Abstract
International university students may be at greater risk for developing psychological problems due to the unique stressors in them, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of present study is to propose and test a moderated mediation model that would illuminate the underlying relationships of cross-cultural adaption, perceived stress and psychological health as well as the moderating effect of optimism and resilience among international medical undergraduates in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was conducted via a web-based survey in November 2020. Electronic informed consents were obtained from all participants. A total of 453 students including 233 males and 220 females aged 18 to 28 years with an average age of 22.09 (SD = 2.73) completed the questionnaires. Symptom Checklist 90, the measurement of cross-cultural adaption, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Life Orientation Test-Revised and the Resilience Scale were used for the survey. Results for the moderated mediation model testing revealed that cross-cultural adaption significantly and negatively associated with the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Symptom Checklist 90 (β = −0.24, P < 0.01), and perceived stress partially mediated the relationship. Optimism (β = −0.29, P < 0.01) and confidence in COVID-19 control (β = −0.19, P < 0.01) had direct negative effects on perceived stress. Furthermore, optimism and resilience negatively moderated the indirect effect of cross-cultural adaption on psychological health through perceived stress. Findings of this study suggest that university educators ought to promote or make use of programs that cope with stress and boost optimism and resilience in order to support students not only adapt well to a new culture, but also keep good psychological health during the period of COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Along with the trend of globalization, more and more students choose to receive their higher education abroad
Cross-cultural adaption, confidence in COVID-19 control, optimism and resilience were significantly negatively correlated with Global Severity Index (GSI) and all the dimension scores of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), while perceived stress was significantly positively correlated with GSI and all the dimension scores of the SCL-90
After controlling for the confidence in COVID-19 control, the results for the mediation model testing are presented in Table 3, from which the analysis indicated that cross-cultural adaption significantly and negatively associated with the GSI (β = −0.23, P < 0.01) and perceived stress (β = −0.24, P < 0.01), and perceived stress significantly and positively associated with the GSI (β = 0.51, P < 0.01)
Summary
Along with the trend of globalization, more and more students choose to receive their higher education abroad. Proportion of international student within the campus has been recognized as one of the important indicators in various world university rankings, and the international students have already been an essential part of the higher education worldwide. With the rapid development of economy and the expanded international influence, China has attracted more and more international students since the twenty first century. In 2015, nearly 400,000 international students from 202 countries and regions were studying in China, an increase of 50% over in 2010 [1]. For the international students, studying and growing up in another culture can be very challenging, and at the time of public crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenge they are facing could be overwhelming
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
