Social Media Use,Social Support,and Adaptation

China has been experiencing a significant increase of internal migration with the rapid development of urbanization since its implementation of the reform and openingup policy.Given the regional differences in terms of culture and economic development brought about by variations across China's vast territory,internal migrants are often faced with some challenges in adapting to their new locations.Internal migrants' adaptation is not only important to their physical and psychological well-being,but also important for the harmony of society as whole.Social media has significantly changed many patterns of human communication,to the degree that intercultural communication theories need to be further expanded in the context of social media use.Yet,relatively little research has been done to examine the effects of social media use on migrants' adaptation.Therefore,this present study seeks to examine adaptation of internal migrants in China and how social media use affects the adaptation of internal migrants in China.First,existing theories in the fields of migration,intercultural adaptation,social media,and social support were reviewed.The empirical findings on intercultural adaptation and on the adaptation of internal migrants in China were examined.Second,based on the literature review,a structural model describing internal migrants' adaptation and its contributing factors was proposed,with a focus on the ways through which social media use affects internal migrants' adaptation was proposed.Three variables were identified as indicators of internal migrants' adaptation(acculturative stress,life satisfaction,and local cultural identification),and social support was identified as a mediator of the relations between social media use and these adaptation variables.Third,internal migrants in Shanghai were sampled,and a questionnaire was developed to collect data.Structural equation modeling(SEM)was used to test the hypothesized structural model.Through an online survey,703 valid samples were used to conduct the data analysis.Data analysis proceeded in the following steps: First,300 samples were randomly selected to conduct an exploratory factor analysis(EFA)on the self-developed perceived social support scales for internal migrants.Second,using the remaining 403 samples,confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)was conducted to develop the measurement models of the latent variables(social media use,social support,acculturative stress,life satisfaction,and local cultural identification).Then,based on the factor scores of the latent variables,the Independent Samples t Test was conducted to examine the effects of some demographic variables on adaptation.Last,path coefficients were examined to test the direct effects specified in the hypothesized model,and the mediation effects were examined using the Bootstrap method.The Independent Samples t Test on the factor scores of internal migrants' adaptation indicated that internal migrants' length of stay in Shanghai,their Hukou status,and housing conditions significantly affected their adaptation.Internal migrants who have been in Shanghai for a longer period of time,who had obtained Shanghai Hukou,and who have purchased their houses in Shanghai had less acculturative stress,higher levels of life satisfaction and local cultural identification.SEM analysis indicated that social media use affected internal migrant's adaptation:(1)the more internal migrants used social media,the more social support they perceived,which in turn decreased their acculturative stress,increased their life satisfaction,and increased their local cultural identification;(2)social media use had significant indirect effects on life satisfaction and local cultural identification through the serial mediators of social support and acculturative stress.Specifically,internal migrants' social media use increased their perceived social support and in turn decreased their acculturative stress,which further increased their life satisfaction significantly.Likewise,internal migrants' social media use increased their perceived social support and in turn decreased their acculturative stress,which further significantly increased their local cultural identification.The present study has proposed and tested a hypothesized structural model to examine the adaptation of internal migrants and the effects of social media use on the adaptation of internal migrants.Findings in the present study not only supplement theories of intercultural adaptation in the social media communication context but also expanded the extant literature on the adaptation of internal migrants in China.The selfdeveloped social support scale specifically related to internal migrants as well as the measurements used for assessing internal migrants' adaptation have reference value for related studies.Based on the Independent Samples t Test,the author suggests that the government should deepen reform on Hukou registration and vigorously promote the establishment of housing security system,so as to facilitate the settlement of internal migrants.In addition,given the positive role of social media use on internal migrants' adaptation to the local society,this dissertation also offers a set of suggestions about how to make the best use of social media to facilitate local adaptation of internal migrants as an aid for institutions or agencies concerned to formulate policies on migration-related issues.For example,the government and institutions concerned could establish official platforms on social media to provide social support related to Hukou registration,housing,education opportunities for internal migrants' children,and strengthen interaction between internal migrants and the government organizations.In addition,“virtual communities” could be established to increase the interaction between internal migrants and locals to expand internal migrants' social networks and diversify their social support sources.Meanwhile,the government should strengthen its supervision on information and opinion dissemination on social media to decrease the negative influence of social media.