Home Away from Home - The Role of Social Support for International Students’ Adjustment

Sana Anwar Lashari,Rosna Awang-Hashim,Amrita Kaur

doi:10.32890/mjli2018.15.2.2

Abstract

Purpose – Academic and psychological adjustment of international students is central to their success while pursuing their degrees abroad. However, acculturation stress is abundant and may pose as a challenge. Thus, in this study we examined whether social support mediates the association between acculturation stress and academic and psychological adjustment. Methodology – A cross sectional research design was employed. A total of 200 postgraduate international students from three Malaysian public universities were recruited to participate in the study. The Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire was employed to measure their academic adjustment and psychological adjustment. The Multidimensional Scale for Perceived Social Support and the Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students were used to collect data on social support and acculturation stress. Path analysis by AMOS 23 was used to test the hypothesized relationship. Findings – Results provided support for the proposed model, revealing that social support was associated with greater academic and psychological adjustment among international students. Significance – The present study has implications for university policies, counsellors, and student affairs departments on the need to take measures to facilitate healthy academic and psychological adjustment among international students.

Highlights

Millions of students travel every year to pursue higher education. These international students contribute to cultural diversity on university campuses, and as they bring with them a wide range of knowledge and skills, they add to the intellectual capital of the host country
The present study considered social support as a mediator based on the following conditions provided by Hayes (2009): (a) The predictor and outcome variables initially have a significant relationship (Yeh & Inose, 2003), (b) The potential mediator is significantly related with the predictor variable (Lee, Koeske, & Sales, 2004), (c) The potential mediator is significantly related with the outcome variable (Andrade, 2006)
The present study proposed that social support mediates the relationship between acculturation stress and academic adjustment and psychological adjustment

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Millions of students travel every year to pursue higher education. These international students contribute to cultural diversity on university campuses, and as they bring with them a wide range of knowledge and skills, they add to the intellectual capital of the host country. International students frequently report that factors such as language barriers (Meng, Zhu, & Cao, 2018), academic styles (Misra, McKean, West, & Russo, 2000), separation from home (Hendrickson, Rosen, & Aune, 2011), poor social integration and problems in daily life tasks (Yeh & Inose, 2003) inhibit their adjustment These factors contribute towards stress and anxiety, which impact upon international students’ acculturation (Meng et al, 2018; Yan, 2017), i.e., their ability to respond to or cope with life events that are rooted in cross-cultural contact (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). There are many sources of social support including academic peer groups (Dao et al, 2007), informal interactions with faculty, personal tutorials (Rienties et al, 2012), social networks (Wilcox, Winn & Fyvie‐Gauld, 2005), student support services (Poyrazli & Lopez, 2007), and intimate relationships with close friends and family (Myers-Walls et al, 2011) They provide individuals with the resources to cope with stress. (c) The potential mediator (social support) is significantly related with the outcome (academic and psychological adjustment) variable (Andrade, 2006)

Procedure

RESULTS

Results

Discussion

Limitations and Implications for Future Studies