Thesis
Uncertainty Management and Self-Care Among International Students
Western Illinois University
12/2023
Abstract
International students face challenges during their educational pursuits in the United States, regardless of their motivation to study abroad. One of these challenges is communication-related, particularly how to communicate with faculty members, non- faculty members, and other students. However, very few studies have been conducted on how international students engage in information-seeking to communicatively negotiate uncertainty about self-care with an authority figure. Using Uncertainty Management Theory (UMT), this study assesses how international students in the United States engage in information-seeking to communicatively negotiate uncertainty about their self-care with authority figures such as the international admission office in their institutions. International students (N =65), who have spent not less than six months in the United States participated in an online survey. Data analysis was conducted with SPSS, using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis to examine the relationships between uncertainty discrepancy, anxiety, information-seeking, and associated variables. Although the results confirmed the theoretical assumption that anxiety arises from uncertainty discrepancies about self-care and that different efficacies predict anxiety, it also revealed unexpected relationships, especially about outcome assessment and anxiety.
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Details
- Title
- Uncertainty Management and Self-Care Among International Students
- Creators
- Folake Okor
- Contributors
- Josh Averbeck (Chair) - Western Illinois University
- Awarding Institution
- Western Illinois University
- Theses and Dissertations
- Western Illinois University
- Identifiers
- 99901214238801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Academic Unit
- Department of Communication