International student stressors and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

Abstract

Objective

To identify stressors affecting international students’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants

Twenty-two international students from 10 countries and 17 US institutions participated.

Methods

Participants were recruited from a larger study examining the wellbeing of young adults during the pandemic.

Results

Four main stressors were identified: (1) Uncertainty and anxiety induced by decisions and policies in response to COVID-19; (2) Fears regarding xenophobia; (3) Limited understanding by educators and school staff of international students’ unique challenges; (4) Greater awareness of racial and cultural identity.

Conclusion

The pandemic has contributed to additional stressors for international students. Educators and mental health professionals may help support international students’ mental health by gaining basic knowledge about common stressors and directly acknowledging the challenges, educating international students on race and racism and supporting anti-racism efforts, and encouraging the creation of shared affinity spaces and increasing psychoeducation to promote resilience.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• international student
• mental health
• qualitative research

Acknowledgments

We express our appreciation to all the people who contributed to this research study: Emily Zhang (early design and recruitment); research assistant students Kelly C. Hsu (partial data analysis), Kirsten E. Fleming, Anna Cavallino, Kana Garcia, Cassandra New and Chase Waxman from Dr. Hyeouk Chris Hahm’s lab at Boston University, and their support with interviews and transcriptions.

Conflicts of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Boston University - Charles River Campus.

Authors’ contributions

Xiaoqiao Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Collection, Data transcription, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Ga Tin Finneas Wong Partial data collection, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Cindy Liu, Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing Supervision, Funding acquisition. Hyeouk “Chris” Hahm: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Justin A. Chen: Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.

Consent to participate

Participants provided informed consent prior to study participation.

Consent to publication

All authors have consented to the publication of this work.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 2027553 award (to C. H. L. and H. C. H.).