Examining Relationships Between Acculturative and Life Stress of International Students in the United States

Abstract:International students in the United States face unique challenges of adjusting to college life in a foreign country due to additional stressors of language, differing academic and study habits, and being socially isolated from their home environment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the levels of acculturative stress of international students enrolled at a Southern U.S. university. We used logistic regression to examine the relationships between life stress, time spent in the U.S. and acculturative stress controlling for socio-demographic differences between students. Our regression model was statistically significant and explained 37.5% of the variance. Overall, we found that country of origin and academic stress, an attribute of life stress contributed to overall acculturative stress. Implications for higher education, college campus staff and service providers are discussed.