a growing experience - Student Services - University of Melbourne

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HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTSStress from HomeIt is not only the experience of cultural stress that challenges the international student.Problems that arise at home can increase the level of stress experienced by studentswho are living at some distance from home for a protracted period. These might bepersonal or family problems, or they might be problem situations at a national level.Five questionnaire items tap into students’ experience of such stressors. The resultsare displayed in Table 11.Table 11The experience of stress from homeItems Mean SD 0Not at allB24. Things that are happening in my homecountry make it hard for me to keep my mind onmy studies. (n=976)B27. I am stressed by the need to do well for thesake of my family. (n=974)D8. The situation in my home country means itwill be difficult for me when I return home.(n=975)D19. I worry about problems my family at home isexperiencing. (n=977)D25. I am not getting on well with my family athome. (n=975)Percentage ratings1To somedegree2To aconsiderabledegree64 t=13.46, 972 df, p
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS• Students from Asian countries 70 , those who speak a LOTE off campus 71 andstudents from Asian countries who completed a Foundation Studies program 72 aresignificantly more stressed about family expectations than their counterparts.• There is a main effect for country category 73 , with pair-wise comparisons showingstudents from UK/USA/Canada and Europe to be significantly less stressed thanthose from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.There are also significant correlations between respondents’ ratings on item B27 andthe Connectedness and Cultural Stress scales. Students with higher levels of stressabout family expectations have lower scores on the Connectedness scale 74 and higherscores on the Cultural Stress scale 75 . The more stressed the student is, the higher theirscores on three scales yet to be discussed - the Depression 76 , Anxiety 77 and Stress 78scales.Some students display concern about problem situations in their home country, butthe mean ratings and distributions of responses on items B24 and D8 suggest that suchissues are stressful for a minority of international students.Connectedness and Cultural StressThere is a strong, significant negative relationship between the Connectedness andCultural Stress scales 79 . The stronger the students’ perception that they have care andsupport in Melbourne, the lower the level of cultural stress they experience. Eachscale accounts for approximately 15 per cent of the variance in the other (R 2 =.153).The relationships of these two scales to third variables, such as students’ stressresulting from the need to do well for the sake of the family (item B27), reflects thisnegative correlation. Students’ ratings on item B27 are lower for students with asound sense of connectedness, but higher if students are experiencing strong culturalstress.WELL-BEING DOMAIN 2:LIVING AND STUDYING IN MELBOURNEThere are aspects of living and studying in Melbourne that are common potentialstressors for young people, whether living at home or living away from home, butparticularly for students whose home is in another country. International studentswere asked in the questionnaire about their experiences and perceptions concerninghousing or living arrangements, finance, work other than study, balance of lifestyle,and also about any experience of abuse in Melbourne.69 F(12,939, 2.35, p
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