Exploring identity tension and cognitive reappraisal among Chinese doctoral students in Malaysia based on the process-person-context-time model

Abstract

Pursuing a doctoral degree is a rigorous test of endurance, particularly for Chinese students studying in Malaysia. These students face a unique “ecological conflict”: they must struggle to adapt to a foreign academic culture while simultaneously enduring the intense competitive pressure from their home country to “publish or perish.” Employing a qualitative narrative inquiry approach, this study investigates how Malaysian international PhD students navigate this profound academic identity conflict. Grounded in the Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model, the analysis transcends static stress theories by positioning cognitive reappraisal as a critical proximal process—an active mechanism for generating psychological capital (PsyCap) and restoring psychophysical equilibrium. Based on in-depth narrative interviews with five doctoral candidates from Malaysian public and private universities, findings reveal that the primary source of identity tension stems from the stark contrast between the idealized image of a successful scholar and the nonlinear realities of research progress. However, these students are not passive; they actively employ cognitive strategies such as goal restructuring, adaptive attribution, and strategic normalization to reframe difficulties as surmountable challenges. These techniques function as “psychological immune responses,” successfully transforming anxiety into resilience. Theoretically, this paper introduces a dynamic “Liberation-Reconstruction-Growth-Preservation” (LRGP) cycle to describe this evolutionary process. Practically, the findings urge higher education stakeholders to implement culturally adaptive interventions that empower students to proactively reconstruct academic adversity.