistic coping styles and behaviors (Constantine, Anderson, Berkel, Caldwell, & Utsey, 2005; Kim, Atkinson, & Umemoto, 2001; Simoni & Perez, 1995). For example, many international college students may cope with psychological problems by talking with people who are close to them, such as parents and friends (Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992; Mori, 2000). In this regard, sharing problems with and seeking social support and advice from family members and friends may represent preferred and action-based sources of coping among many African, Asian, and Latin American international students (Bang, 1998; Nebedum-Ezeh, 1997; Ng, 2001). Moreover, from a collectivistic perspective, social support may be viewed as mutual reliance between recipients and providers that meets the needs and goals of both sets of individuals in various ways (Coyne, Ellard, & Smith, 1990). Hence, because family and peer support is bound to collectivistic styles of coping, international college students may be less likely to seek help from a mental health professional, even if they possess favorable attitudes toward counseling (Panganamala & Plummer, 1998).

FORBEARANCE

Despite the importance of receiving social support to many African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, forbearance may represent another salient coping style or behavior among these populations when they experience problems (Constantine et al., 2005; Yue, 2001). Forbearance is defined as the tendency to minimize or conceal problems or concerns so as not to trouble or burden others. In cultures that emphasize collectivism, individuals' willingness to sacrifice and endure distress in the face of adversity often is encouraged (Marsella, 1993). Moreover, in cultural groups where collectivism is valued, there may be some reluctance to share personal problems with others for fear of creating interpersonal conflicts or burdening others (Lee, 1997). Furthermore, expressing intense feelings to others may be considered to be disruptive to group harmony in many collectivistic cultures (Matsumoto, 1989), and it may be socially advantageous to reflect alone or spend time by oneself in times of discord.

Forbearance among some African, Asian, and Latin American international students appears to be influenced by various culturally embedded values pertaining to self- and other- control. For example, among some Asian international students, Confucian ethics of self-cultivation, Buddhist ethics of enlightened self-awareness, and Taoist ethics of self-transcendence may foster a sense of self-enlightenment about the dynamics of life issues and, subsequently, the ability to forbear problems while maintaining a sense of inner harmony (Yue, 2001). Such ethics and styles also may closely parallel notions or definitions of harmony and spirituality among African international students (e.g., Parham & Parham, 2002). Moreover, fatalism, the belief in external (e.g., social, spiritual, and contextual) forces as causes or determinants of life's outcomes (Neff & Hoppe, 1993; Roberts, Roberts, &Chen, 2000), might influence some Latin American students' willingness to forbear problems. African, Asian, and Latin American international college students' ability to adjust to and accept things as they without trying to change the environment around them might contribute to a sense of serenity and calm regarding whatever outcomes may emerge (Morling & Fiske, 1999). As noted by Cross (1995), vicariously experiencing control through identifying with a more powerful other represents a vital coping strategy for individuals with high communal and collectivistic orientations, as is the case with many African, Asian, and Latin American international students.

PURPOSES OF THE STUDY AND HYPOTHESES

In light of the use of seeking social support and forbearance as indigenous forms of collectivistic coping among many African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, we sought to develop a brief and easy-to-administer scale with appropriate validity and reliability that assessed these two constructs in this population. The scale developed in this investigation henceforth is known as the Collectivistic Coping Styles Measure (CCSM). The following seven hypotheses guided the empirical validation of the CCSM.

1. We hypothesized that a confirmatory factor analysis would determine that the CCSM consists of two factors or subscales: Seeking Social Support and Forbearance.

2. We hypothesized that there would be adequate internal consistency reliability coefficients for the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM.

3. To determine convergent validity, we hypothesized that the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales each would be significantly positively correlated with interdependent self-construal scores, as assessed by the Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994). This hypothesis was put forth in light of the fact that both dimensions of collectivistic coping are rooted in the consideration of important others in the context of dealing with problems or concerns. Furthermore, to determine discriminant validity, we hypothesized that the CCSM Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales each would be significantly negatively related to independent self-construal scores, as measured by the Self-Construal Scale.

4. To determine convergent validity of the CCSM Seeking Social Support subscale, we hypothesized that it would be significantly positively related to various dimensions of perceived social support (e.g., family, friends, and significant others), as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) and the Coping Strategies Inventory (Amirkhan, 1990). Moreover, we hypothesized that the CCSM Seeking Social Support subscale would be significantly positively related to interpersonal relationship harmony scores, as assessed by the Interpersonal Relationship Harmony Index (Kwan, Bond, & Singelis, 1997).

5. To determine convergent validity of the CCSM Forbearance subscale, we hypothesized that it would be significantly positively correlated with the use of passive coping strategies (i.e., avoidance) to address problems or concerns, as assessed by the Coping Strategies Inventory (Amirkhan, 1990).

6. To determine concurrent validity, we hypothesized that the CCSM Seeking Social Support subscale would be significantly positively related to respondents' attitudes toward counseling, as measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (Fischer & Farina, 1995). Conversely, we hypothesized that CCSM Forbearance scores would be significantly negatively related to respondents' attitudes toward counseling.

7. We hypothesized that the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM would evidence adequate test-retest reliability across a two-week period.

METHOD

CCSM items were generated on the basis of (a) a review of the theoretical and empirical literature pertaining to African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, (b) three focus group discussions with members of these student populations, and (c) the researchers' previous clinical experience with international students. The review of the literature covered numerous sources, including journal articles, books, Web sites, and doctoral dissertations in the areas pertaining to this study. The focus group discussions were used to develop specific collectivistic coping statements that would be used in the scale. Focus group participants consisted of undergraduate and graduate African, Asian, and Latin American international students from a broad array of academic majors at a large midwestern university in the United States. The focus groups met between 45-65 minutes to discuss specific types of collectivistic coping strategies based on ideas generated from the review of the literature. The coping strategies identified from the review of the literature and focus groups then were discussed among college student affairs personnel, mental health counselors, and professors who had extensive exposure to and experience in working with African, Asian, and Latin American international college students. These college professionals then served as expert raters for the CCSM after the authors developed the scale.

The initial version of the CCSM consisted of 10 items that were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = not used, 2 = used a little, 3 = unsure, 4 = used moderately, 5 = used often). The first subscale of the CCSM, entitled Seeking Social Support, was designed to assess African, Asian, and Latin American international students' tendency to seek social support through a variety of existing social networks in attempting to cope with their concerns or problems. The second CCSM subscale, called Forbearance, was developed to identify international students' tendency to refrain from sharing their problems with important others (e.g., family members and friends) for fear of burdening them. The CCSM was then piloted with a group of 15 African, Asian, and Latin American international students. To complete the CCSM, students were first asked to think about a problem they had encountered within the past 2 to 3 months. While keeping this problem in mind, they then were asked to indicate the extent to which they had used each of the coping strategies described in the CCSM by responding to the 5-point scale. This group of students wrote detailed comments regarding the scale's readability and understandability. Based on feedback from the respondents, one of the forbearance items was dropped because of redundancy and any unclear items were clarified. The final version of the CCSM consisted of 9 items--5 items assessing seeking social support and 4 items assessing forbearance.

Procedure

Four hundred African, Asian, and Latin American international students who were enrolled in two large, public four-year colleges and universities located in the Midwestern and Northeastern regions of the United States were invited by mail to participate in the study. These students were registered with the International Students Office at their respective universities, and the directors of these offices and the researchers sent them a cover letter and survey packet. The survey packet consisted of a brief demographic questionnaire, the CCSM, and various other scales that would provide evidence of convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity for the CCSM. These previously published empirically validated scales are described fully in the Instruments section below. A U.S. $5.00 bill also was enclosed with each questionnaire packet to encourage respondents' participation in the study.

Participants

Of the 400 African, Asian, and Latin American international students who were invited by mail to participate, 204 participants completed and returned usable survey packets (i.e., response rate = 51%). By demography, the sample consisted of 105 (51.5%) men and 99 (48.5%) women who ranged in age from 18 to 35 years (M = 20.99 years, SD = 3.13). By geographical region, 44 (21.6%) of the participants were from African countries (e.g., Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe), 101 (49.5%) were from Asian countries (e.g., China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam), and 59 (28.9%) were from Latin American countries (e.g., Columbia, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Peru, and Chile). Designations regarding geographic region were based on previously used categories for investigating differences across international student groups (e.g., Sodowsky & Plake, 1992; Spencer-Rodgers, 2000). By educational level, 61 (29.9%) were first-year students, 56 (27.5%) were sophomores, 37 (18.1%) were juniors, 34 (16.7%) were seniors, and 16 (7.8%) were graduate students.

Instruments

Demographic questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate their age, sex, country of origin, racial or ethnic heritage, and educational level.

Self-Construal Scale. The Self-Construal Scale (SCS; Singelis, 1994) is a 24-item, 7-point (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) Likert-type instrument that measures independent and interdependent self-construals. An independent self-construal is characterized by individuals' loci on their own inner thoughts, feelings, abilities, and actions; conversely, an interdependent self-construal is rooted in the fundamental connectedness of individuals to one another (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). The SCS is comprised of two 12-item subscales that separately measure independent and interdependent self-construals, and higher scores indicate higher corresponding self-construal attitudes. Singelis (1994) asserted that both independent and interdependent conceptions of self coexist in every individual.

The SCS was normed on a multi-ethnic sample of college students, and it has been reported to have good construct and predictive validity (Singelis, 1994). In the validation sample, Cronbach's alphas for the independent and interdependent subscales were .74 and .70, respectively. In the current study, Cronbach's alphas of .72 and .76 were obtained for the independent and interdependent self-construal subscales, respectively.

Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS; Zimet et al., 1988) is a 12-item, 7-point (1 = very strongly disagree, 7 = very strongly agree) Likert-type scale that assesses respondents' perceptions of perceived social support from family, friends, and a significant other. The MSPSS is comprised of three subscales (i.e., family, friends, and significant other) with four items each. MSPSS subscale scores range from 4 to 28, with higher scores indicating greater perceived social support satisfaction in each domain.

The MSPSS has been used with a variety of college and university samples (e.g., Bishop, 1997; Dahlem, Zimet, & Walker, 1991), and it has been shown to have good construct validity and good subscale internal consistency reliabilities (Zimet et al., 1988). In the present investigation, we calculated Cronbach's alphas of .93, .89, and .96 for the family, friends, and significant other subscales, respectively.

Interpersonal Relationship Harmony Index. The Interpersonal Relationship Harmony Index (IRHI; Kwan et al., 1997) was developed to assess the extent to which individuals possess harmony in their close interpersonal relationships. Similar to Kwan et al., the participants in our study were asked to specify the name, sex, and relation for each of the three most important relationships in their lives. They then were asked to rate the degree of harmony characterizing each relationship by using a 7-point, Likert-type scale (1 = very low, 7 = very high). To determine a relationship harmony index for each participant, we averaged his or her three relationship harmony scores.

Coping Strategies Inventory. The Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI; Amirkhan, 1990) is a 33-item scale designed to measure three distinct types of coping strategies. Respondents are instructed to select any stressful event from their own lives and then briefly describe it. They then read a list of specific coping behaviors, and respond on a 3-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 2 = a little, 3 = a lot) indicating the extent to which they used each of the coping strategies to deal with the stressful event. Responses are summed to form three scales: problem solving (e.g., "Thought about what needed to be done to straighten things out"); seeking social support (e.g., "Let your feelings out to a friend"), and avoidance (e.g., "Watched television more than usual").

The CSI has good psychometric properties, as its subscales have proven to be nearly perfectly orthogonal, free from social desirability influences, and internally consistent (i.e., alpha coefficients averaging .89). It also has been shown to have good external reliability, with mean test-retest correlations of .82 (Amirkhan, 1994). Strong construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity has also been reported concerning the CSI (Amirkhan, 1990; Clark, Bormann, Cropanzano, & James, 1995). In our study, we computed Cronbach's alphas of .75, .75, and .70 for the problem solving, seeking social support, and avoidance subscales, respectively.

Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form. The Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short Form (ATSPPHS-S; Fischer & Farina, 1995) was used in this study to measure respondents' attitudes toward counseling. The ATSPPHS-S is a 10-item, 4-point, Likert-type (0 = disagree, 1 = partly disagree, 2 = partly agree, 3 = agree) version of Fischer and Turner's (1970) 29-item questionnaire for assessing general attitudes toward seeking therapeutic help for psychological problems. The ATSPPHS-S was developed on a college student sample, and scores for this instrument are obtained by summing the items (i.e., range of scores = 0 to 30). Higher scores are associated with more positive psychological help-seeking attitudes.

In the normative sample, an internal consistency coefficient of .84 was achieved, and the ATSPPHS-S was found to have good test-retest reliability (i.e., .80) and good construct validity (Fischer & Farina, 1995). In the present investigation, a Cronbach's alpha of .81 was calculated for the ATSPPHS-S.

RESULTS

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Internal Consistency Reliability Analyses

To examine hypothesis one, that is, to evaluate whether the hypothesized two-factor structure of the CCSM would emerge for the 204 international students in our sample, we submitted the nine CCSM items to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 4.0 (Arbuckle, 1999). CFA has been identified as a powerful statistical procedure for evaluating measurement models and for identifying how well a model's underlying factor structure fits the data (Bryant & Yarnold, 1995). In the present study, CCSM items 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9 served as the five indicators for the Seeking Social Support latent variable, and CCSM items 3, 4, 5, and 7 were the four indicators for the Forbearance latent construct. Because the two latent variables were not hypothesized to be independent from each other, they were allowed to correlate in the CFA model.

Following the established procedures for structural equation modeling with AMOS 4.0 (Byrne, 2001), the adequacy of measurement and structural model fit for our study was based on the chi-square (32) statistic and several additional indices that are less sensitive to sample size (Bentler, 1990; Bryant & Yarnold, 1995; Byrne, 2001). These indices include the goodness-of-fit index (GFI), the comparative fit index (CFI), the normed fit index (NFI), the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA). GFI, CFI, NFI, and TLI values range from 0 to 1, and these indices estimate the amount of variance accounted for by the measurement model. Models with GFI, CFI, NFI, and TLI values that are greater than .90 generally indicate a good fit to the data (Bentler, 1990; Bollen, 1989). With regard to the RMSEA, Browne and Cudeck (1993) proposed that RMSEA values of less than .05 indicate a very close model to data fit, and that values between .06 and .08 indicate adequate model to data fit.

For the African, Asian, and Latin American international students in our sample, the fit statistics for the measurement model indicated a very good fit to the data [32 (26) = 37.69, p = .07; GFI = .99; CFI = .99; NFI = .99; TLI = .99; RMSEA = .047]. Thus, hypothesis one was confirmed. Furthermore, in support of hypothesis two, we found very good internal consistency reliabilities for the two CCSM subscales, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of .84 and .95 for the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales, respectively.

Convergent, Discriminant, and Concurrent Validity

To examine hypotheses three, four, and five, that is, to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of the CCSM, we correlated its subscales with previously validated scales or subscales measuring constructs that we deemed to be either theoretically similar or dissimilar. To determine convergent validity, an instrument must correlate significantly and positively with other scales designed to measure the same construct. To show discriminant validity, a scale should not correlate significantly with other measures with which theory suggests it should not correlate. Table 1 provides the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of the study's variables.

In partial support of hypothesis three, we found that the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM were each significantly positively related to the SCS interdependent self-construal subscale (r's = .16 and .15, respectively, p < .05), and that only the CCSM Forbearance subscale was significantly negatively related to SCS independent self-construal scores (r = -.18, p < .01). Furthermore, in partial support of hypothesis four, we found that the CCSM Seeking Social Support subscale was significantly positively related to the family (r = .32, p < .001) and friends (r = .16, p < .05) subscales of the MSPSS; the seeking social support subscale of the CSI (r = .33, p < .001); and the IRHI (r = .20, p < .01). Our test of hypothesis five confirmed that the CCSM Forbearance subscale was significantly positively correlated with the CSI avoidance subscale (r = .21, p < .01).

To test hypothesis six, that is, to determine the concurrent validity of the CCSM Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales, we correlated respondents' scores on these subscales with their scores on the ATSPPHS-S. Concurrent validity differs from convergent validity in that, when testing convergent validity, two scales that claim to assess the same construct are correlated. Hence, the correlation between the two should be significant and positive. In concurrent validity, however, the two measures assess different theoretical constructs. Thus, scores on one scale should predict scores on the other scale, and the correlation between the two measures can be either positive or negative. In our investigation, we found that the CCSM Seeking Social Support subscale was significantly positively correlated with the ATSPPHS-S (r = .19,p < .01), and the CCSM Forbearance subscale was significantly negatively related to the ATSPPHS-S (r = -.18, p < .01). Thus, hypothesis six was fully supported.

Test-Retest Reliability

To test hypothesis seven, that is, to assess the stability of CCSM scores over time (i.e., test-retest reliability), 40 African, Asian, and Latin American international college students were invited to participate in this phase of the study. These potential participants were members of various international student organizations at a large, public four-year university located in the Midwestern region of the United States, and they were asked to participate in the study via a letter sent by the faculty advisors of the student organizations and the investigators. Students were told that they could participate by coming into the International Students' office on their campus to complete a questionnaire packet consisting solely of a brief demographic questionnaire and the CCSM twice within a two-week period. The participating students were assigned a code number to compare their responses at time 1 and time 2. After completion of the second survey packet, a U.S. ten-dollar bill was provided to these individuals for their participation.

Of the 40 students who were invited to participate, 30 participants completed usable surveys at both time 1 and time 2 (response rate = 75%). By demography, the sample consisted of 16 (53.3%) women and 14 (46.7%) men who ranged in age from 18 to 33 years (M = 21.63 years, SD = 3.26). By educational level, 8 (26.7%) of the participants were first-year students, 6 (20.0%) were sophomores, 8 (26.7%) were juniors, 6 (20.0%) were seniors, and 2 (6.7%) were graduate students. By geographical region, 6 (20.0%) of the participants were from African countries, 15 (50.0%) were from Asian countries, and 9 (30.0%) were from Latin American countries.

Pairwise correlations were computed on the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM for the test-retest sample. These scores were .71 for the Seeking Social Support subscale and .80 for the Forbearance subscale, suggesting adequate test-retest reliability for both subscales. Hence, hypothesis seven was supported. A copy of the CCSM can be found in the Appendix.

Supplemental Analyses: Sex and Region of Origin Analyses by CCSM Subscales

Using the data from the 204 African, Asian, and Latin American students in the initial sample, we conducted a series of multivariate analyses of variance to determine whether sex and region of origin differences existed with regard to the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM. We found significant interaction effects, Pillai's trace = .07, F(4, 396) = 3.42, p < .01, and significant main effects by sex, Pillai's trace = .09, F(2, 197) = 10.02,p < .001, and region of origin, Pillai's trace = .08, F(4, 396) = 3.93, p < .01. Follow-up univariate analyses indicated significant differences by sex on both the Seeking Social Support subscale, F(1,202) = 8.56,p < .01, and the Forbearance subscale, F(1,202) = 16.49, p < .001. In particular, women (M = 4.73, SD = .37) reported significantly higher Seeking Social Support scores than did men (M = 4.40, SD = .78). Furthermore, men (M = 2.93, SD = 1.32) reported significantly higher Forbearance scores than did women (M = 2.02, SD = .98).

Follow-up univariate tests by region of origin revealed significant differences on the Forbearance subscale, F(2, 201) = 7.99, p < .001. For the post-hoc tests by region of origin, we analyzed mean differences on the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales using Dunnett's C statistic because of the unequal numbers of international students in each cell. Dunnett's C analyses revealed that international students from Asia (M = 2.83, SD = 1.35) reported significantly higher Forbearance scores than did their counterparts from African (M = 1.93, SD = .89) and Latin American (M = 2.33, SD = 1.12) countries.

DISCUSSION

In this study, we sought to develop and validate the CCSM, a 9-item self-report measure of collectivistic coping styles for African, Asian, and Latin American international college students. This coping scale was developed out of consideration for the need to understand how the values of many largely communal or collectivistic cultures inform the ways in which coping may be manifested or activated. Overall, results revealed that the CCSM is a promising means of assessing two primary types of coping styles used by African, Asian, and Latin American international college students, namely seeking social support and forbearance. We also found evidence of good internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM, along with evidence of good convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity.

The Seeking Social Support and Forbearance subscales of the CCSM were both found to be significantly positively related to having an interdependent self-construal. Moreover, the Forbearance subscale was significantly negatively correlated with independent self-construal scores. Taken together, these findings suggest that many African, Asian, and Latin American international students not only acknowledge the importance of close family members and friends when attempting to deal with problems or concerns, but they also strongly consider how much they might share with these individuals because they do not wish to cause others distress or worry. Although some individuals might view forbearance as a more independent form of coping with concerns, we assert that it is, in fact, a collectivistic style of coping because the behavior (i.e., minimizing or not sharing problems) is determined in the context of relationships with significant others and stems from concerns about others' well-being.

Not surprisingly, we found that the Seeking Social Support subscale of the CCSM was positively related to the family and friends subscales of the MSPSS, the seeking social support subscale of the CSI, and respondents' IRHI scores. These findings highlight the importance of close family and peer relationships to many African, Asian, and Latin American students in dealing with concerns or problems. Accessing social support is an activity that requires individuals to engage meaningfully with others in the context of coping with problems and, thus, may promote more dynamic, relational, and intentional behaviors related to alleviating concerns. Many African, Asian, and Latin American students tend to value connectedness with family members, friends, and other close individuals, and this value is evident in their culturally embedded ways of coping.

We also found that the Forbearance subscale of the CCSM was significantly positively related to the CSI avoidance subscale and that the Forbearance subscale was significantly negatively related to the friends subscale of the MSPSS. It appears that African, Asian, and Latin American international college students who choose to forbear their problems may avoid actively exerting direct control over their problems and may not seek support from friends in times of distress because they do not want to burden them with their concerns. Although avoidance coping strategies have been largely associated with adverse psychological outcomes (Cunningham & Walker, 1999), it is important to consider that some avoidance coping techniques have been found to represent adaptive coping strategies, particularly when attention has been directed away from the problem through engaging in recreational or physical activities (Ebata & Moos, 1991). Moreover, among some African, Asian, and Latin American international students, it is important to note that forbearance may be culturally rooted in aspects of fatalism or even harmony control, wherein individuals "recognize the agency in contextual, social, or spiritual forces and attempt to merge with these forces" (Morling & Fiske, 1999, p. 382). Harmony control, a seemingly crucial aspect of fatalism and forbearance, underscores the serene acceptance of situations and an alignment with fate with regard to unpredictable life circumstances as they occur. Hence, it is possible that African, Asian, and Latin American international students with high forbearance capabilities may accept their roles, relationships with others, luck, fate, or God's will without acting directly on their environment. Because forbearance seems to stem from relational or collectivistic ways of being, it appears that collectivistic cultural systems can support and encourage forbearance and even harmony control by providing networks of loyalty and support and vice versa (Morling & Fiske, 1999).

The CCSM also was found to have good concurrent validity in that higher Seeking Social Support scores were related to higher psychological help-seeking attitudes in African, Asian, and Latin American international students. Moreover, we found that the Forbearance subscale of the CCSM was negatively related to these international students' psychological help-seeking attitudes. The aforementioned findings, while expected, might inform literature in the area of underutilization of psychological services among African, Asian, and Latin American international students. In particular, international students with a strong tendency to keep problems or concerns to themselves might view seeking professional help in an unfavorable light because of cultural stigmas attached to seeking formal psychological intervention (e.g., "it is for crazy people"). Other potential reasons for underuse of formal mental health services by some African, Asian, and Latin American populations include strong levels of commitment to their culture or family and unfamiliarity with or lack of information about counseling services (Mallinckrodt & Leong, 1992; Mori, 2000). Moreover, feelings of shame or guilt may surface among these students when their problems are shared with strangers, such as mental health counselors, which might necessitate coping by forbearance. One of the major goals in developing the CCSM was to allow more intensive investigation of coping strategies used by U.S. international college students from non-Western societies. We hoped that the availability of a short and easily administered scale would have several clinical practice implications pertaining to working with international students in college settings. However, our investigation is not without limitations. For example, generalizability of the results is cautioned because (a) the participants were African, Asian, and Latin American international students from universities in the Midwestern and Northeastern regions of the United States, and (b) the sizes of our subsamples prohibited the validation of the CCSM specifically by region of origin and sex. Future investigators should replicate this study in other geographical areas and with larger groups of African, Asian, and Latin American international students to confirm or refute our findings. In a related issue, our sample was comprised of African, Asian, and Latin American international students from diverse nations and cultures. Although we were able to conduct some comparative analyses according to region of origin, which may have roughly paralleled racial groupings, there were not enough students from each of the countries represented in this study to conduct more detailed analyses. It is important to note, however, that the international students among the broad geographical regions we sampled do share some fundamental cultural similarities (Essandoh, 1995). Another possible limitation of our investigation is that because the study's measures were self-report in nature, the respondents may not entirely have reported their actual attitudes or behaviors because of social desirability or self-enhancement motives.

Implications for Mental Health Counseling

Cultural values emphasizing collectivism and communalism appear to affect both social support seeking and forbearance coping styles among African, Asian, and Latin American international students. Thus, in clinical practice settings, particularly in college and university counseling centers, the CCSM could provide mental health counselors with information about how African, Asian, and Latin American international students cope with various types of problems they experience. For example, mental health counselors in these settings should be aware of the extent to which forbearance might be manifested in the context of these individuals' presenting concerns, if they should seek counseling services. In some investigations, Asians have been found to underreport their levels of psychological distress because of cultural values related to emotional restraint (Sandhu, 1997). Although forbearance, minimization, and even denial of mental health problems may be legitimate and culturally prescribed coping strategies used by some African, Asian, and Latin American international students, these strategies could mask more serious mental health problems.

As such, the CCSM could be used as an initial screening tool at college and university counseling centers to determine both social support seeking and forbearance styles in African, Asian, and Latin American international students. For instance, if forbearance behaviors are determined to be high, then counselors should be aware that certain aspects of these students' presentation for counseling (e.g., nature and severity of problems) may be minimized. Knowledge about such styles and behaviors may result in more clinically accurate and culturally relevant assessment and diagnosis. With increased awareness of the mental health issues and needs of African, Asian, and Latin American international students, along with the ways in which these issues and needs might be manifested in these students, mental health counselors on college campuses may be able to provide vital and culturally relevant developmental programming and outreach to these students and encourage the use of culturally congruent means to address their concerns.

APPENDIX

COLLECTIVISTIC COPING STYLES MEASURE

The statements below are intended to represent some of the behaviors you might use to cope with stressful situations in your life. In responding to the statements below, please think of a specific stressful situation that you have encountered within the past 2-3 months. A stressful situation is any situation that you found troubling or otherwise caused you to worry. Such a situation might have been related to your friends, family, school, job, romantic relationship, or other people or things you consider to be important in your life. While keeping this problem in mind, please use the following 5-point scale to indicate the extent to which you used the following strategies to help you cope with the stress you experienced.

1 not used

2 used a little

3 unsure

4 used moderately

5 used often

-- 1. I spoke with a friend to seek support about the problem.

-- 2. I received advice or support from someone who had experienced a similar problem or concern.

-- 3. I told myself that I could overcome the problem or concern.

-- 4. I didn't express my feelings about the problem to others because I didn't want to burden them.

-- 5. I minimized the problem or concern so others wouldn't worry about me.

-- 6. I spent time with my family member(s) or friend(s).

-- 7. I kept the problem or concern to myself in order not to worry others.

-- 8. I shared the problem or concern with someone from my own cultural background.

-- 9. I spoke with a family member to seek guidance or support about the problem.

Note. The Forbearance subscale is comprised of items 3, 4, 5, and 7. The Seeking Social Support subscale consists of items 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9.

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Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations
of the Study's Variables

Varibles                           M            SD            2

1.  CCSM Seeking SS subscale       4.56         0.64        -.36 ***
2.  CCSM Forbearance subscale      2.49         1.25          --
3.  SCS Interdependent subscale    4.61         0.74
4.  SCS Independent subscale       4.70         0.75
5.  CSI Problem Solving subscale   1.99         0.35
6.  CSI Seeking SS subscale        2.02         0.36
7.  CSI Avoidance subscale         1.80         0.33
8.  MSPSS Family subscale          5.74         1.46
9.  MSPSS Friends subscale         6.09         0.83
10. MSPSS Significant
      Other subscale               6.14         1.32
11. IRHI                           5.93         0.61

12. ATSPPHS-S                      2.20         0.53

Varibles                           3            4             5

1.  CCSM Seeking SS subscale       .16 *         .08           .11
2.  CCSM Forbearance subscale      .15 *        -.18 **       -.11
3.  SCS Interdependent subscale     --          -.04          -.09
4.  SCS Independent subscale                      --           .21 **
5.  CSI Problem Solving subscale                                --
6.  CSI Seeking SS subscale
7.  CSI Avoidance subscale
8.  MSPSS Family subscale
9.  MSPSS Friends subscale
10. MSPSS Significant
      Other subscale
11. IRHI

12. ATSPPHS-S

Varibles                           6            7             8

1.  CCSM Seeking SS subscale       .33 ***      .03           .32 ***
2.  CCSM Forbearance subscale     -.12          .21 **       -.05
3.  SCS Interdependent subscale    .00          .08           .12
4.  SCS Independent subscale       .19 **      -.15 *         .11
5.  CSI Problem Solving subscale   .45 ***      .18 **        .04
6.  CSI Seeking SS subscale         --          .20 **        .18 **
7.  CSI Avoidance subscale                       --          -.14 *
8.  MSPSS Family subscale                                      --
9.  MSPSS Friends subscale
10. MSPSS Significant
      Other subscale
11. IRHI

12. ATSPPHS-S

Varibles                              9           10

1.  CCSM Seeking SS subscale        .16 *        .06
2.  CCSM Forbearance subscale      -.15 *       -.05
3.  SCS Interdependent subscale    -.11         -.02
4.  SCS Independent subscale        .27 ***      .25 ***
5.  CSI Problem Solving subscale    .17 *        .10
6.  CSI Seeking SS subscale         .34 ***      .16 *
7.  CSI Avoidance subscale         -.13         -.25 ***
8.  MSPSS Family subscale           .37 ***      .53 ***
9.  MSPSS Friends subscale           --          .40 ***
10. MSPSS Significant
      Other subscale                              --
11. IRHI

12. ATSPPHS-S

Varibles                             11           12

1.  CCSM Seeking SS subscale        .20 **       .19 **
2.  CCSM Forbearance subscale      -.08         -.18 **
3.  SCS Interdependent subscale     .27 ***     -.02
4.  SCS Independent subscale        .18 **       .16 *
5.  CSI Problem Solving subscale    .06          .00
6.  CSI Seeking SS subscale         .24 **       .21 **
7.  CSI Avoidance subscale         -.02         -.O6
8.  MSPSS Family subscale           .16 *        .14 *
9.  MSPSS Friends subscale          .33 ***      .16 *
10. MSPSS Significant
      Other subscale                .17 *        .09
11. IRHI                             --          .36 ***

12. ATSPPHS-S

-- Note. CCSM = Collectivistic Coping Styles Measure;
SS = Social Support; SCS = Self-Construal Scale (Singelis,
1994); CSI = Coping Strategy Indicator (Amirkhan, 1990);

MSPSS = Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
(Zimet et al., 1988); IRHI = Interpersonal Relationship
Harmony Index (Kwan et al., 1997); ATSPPHS-S = Attitudes
Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale-Short
Form (Fisher & Farina, 1995).

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.