a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

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HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSThe second form of maladaptive coping is seen in a small minority of students, about7 per cent of the present sample. These students also show evidence of emotionaldistress. Students exhibiting the third style of adaptation, the distressed and risktakingstyle, like their counterparts whose approach is unconnected and stressed,experience above-average levels of cultural stress, depression, anxiety and generalstress, though the patterning of scale scores in these dimensions is different. Thirdmode students are much more depressed and anxious, while being less culturallystressed. The most obvious difference between the second and third modes ofadaptation, however, is the distress expressed by third mode students through thepattern of their behaviours: high levels of potentially damaging involvement in drugs,alcohol, smoking, gambling, risky sexual activity and self-harm. This is morestrongly a male mode of adaptation than a female one, a finding that is well supportedin the literature (Barnes, Welte, Hoffmann, & Dintcheff, 2005; Hardoon, Gupta, &Derevensky, 2004; Stinchfield, 2000; Stinchfield & Winters, 1998).There is considerable evidence in the research literature of the co-occurrence of theserisky, health-related behaviours (Barnes et al., 2005; Desiderato & Crawford, 1995;Griffiths & Sutherland, 1998; Shaffer & Korn, 2002; Stewart & Kushner, 2005;Stinchfield, 2000; Vitaro, Bredgen, Ladouceur, & Tremblay, 2001; Wagner, 2001),with many studies also pointing to common risk factors, predictors and correlates.For example, there is evidence supporting the involvement of depression and anxiety(Holahan, Cronkite & Randall, 2001; Nathan, 2005; Shaffer & Korn, 2002; Wagner,2001), as well as the use of avoidance and denial strategies for coping (Nower,Derevensky, & Gupta, 2004).Four types of motivation for drinking have been validated by Cooper in her fourfactormodel (Cooper, 1994) - social, coping, enhancement and conformity. Drinkingto cope has been shown to be associated with elevated levels of negative affect,particularly depression and anxiety, the placing of greater reliance on ineffectualforms of emotion-focussed coping strategies (such as avoidance and denial) and thebelief that alcohol can reduce tension and anxiety (Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar,1995; Holahan et al., 2001). These avoidant and denial-oriented coping strategiescontrast with the active task-oriented coping of those not involved in these and relatedbehaviours (Nower et al., 2004). In the present study, students with a distressed andrisk-taking mode of adaptation appear to be using such maladaptive coping strategies.These strategies do not bring them a positive sense of well-being in the domains oflife investigated.Some validation of the interpretation of the typology is provided by the predicteddifferences that were found in students’ satisfaction, psychological states andbehaviour in different domains, based on their style of adaptation: perceived need andactual use of university health and counselling services, social mixing, belonging toorganisations, satisfaction with living arrangements, level of self-esteem, and level ofstress associated with the need to do well academically for the sake of the family.While this typology is a convenient generalisation about sets of tendencies,encompassing considerable variation within each style, and does not allow predictionfrom the group to the individual level, the generalisation it offers is neverthelessuseful for those seeking to maximise the quality of students’ satisfaction andachievement in adapting to university life in Australia.Rosenthal, Russell & Thomson, 2006 117
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSWhile some demographic variables (gender, course type, using a LOTE off campusand country of origin) were found to be significantly associated with the typology,they did not prove to be useful predictors of or means of discrimination among thecluster groupings of students. The best model of prediction of the cluster groupingsaccounted for, at most, 3.2 per cent of the variance in the classification and wasunable to classify any students correctly into clusters 2 or 3. Discriminant analysisresulted in the classification of students at no better than chance level. Demographicfactors do not seem to be helpful in accounting for the modes of adaptation andrelated levels of well-being of international students.This is consistent with findings from other research (Diener et al., 1999) thatdemographic factors account for only small amounts of variance in subjective wellbeing.In discussing this, Diener and his colleagues indicate that researchers havenow turned to within-person variables as ones more likely to account for differencesin perceptions of well-being, variables such as personality, goal structure (includingcultural differences based on the individualism-collectivism dimension) and adaptivecoping strategies. If this is the case, then the typology of student styles of adaptationmight be seen as generic in nature, that is, it could well apply to all universitystudents, whether domestic or international.While the challenge of adapting to university life is generally much less for domesticstudents, they still confront cultural changes requiring adaptation. These couldinclude the change from school to university life and from living at home in rural,interstate or New Zealand locations to living in Melbourne. Domestic students alsoinclude many first and second generation citizens from a range of other cultures. Itwould be interesting to see whether domestic students show evidence of the samethree styles of adaptation to university life and life in Melbourne.GROUP DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS OFHEALTH AND WELL-BEINGDemographic and related information was collected at the outset of the questionnaire.This information concerns aspects of life thought to be relevant to internationalstudent experience and adaptation:• time in the country - years enrolled at the university, number of secondary schoolyears in Australia, completion of a Foundation Studies program;• age;• gender;• relationships - marital status, child present in Australia;• course of study - faculty, course type;• cultural background - country category, Asian/non-Asian, speaker of someEnglish when growing up, LOTE speaker off campus;• perceived academic progress.These variables are not independent of one another. For example, age and course typeare related, as are the four variables concerning cultural background. Each, however,measures something different.Rosenthal, Russell & Thomson, 2006 118
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