a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSabuse, and presumably different degrees of seriousness of abuse, the average reactionto each of the four forms of abuse does differ. The highest level of distress is shownby those who are physically abused, a finding that is not surprising. The nextstrongest reaction is to exclusion. The responses to verbal abuse and sexualharassment are similar and almost at the level of those to exclusion. It might bethought surprising that distress in response to exclusion is as strong as it is, relative toresponses to verbal abuse and sexual harassment. Perhaps the kinds of emotionsengendered by each of these forms of distress (anger as opposed to hurt and damagedself-esteem) have something to do with this. Perhaps exclusion is seen as a morepersonally directed form of abuse.Abuse can also lead to feelings of insecurity and lack of safety. There is evidence ofthis in the data. Those who have experienced abuse feel significantly less safe inMelbourne than those who have not. This undoubtedly increases the lack of wellbeingof these students, as well as reverberating among the friends and acquaintancesof those who have been abused.Abuse can come from many different sources and be the result of a variety ofmotivations. Of concern here is the question of whether the abuse experienced byinternational students is culturally motivated. The items in the questionnaire do nottarget culturally motivated discrimination. This means that students might bereporting abuse from strangers, acquaintances, employers, or even family members.The abuse is not confined to on-campus incidents. The results show that students whohave reported abuse have significantly stronger perceptions of being treateddifferently in Australia because of their cultural background than those who have not.The heightened awareness of discriminatory treatment of the abused students could bethe result of the abuse. On the other hand, it might be that those who are moresensitive to discriminatory treatment are more likely to interpret events as abusive.The actual rates of reported abuse show little difference on the basis of countrycategory or cultural background. Physical abuse and sexual harassment do not seemto be significantly associated with cultural background. Students from Asiancountries, especially Malaysian and Singaporean students, report higher rates ofexclusion than expected on the basis of a null hypothesis. Students from Malaysiaand Singapore also report higher rates of verbal abuse than expected. On the otherhand, students from PR China experience less verbal abuse and exclusion thanexpected. Students from non-Asian countries, especially European and Englishspeakingcountries, also report lower rates of exclusion than expected. Although thereis some tendency for the rates of abuse to relate to cultural background, it is by nomeans strong, clear and consistent. This is reinforced by the finding that there are nosignificant differences in the Abuse and Distress scale score based on countrycategory or the Asian/non-Asian country dichotomy.There is a strong and significant gender difference in the experience of abuse bystudents. This can be seen in both the rates of abuse of different types as well as inthe response to abuse. Although there is little difference in rates of reportedexclusion, women report significantly higher rates of physical and sexual abuse thanmen, while men report significantly higher rates of verbal abuse. The difference isgreatest for sexual harassment, where 72 of the 76 who have been sexually harassedare women; 12.1 per cent of female respondents compared with 1.9 per cent of malerespondents have been sexually harassed. There is also a strong and significantgender difference in the level of distress experienced or reported in response to abuse,Rosenthal, Russell & Thomson, 2006 143