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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Cultural Psychology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1659368

This article is part of the Research TopicIntercultural Communication and International StudentsView all 19 articles

Fitting into the Collective: A Cultural Regulatory Fit Perspective on International Student Adaptation in China

Provisionally accepted
Jiayu  LiJiayu Li1*Ting  ZhangTing Zhang2*
  • 1Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
  • 2Zhejiang Industry Polytechnic College, Shaoxing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Against the backdrop of China's growing international student population, enhancing their subjective well-being has become a pressing issue in university management. Drawing on cultural regulatory fit theory, This study investigates the influence mechanism of cultural regulatory fit on the subjective well-being of international students in China based on data collected at three time points. The final valid sample size after matching across all three stages is N = 327. A dual mediation model was proposed, incorporating cultural adaptation and identity strain, with individualistic value orientation as a moderator. Results revealed that: (1) cultural regulatory fit promotes adaptation, reduces identity strain, and enhances well-being;(2) both mediators play significant roles in this process; and (3) individualistic orientation did not significantly moderate the main pathway, but multi-group analyses confirmed the model's cross-cultural applicability across Asian and non-Asian groups. This study contributes a novel perspective on the dynamic cognitive-emotional mechanisms of adaptation and offers practical insights for psychological support strategies in higher education.

Keywords: Cultural regulatory fit (CRF), subjective well-being (SWB), Cultural adaptation (CA), Identity strain (IS), Individualistic value orientation (IVO), Cross-cultural

Received: 16 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jiayu Li, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
Ting Zhang, Zhejiang Industry Polytechnic College, Shaoxing, China

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