Abstract
<jats:p>The purpose of the study is to describe the psychological mechanisms of adaptation of Chinese students to studying at a Russian physical education university. Research methods: 7 psychodiagnostic techniques and a survey – a questionnaire for a comprehensive study of the adaptation conditions of Chinese students in a Russian sports university. Research results and conclusions. The neurotic social adaptation achieved through diplomacy, self-control, and anxiety, which suppress hostility, is facilitated by a mechanism referred to by Yanitsky M.S. as 'devaluation of basic needs and values of collectivist culture.' The conducted research established that its formation among Chinese students in a Russian sports university is based on confidence in the irreparability of social problems, suspicion, and pessimism (depression). Partial relief of tension arising in challenging situations due to the operation of this mechanism manifests as repetitive, intrusive thoughts (obsessiveness), accompanied by the emergence of compulsive behaviors (compulsivity). The remaining tension escalates into anxiety, hostility, and a range of other psychopathological symptoms. In the study of the English language by Chinese individuals, there is an integration into personality of anti-values (anti-human values) – notions regarding the impossibility of solving social problems and pessimism as a mechanism for changing values. Pessimism leads to devaluation and minimization of values, transitioning into skepticism, allowing individuals to criticize society while severing their identity from it. In this case, the increase in hostility reflects a willingness to critique society, partially losing social identity in the process. Adaptability is maintained at the cost of increased self-control and anxiety, which restrains the growing hostility.</jats:p>