Self-disclosure in intercultural friendship development
communication discipline (Miike, 2002).
On the other hand, in terms of research endeavors on intercultural friendship, it is still at its
early stages. First, the majority of existing research on the adjustment and adaptation problems
facing international students in the U.S. tends to focus solely on aspects of communication
competence, communication effectiveness, communication apprehension, and social skills
(Chen, 1989; Zimmermann, 1995; Collier, 1996; Neuliep & Ryan, 1998; Yamaguchi & Wiseman,
2003; Witteborn, 2003), and often treat international students as a haphazard, gigantic, and
homogeneous entity without recognizing and taking cultural differences into consideration.
Secondly, findings of adaptation and intercultural communication competence are seldom
applied to research on intercultural friendship. Little is known about how communication
directly affects the formation of intercultural friendship. Thirdly, research concentrating on
intercultural friendship is still scarce (Morgan & Arasaratnam, 2003) and limited in its
theoretical, methodological as well as cultural perspectives. In addition, numerous researchers
suggest the need of testing communicative frameworks on populations other than white, middle
class, North American subjects such as international students (Gudykunst & Nishida, 1985; Love
& Powers, 2002).
Furthermore, in the development of close friendships, self-disclosure in particular plays a
major role (Matsushima & Shiomi, 2002). Self-disclosure is not only the third major factor in
intercultural friendship formation (Kudo & Simkin, 2003) but also a crucial and defining factor
for the development of close friendships (Matsushima & Shiomi, 2002). In addition, self-
disclosure is also one of the seven crucial elements in communication competence (Chen, 1992).
People certainly do not communicate and disclose the exact same information to all types of
friends. Research reveals that friendships progress in phases (Korn & Nicotera, 1993), and
communication among friends differs based on factors such as levels of closeness and so forth.
Also, in intercultural studies on uncertainty and anxiety management, self-disclosure is one of
4
Convention