|
MEIRMANOV Serik
Department Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University College of Sustainability and Tourism Position Professor |
|
| Language | English |
| Publication Date | 2019/03 |
| Type | Research paper (Academic/Professional Journal) |
| Peer Review | Peer reviewed |
| Title | Internationalization and its discontents: Help-seeking behaviors of students in a multicultural environment regarding acculturative stress and depression |
| Contribution Type | Corresponding |
| Journal | JournalSustainability Special IssueAcademic Contributions to the UNESCO 2019 Forum on Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship |
| Volume, Issue, Page | 11(7),pp.1865 |
| Author and coauthor | Minh-Hoang Nguyen, Meirmanov Serik,Thu-Trang Vuong, Manh-Tung Ho |
| Details | (1) Backgrounds: Stress and depression can be seen as the major obstacles for sustained education and attainment of foreign students, and in turn, the sustainability of an education system as a whole. However, the mainstream consideration of scholars that follow Berry’s model on acculturation does not take into account whether students of the host countries are immune to these problems. This study aims to examine the prevalence and predictors of help-seeking behaviors among international and domestic students in a multicultural environment. (2) Methods: A web-based survey consisting of General Help Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS), and Social Connectedness Scale (SCS), was distributed in several classes of the university and yielded 268 students. (3) Results: Informal sources are the most prevalent sources of help-seeking, among international and domestic students (34.83% and 43.28% respectively), while formal help-seeking sources were not popular (17.91%). International students are more likely to overcome emotional difficulties alone (27.36% > 14.93%) and seek help on Internet (17.41% > 14.93%) than domestic students. Acculturative stress was a positive predictor of formal, informal, and miscellaneous help-seeking behaviors among international students and informal help-seeking behavior among domestic students . Depression was negatively correlated with the willingness of international students to seek help from informal sources. (4) Conclusion: This study points out the risk of acculturative stress faced by domestic students in a multicultural environment being overlooked. The study also provides empirical evidences for policy-planners to design a sustainable education system better at supporting students dealing with depression and acculturative stress. |
| ISSN | 20711050 |