SYNOPSIS
A quesionnaire survey was made to enquire into the mental health status of 243 Southeast Asian students who were pursuing full-time courses for bachelor degrees at the University of Western Australia. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of reported nervous complaints among these students and to examine the factors that influence this. The rates for self-declaration of nervous complaints was 21.6 per cent for men and 46.2 per cent for women. Analyses of their significant characteristics showed that predominantly medical factors—the attributes of neurosis-prone individuals anywhere—were associated with high case rates, while personal, social and demographic factors specific to them as overseas students were not.