International students' strategies for well-being

College Student Journal, Dec, 2002 by Wen-Chih Tseng, Fred B. Newton

How and why some international students experience their study abroad lives in positive ways is largely ignored in existing research. In this study, two international students were interviewed for their perception of the sources of well-being during their study abroad experience. A grounded theory analysis showed that they related strategies for well-being most strongly to tactics for gaining general well-being and coping skills for adjusting to study abroad life from the perspective of their study abroad goals. This study built a model of how international students exercise possible ways to maintain well-being through their study abroad experience. Furthermore, the process of the qualitative approach itself provided for a better understanding of international students and an implication for future research.

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The international student population has increased dramatically over the past fifty years. Today, the United States has the highest number of international students in the world. In the 2000-01 academic year, there were 547,867 international students studying in the United States (American Council on Education, 2000; Institute of International Education, 2001).

Educators in higher education display a great interest in developing a better understanding of how international students differ from their American counterparts and in determining ways to assist these students in adjusting to the host culture. Researchers have devoted a great deal of effort to the study of adjustment problems and issues of international students (Cheng, 1999; Han, 1996; Kaczmarek, Matlock, Merta, Ames, & Ross, 1994; Lin & Yi, 1997; Ying & Liese, 1994). Specifically, the key adjustment problems faced by international students include the following four major categories: (1) general living adjustment, such as adjusting to American food, living/housing environment and transportation, adaptation to a new climate (weather), dealing with financial problems and health care concerns; (2) academic adjustment, such as lack of proficiency in the English language, lack of understanding of the American educational system, and lack of effective learning skills for gaining academic success; (3) socio-cultural adjustment, for example, experiencing culture shock, cultural fatigue, or racial discrimination, having difficulties in adjusting to new social/cultural customs, norms and regulations, differences in intercultural contacts/social activities, and encountering conflicts between American host standards (or values, world views, life styles) and those of home country; and (4) personal psychological adjustment, such as experiencing homesickness, loneliness, depression, frustration, or feeling alienation, isolation, the loss of status or identity, and feelings of worthlessness.

The research, previously noted, has focused on problems that impact international student adjustment. What is largely ignored in these studies is an explanation of how and why some international students experience their study abroad life in positive ways. Although numerous theories of well-being have been conducted with domestic students, these studies seldom select international students as research participants. From the perspective of international students, it leaves gaps at two levels: what constitutes and determines their well-being and how they understand and manage their well-being. The goal of this present study was to examine the determinants of international students' well-being, and discern their strategies for attaining well-being.

A qualitative design of grounded theory was used as a framework to explore international students' definition of well-being and then to discern their strategies for enhancing their well-being while studying abroad. Grounded theory, first discussed by Glaser and Strauss (1967), utilizes techniques to analyze and interpret actions and experience of the respondent, develop and refine analytic interpretations of empirical data, and, finally, construct a representative theoretical model of respondent's experience. In other words, the purpose of grounded theory is specifically designed to build theory related to complex social phenomena and allow for theory development in an area where research is sparse (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

According to Guba and Lincoln's (1988) standpoint, grounded theory is an interpretive method of the naturalistic inquiry, not a hypothesis-testing method in the conventional paradigm. For this current study, the term strategies is defined as possible rather than as most frequent or representative actions or experience; that is, the researchers' desire is to understand the phenomenon of the strategies for well-being. Additionally, in the research of grounded theory a theoretical or conceptual model is generated by systematic induction, not by logical deduction from prior assumptions (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Applied in this study, the researchers will focus on identifying some strategies for well-being among international students by asking the following two major research questions: How do international students describe or define their well-being? What strategies do international students use to build and enhance individual well-being?