Saher Fatteh
Annotated Bibliography
Daya S. Sandhu, Badiolah R. Asrabadi (1994). Development of An Acculturative Stress Scale For International Students: Preliminary Findings. Retrived From http://www.amsciepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2466/pr0.1994.75.1.435
Daya Sandhu from the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Louisville and Badiolah Asrabadi from the Department of Mathematics at Nicholls State University teamed up to write this article for the Psychological Reports. The piece aims at creating a scale on which to determine acculturative stress for International students. This scale was created to aid mental health practitioners when counseling International students. The study involved the creation of an acculturative scale and its distribution to 130 schools that had 300 International students or more. The study found that there were six main factors to why International students feel alienated:
1) No reciprocation on the part of American students to become friends
2) Homesickness
3) Perceived hate
4) Fear of surroundings
5) Stress to due to change or culture shock
6) Guilt
I found the fact that guilt was a major factor was interesting and indicated the International students strong ties to their communal culture.
Sakurako Mori (2011, December 23). Addressing the Mental Health Concerns of International Students. Journal of Counseling and Development. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb02571.x/abstract
Sakurako Mori, a doctoral student in the Counseling and Clinical School of Psychology doctoral program at the University of California at Santa Barbara, wrote this piece for the Journal of Counseling and Development in the Spring of 2000 as part of research to better understand the challenges that International students studying at an American university can face. Out of the various challenges that Mori discovered; there was one that I had not considered. He spoke of the hindrances involved when International students seek counseling. First, there is usually a difference in the belief of what constitutes defective mental health in America and the students’ country of origin. In most countries, there is one doctor who will solve all problems at once. Having to go to a doctor simply to talk is a foreign concept to most. In addition, Mori states that in some cultures having a mental health illness is something to be ashamed of and has a stigma attached. Mori implores universities to look into counseling services that are culturally sensitive.
Lijuan Zhai (2002). Studying International Students: Adjustment Issues and Social Support. Retrieved From: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED474481.pdf
Although this article highlights many of the challenges faced by international students as they adjust to life as an college student in America, I found the statistics about the surge of international students in America in the past few years to be the most interesting. One statistic, from Open Doors 2002, stated that the international student enrollment increased by nearly 30% across every type of higher education institution years since 1993 (Davis, 2002). In addition, “Even though international students only constituted 4% of America’s total college student population, the economic impact of their presence contributed $12 billion to the U.S. economy translating into one million jobs in the United States due to the fact that three quarters (75%) of international students received most of their funding for U.S. study from sources outside the United States” (Davis, 2002; Desruisseaux, 1996). Researchers also found that the international students offered an important diversity of viewpoints to the student body and helped offset a declining US applicant pool in certain disciplines (Goodman, 1996; Wan, Chapman & Biggs, 1992). For the purpose of this research, I think that it is important to understand the factors that played a role in creating larger international student communities on campuses across America.
Madonna Constantine, Sumie Okazaki, Shawn Utsey (2004). Self-Concealment, Social Self-Efficacy, Acculturative Stress, and Depression in African, Asian, and Latin American International College Students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Retrieved from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1037/0002-9432.74.3.230/asset/0002-9432.74.3.230.pdf?v=1&t=hti11mrb&s=d92b3e608e93c9d7886b7e5c6165908e0eb9ceee
Three professors at different universities wrote this piece for the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry to study the effects of social integration on International Students of an African, Asian, or Latin American background. Similar to in Sakurako Zori’s piece, they discussed that English language proficiency was a major challenge for International students. They also commented on the contrast of the individualistic and autonomous culture here and the communal culture in the countries that most International Students come from. Like Zori, they also mentioned the stigmas associated with counseling in the International students cultures. One part of the article that aided my research was the fact that some International students may not seek counseling or seek social support from friends or family because they do not wish to be a burden. They express self-concealment and do not express their anxieties and stress, which is ultimately detrimental to their physical and mental health.
Maureen Andrade (2006). International students in English speaking universities: Adjustment factors. Journal of Research in International Education. Retrieved from: http://jri.sagepub.com/content/5/2/131.full.pdf+html
This article was written for the Journal of Research in International Education by Maureen Snow Andrade of Brigham Young University. Similar to the other articles, this piece goes into the difficulty of adjusting for international students and sites a language barrier and a cultural change as major differences. Unlike the other articles, however, this article gives the prospective of professors. Surprisingly, at the school in which the students were surveyed, it was found that the professors did not realize that the student’s psychological and social stresses were playing a role in their ability to learn. Professors felt that the students were being passive about their education while students felt the professors were indifferent.
Mark Sherry, Peter Thomas, and Wing Hong Chui (2010): International students: a vulnerable student population. Higher Education, Vol. 60, No. 1 (July 2010), pp. 33-46 Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/40784044.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true
This article examined the International student population at the University of Toledo, where International students comprise 10% of the student population. One important observation that I took away from the research was that many of the International students involved in the study emphasized the presence of spoken language barriers as more prominent than written language barriers. This was interesting because I thought that many international students who faced a challenging language barrier might feel as though American students had an advantage academically. Many students commented on a need for workshops that would teach American idioms, or just place international students with American students as a conversation partner to help them learn English. After conducting research last year on this topic, I found that many of the students expressing difficulty with adjusting to the language stated that they would benefit from a language partner and language workshops.
Lisa Moores, Natalee Popadiuk (2011) Positive Aspects of International Student Transitions: A Qualitative Inquiry. Journal of College Student Development, Retrieved from: http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.emory.edu/journals/journal_of_college_student_development/v052/52.3.moores.html
This article was particularly significant because, unlike the other articles that only focused on the negative effects of being an international student in America, this article chose to show the positive benefits. This article identified a gap in the research, and explained that because many of the research done on international students in America is from a mental health or psychological perspective, the research may be biased and show only the negative aspects of the experience. The research done in this study showed that although at times the experience could be difficult for international students, in the end, these challenges were overcome and students felt more positive feelings than negative about their ability to overcome obstacles induced by cultural differences, language barriers, etc.
Ketevan Mamiseishvili (2012) International student persistence in U.S. postsecondary institutions Retrieved from:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10734-011-9477-0
This article discussed international students persistence. The article stating that there was a negative relationship between social integration and persistence, yet they did not take into account participation in multicultural or international events and clubs on campus or social networks. The article explained, “It could be that international students might be involved in other types of social activities, such as multicultural and international events on campus, but the participation in these activities was not captured in this study.” To not take into account international students involvement in international events on campus induces a bias in the research.