Psychological evaluation of international students in Shanghai

Prado+Schmidt+Georgia+Cecilia　WANG+Yi-wei　SU+Liang　CＡＩ+Yi－yun　SHI+Shen-xun

【Abstract】Our purpose was to evaluate and compare medical international and non medical international students from Fudan, Tongji and Jiaotong University in Shanghai; 250 international students were evaluated. Results: The higher percentage of international students lived in China over 3 years, they perceived to have a good academic level, good relationship with teachers and classmates, medium level of the language proficiency; although most of the students did not show to have adaptation problems, or severe anxiety and depression levels, most of them did perceived a change in their physical and mental health after coming to China. They showed similar personality traits been agreeableness, openness and consciousness their main characteristics.

【Key words】Anxiety; Depression; Personality; Cultural adjustment

0introduction

1）Cultural Adjustment

Cultural adjustment is the process of adaptation in a foreign culture. Psychological adaptation includes changes in the ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling. Psychological adjustment is affected by personality, life changes, coping styles, satisfaction, identification with co-nationals, and social support. Is best predicted by length of residence in the new culture, language ability, cultural knowledge, cultural distance, and quantity of contact with host nationals.

2）Depression

Depression is characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness and poor concentration. This problem impairs individuals ability to function in daily life events.

Students in a foreign country can have problems interacting with members of the host culture and adjusting to daily life, these additional stressors can lead to depressive symptoms and this might why international students are a vulnerable group for depressive symptoms and depression .

3）Anxiety

This disorder is related to emotional and behavioral setting perceived as a diffuse, unpleasant feeling associated with threat or a lack of control over moments, physical symptoms can be according to DSM-IV:

Restlessness;

Fatigued;

Difficulty concentrating;

Irritability;

Muscle tension;

Sleep disturbance;

Anxiety, depression and intercultural adjustment.

Immigrants in a new culture often experience doubt and uncertainty concerning the host cultures behaviors, values, and attitudes and they frequently endure anxiety. Several studies showed that both migrants and ethnic minorities are at higher risk of developing mental disorders.

１Methods

1.1Subjects

250 international students participated; half were medical students and the other half non medical students, from Fudan and Tongji University we ask 50 international students from each group to fill our test booklet and from Jiaotong University we ask 25 students from each group.

1.2Measures

1.2.1Beck Anxiety Inventory

21-item multiple-choice self-report inventory that measures the severity of an anxiety in adults and adolescents, with items that describe the emotional, physiological, and cognitive symptoms.

1.2.2Beck Depression Inventory（BDI）

21 questions about how the subject was feeling in the last week. Each set of four possible answer choices range in increasing intensity. When the test is scored, a value of 0 to 3 is assigned for each answer and then the total score is compared to a key to determine the depressions severity.

1.2.3Big Five Personality Scale（BFI）

Designed to measure the core aspects of each Big Five; contains five subscales: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Consist of 44 short items, rate on a 5 point likert scale ranging from 1（strongly disagree） to 5（strongly agree）.

１.2.4Socio Cultural Adjustment Scale（SCASS）

29 item questionnaire with a 5-point scale ranging from 1（no difficulty） to 5（extreme difficulty）. Scores obtained from the scale indicated the respondents perceptions when facing difficulties understanding Chinese values and culture.

２Results

Most of the students were asian, followed by african, american, european and few from oceania, most students were single and lived in China over 3 years.

Most of the students perceived their academic level as good and Chinese level as medium, in general they felt to have a good relationship with their classmates and teachers.

Evaluating perceived change in their physical health before and after coming to China, although the percentage of having a good health after coming to China was higher, the percentage in regular and bad physical health increased. We found similar results evaluating perceived mental health.

Most of the students had minimal depression symptoms, but there are students with mild and moderate levels, been the medical student the higher percentage.

Big five inventory scale for extroversion students scores fall from low to high range, been medium high the one with most of the scores for both groups, followed by medium.

In agreeableness students scores were medium high followed by a high, chi square did not show any difference between groups.

Consciousness showed students scores are in medium high, followed by medium and some students scored high.

In Neuroticism dimension most of the students scores are in medium range, followed by medium high and few students had high neuroticism level.

Students fall into the medium high range, almost similar scores for medium and high ranges in openness dimension, but no one scored low in openness.

For cultural adjustment scale scores showed in general most of the students do have a high level of cultual adjustment, followed by a moderate and a low cultual adjustment. Chi square test was p=0.444 showed that there is not a significative difference between groups.

3Discussion

Our results correlates with Ward and Kennedys who found that cultural distance, attitudes toward hosts, satisfaction with host national interaction, mood disturbance, and psychological adjustment were predictors of socio-cultural adjustment; Yuan and Shen, Tsang and also Tanaka found similar results in the importance of language ability and knowledge for adjustment and academic adaptation; Zhao found that age and length of stay affects international students cultural adjustment.

Our results support Oguri and Gudykunst research who found that direct communication, positive perceptions, interpersonal sensitivity in communicating with others can predict sociocultural adjustment. Yuan and Shen found that the language level varies from students from different majors and this can be explain by the support, time and help that they receive from classmates, teachers and friends.

Our personality evaluation correlate Ying and Han who found that affiliation with hosts is partially mediated by the extroversion on functional adjustment, and support the accommodation and adaptation and extroversion diminished depression levels.

In personality scale we found a correlation between anxiety and agreeableness, consciousness and neuroticism; and depression with extroversion, agreeableness, consciousness and neuroticism. We also found a correlation between cultural adjustment, neuroticism and consciousness. Results with some of this variables were also found by Brisset, Safdar, Lewis and Salbatiera who found that highly anxious personalities are more likely to develop anxiety about abandonment and also report high psychological distress. Iversen also found that the more difficulties a student experienced with the items on the Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, the less openness they exhibited toward a new culture. Biao, Bolt, Qin and Jinlian measured mental health and personality especially neuroticism and extraversion and found to have a close relationship.

In general our results showed that the higher percentage of students do not showed psychological problems, this can be related as Ward demonstrated the U-curve of adjustment, where adjustment problems are greatest at the beginning and decreased between four months after arrival with no significant changes 6 and 12 months after.

In contrast with our findings Biao, bolt, Qin and Jinlian found that international students in China showed to have language barriers, which lead students to feel depression, confusion, loneliness and helplessness and homesickness.

We found few students with severe anxiety, depression, cultural adjustment problems poor language proficiency, academic level and mental and physical health; on the contrary Wei and Xin who found foreign students had extremely feelings of homesickness, experienced culture shock. Students had interpersonal sensitivity, high depression scores and a significant nostalgic feeling, students also showed manifestations of somatization disorders.

Biao, bolt, Qin and Jinlian found that South Asian students in China have a negative psychological adaptation process because of the difference in culture problems such as educational background which became a cultural shock problem. On the contrary in our research most of the students were Asian and did not show psychological problems.

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