Mental health problems commonly prevail among international students as a result of acculturative difficulties. In light of this, the studyattempted to determine the role of cultural intelligence, age and prior travel experience on acculturative stress and depression and also whether acculturative stress mediatedthe cultural intelligence-depression relationship. 506international university students studying in China completeda battery of tests assessing their cultural intelligence, acculturative stress and depression. Cultural intelligence showed significantly negativecorrelationswith both acculturative stress and depression. Students’ prior travel experiences and age also significantlycorrelated withboth acculturative stress and depression. Acculturative stress mediated the relationship between cultural intelligence and depression. Implication, limitations and future study directions were discussed as well.
Personal and situational factors contribute to international students’ sociocultural adjustment in a host society. Thus this study attempts to determine the roles of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and previous travel experience on sociocultural adjustment. The sample for this study constituted 328 undergraduate and postgraduate international students, studying in three Chinese universities. Participants completed a set of tests measuring their sociocultural adjustment, self-efficacy and self-esteem, as well as answered demographic questions. Hierarchical multiple regression and a PROCESS macro were used to analyze the data. Results revealed that prior travel experience, self-efficacy, and self-esteem significantly predicted sociocultural adaptation. In particular, self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and sociocultural adaptation. Limitations and future study directions and implications for the findings are discussed.
The purpose of the study was to examine the main sources of acculturative stress and their associations with sociodemographic factors and depression. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was employed to investigate the study. International students (N = 506) volunteered to take part in the survey and completed two self-report questionnaires: Acculturative Stress for International Students Scale and a Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's product moment correlation, t-test, and analysis of variance were performed in data analyses. The study delineated that homesickness, culture shock, and discrimination were the leading stress causing factors among the students. Participants' age, marital status, Chinese language proficiency, friendship with local students, educational level, prior travel experience and source of financial support also appeared to have a significant association with their acculturative stress scores. The study also explored a significant positive relationship between acculturative stressors and depression. Findings of the study could apply to host universities to better engineer programs or services that accelerate and promote the psychological positive acculturative process and outcomes of their international fellow students and subsequently safeguard them from exacerbating mental health problems.
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