Discussion for Study I

The results from Study I for international and UK students indicate that international students adapt to the host culture therefore result in a positive outcome as they are enabled to make positive problem solving decisions as well as overcome any form of anxiety or depression. This is supported by Davila and Beck (2002) who found that international students functioned positively to both social and cultural adjustment. Interestingly, it appears that no relevance is visible between UK and international students on levels of mental health issues.

Dependent variable Independent variables Beta a _p-valuea R 2 Adj R2 ΔF (p) _Df GHQ Model 1 .183 .178 39.761 .000 2, 355 SSS .032 .108 Cope .194 .000 Sojourner Social Support Coping Mental health Questionnaire,

There is limited evidence of both male and female international students having higher levels of social and cultural adaptation than UK students, which would be in line with Virta, Sam, & Westin (2004), Rosenthal et al. (2007) and Sumer (2009), who indicate that cultural and social support is not gender specific. Overseas students were found to have advanced levels of coping flexibility; this kind of flexibility reflects positive and active academic adjustment indicating lower levels of perceived stress. Tuna (2003) and Yalim (2007) confirmed the relationship between coping and adaptation styles as predictors of psychological adjustment, with both studies reflecting lower levels of stress in international students and more acceptances of positive coping strategies. However, Ward et al. (2005) found that international students faced challenges and psychosocial problems in adapting to the new culture.

As reported in this author’s paper (Al Saad, 2015), results show that Arab students suffer less cultural stress than non-Arabs. This may be due to the Arab collectivistic culture (Shakibai, 2005) presumably offering more emotional support, although some of the other international students may also come from collectivistic societies. Sen (2008) suggested that Arab students tend to use positive coping skills to reduce any problems related to their academic, social and cultural adjustment as well as acculturative stress. Alazzi and Chiodo’s (2006) study also supports this. However, there may be other explanations, such as Saudi clubs being operational in these universities, so that the Arab students can always find others from the same ethnic group to support them.

Positive attitude has been found in the majority of participants who have a great ability in using religion to adjust in the new community. This is supported by both Ghassemzadeh et al. (2002), as well as Al-Solaim and Loewenthal (2011), who found a positive relationship between religion problem-solving and types of religion. They argue that religion helps many university students adapt and solve problems associated with various life situations. The present results indicate strong religious and spiritual beliefs among national and international students (for further details Appendix 9, tables 3–8). The ANOVA table indicates that the study’s model is significant. Additionally, the regression results in Table 5.5 show that culture stress, coping flexibility, social support and coping strategy significantly contribute to the dependent variable of mental health, yet it presents non-significance in relationship between religious problem solving and mental health. The results might influence the extent to which international students with psychosocial problems, such as coping flexibility and

culture stress, may be affected in adjusting to their new environment. Ward et al. (2005) emphasized that International students do face challenges in adapting when they enter a new culture (See Appendix 9, Table 8).

The first objective for this pilot study was to test for signs of reliability in the sources and also locate validity within the measures; these have shown that they do measure what they are intended to do, and can therefore be used for answering the questions of this research. The second objective of the study has been met, showing that there are possible connections between both of the following variables: mental health and coping strategies with reference to acculturation and social adaptation of international students. The third objective for Study I was to investigate potential links between mental health variables and religious problem solving; this has not shown that there is an association between mental health variables and religious problem solving, and there may not be represent signs of significance in the difference visible between international and their resident student counterparts in using this as a coping strategy.

From this first study, the measures were seen to be relevant for the project and the variables were selected. As there was no association between religious problem solving and mental health, it was determined that this would be further explored in the main study. Culture stress, coping strategy, coping flexibility and social support indicated an association with mental health and these were variables that needed to be investigated further.

The interaction between coping strategies and mental health and was significant (p– value=.000) when was the adjusted by social support. This results aligned with the previous studies conducted in World Education Fair – Romania by Tamas (2014), which collected data from 231 students and found that social support is effective influence in mental health amongst students studying abroad.

4.8 Summary

This chapter has provided in detail the protocol of Study I, starting with the reasons for conducting this study (Pilot study). It then provided in detail the sampling selection and methods (scales, ethical considerations, procedures, data analysis using SPSS, and discussion) and provided the results of Study I. Having learned lessons from the pilot study, this enabled me to avoid any mistakes when carrying out the main study. Although Study I provided a number of outcomes related to the measuring of psychosocial variables in

connection with mental health, these outcomes enabled me to justify which scales were effective for the main study. Therefore, I proceeded to embark on the main study, Study II. The next chapter discusses Study II in detail.