Stress Conditions and Mental Health Status of International Students Studying in Japan

Abstract

In recent years, as international students studying at universities are increasing in Japan, so maintaining mental health of them living in unfamiliar countries is an important issue. The purpose of this research was to clarify situation of stress and condition of mental health among international students. We conducted a self-check question survey for 67 international students who came from 10 countries living in Japan, aged between 20 and 45 (average age was 26.4 years). The contents of survey were personal attributes, life stress, revised UCLA loneliness scale (20-80 points), and depressed state self-rating scale (CES-D) (0-60 points). For statistical analysis, Pearson correlation analysis with IBM SPSS 22.0 was used. The average years of residence in Japan was 2.07 years. Stressor of daily life were language skill shortage and various procedures are troublesome. Stressor of economic was weight of economic burden. Stressor of study were graduation thesis and the field of study and research is difficult. Hereafter, stressor of private expense students was having to do part-time jobs to maintain their lives. When Japanese language ability was high, stress on daily life and study was low, but stress of part-time jobs was higher. It was conceivable that international students with higher Japanese ability, demand on work will be also higher. The CES-D score was 15.57 on average and 37.3% with depressed tendency (16 points or more). The positive correlation was found between CES-D and stressor of daily life (r=0.311, p<0.05), stressor on study (r=0.246, p<0.05), loneliness (r=0.383, p<0.01). In addition, average score of international students' loneliness scale was 42.72 points. The positive correlation was also found between loneliness and stressor of daily life (r=0.311, p<0.05). Based on these results is necessary to pay attention to international students' stressors on daily life, study, loneliness, and mental health state. In this research, actual situation of international student's daily life, economic aspect, and academic stress were clarified. Providing support to maintain their mental health is important to prevent tendency of depression for international students who living with strong stress and loneliness.