international student stress due in 20 hours

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stages of a stressful transaction (Folkman and Lazarus 1985) and addresses the issue of what the person did (or is doing currently) in a specific coping episode or during a specific period of time.

The present research is guided by the model of disposition- al styles of coping used by individual students in different situations of distress. Although coping responses (whether situational or dispositional) can be classified in many ways, most approaches distinguish between problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Problem focused strategies are directed towards the resolution of the problem by doing something to alter the source of the difficulties or stress, whereas emotion focused strategies are aimed at reducing the affective distress associated with situa- tion by focusing on the expression of frustration. The present study followed Heppner et al. (1995) who conceptualized problem-focused or reflective coping as functional and sup- pressive and reactive coping as dysfunctional. Previous re- search on coping strategies has accumulated findings showing that problem focused coping efforts in general are related with positive adaptation and successful resolution of problematic situation. On the other hand, use of emotional and avoidance coping is dysfunctional in many situations (Billings andMoos 1981; Cronkite and Moos 1984; Holahan and Moos 1987).

Directives of the Current Study

The current study aims to explore the level of acculturative stress and its main domains in international students working at German universities. Furthermore it tries to determine what socio-demographic variables, factors of the educational and cultural background, language proficiency and also the finan- cial resources the students have influence the acculturative stress experienced. This multifactorial approach is expanded by the inclusion of personal coping styles into the analysis, proposed to be powerful moderators of stress.

There is no research on stress in international students in Germany in spite of Germany being the host to a large number of international students. Although acculturative stress has been studied among several ethnic groups in various other countries, no other study realized a similar multidimensional approach.

The following hypotheses were tested based on the analysis of single factor and multiple regression analysis.

– It is assumed that the depicted demographic, socio- cultural and personal factors are significant moderators of stress.

– It is expected that the stress level of international students is lowest in European students compared the others be- cause of a lower cultural difference to the host country.

– A high level of self-reported German language proficien- cy predicts a low level of acculturation stress.

– Prior inter-culture travelling experience by international students predicts low acculturative stress.

– The longer an international student has resided in Germa- ny, the more likely he/she will have a lower level of ac- culturative stress.

– A habitual reflective coping style is predictive of a low level of acculturative stress whereas a suppressive and reactive coping style is predictive of a high level.

– It is expected that coping styles explain a larger amount of variance in acculturative stress than the other variables included in the study.

Method

Recruitment and Sample Characteristics

Participants for the present study were mainly recruited with the support of Offices of Student Affairs of universities all over Germany. They were briefed about the purpose and the significance of the research and were requested to forward an advertisement (a standard email provided by the researcher) to their students informing them about the project and requesting them to participate. The advertisement in the form of an email gave a brief introduction and explained the significance of the project. The criteria for participation and a web-link to partic- ipate were also included in the email. The participation of the students was completely voluntary. Participants were told about the purpose of the research and were assured of the confidentiality of their responses. Several International stu- dent organizations were also contacted for their support in data collection (e.g., DAAD - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst). Information about the project was also ad- vertised on several internet-based social network groups (e.g., Facebook). International students belonging to Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe (excluding Germany) were recruit- ed for the present study. An additional criterion was the length of residence in Germany which was minimum 4 weeks to maximum 4 years. The student age had to be between 20 and 35 years and they had to be enrolled in universities cur- rently pursuing bachelors, masters/diploma or doctorate de- grees. Both male and female students were included in the sample. To increase the motivation of the students to partici- pate in the study, reinforcement was given in the form of a lucky draw with a chance to win one of the three cash prizes (50, 30, or 20 Euros). If they wanted to join in they were expected to deliver a valid email address at the end of the survey. Otherwise they were assured total anonymity.

Participants for the present study consisted of 652 Interna- tional students, the slight majority of whom was female (see Table 1). The mean of the age of the participants was about 26 years. Regarding the educational status, most of the

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international students were pursuing master studies, about one third doctorate studies, and small proportions bachelor and diploma studies. The proportion of married students was be- low 20%, however slightly higher than the students who were living together with a partner. In terms of continents of origin of International students, 42.6 %were fromAsia, 34.5% from European countries, 17.5 % from Latin America, and only 5.4 % from Africa. The average time the International student had spent in Germany at the time of survey was 21 months. More than two third of the total sample of international student have prior inter-cultural travelling experience (see Table 1).

Assessment Tools

The Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS) developed by Sandhu and Asrabadi (1994) was used in a modified form for the present study. The original version of ASSIS consists of 36-item, to be rated on 5-point Likert- type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = unsure, 5 = strongly

agree) that assesses adjustment problems. It comprised of sev- en subscales, including Perceived Discrimination (8 items), Homesickness (4 items), Perceived Hate/Rejection (5 items), Fear (4 items), Stress due to Change/Culture Shock (3 items), Guilt (2 items), and Nonspecific Concerns (10 items). The scale provides a sum score for total acculturative stress as well as scores for the seven subscales of acculturative stress, with higher scores indicating greater acculturative stress.

The original ASSIS total score has very high reliability coefficients, the Cronbach’s coefficient alpha is 0.94 and Guttman split-half reliability is 0.96 for all 36 items of the scale (Sandhu and Asrabadi 1998). Construct validity was supported by a positive association with depression (Constantine et al. 2004). ASSIS was also used in other stud- ies and internal consistency scores ranged from 0.87 to 0.95 (Poyrazli et al. 2004; Yeh and Inose 2003).

We found that the original version of the ASSIS lacked items from some potential sources of stress which are related to change in food, climate, transportation, accommodation,

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the sample (N= 652)

Demographic variables Categories International students M (SD), n, (%)

Age (years) Range 20–35 M=25.77 (3.79)

Gender Men 306 (46.9 %)

Women 346 (53.1 %)

Marital status Living alone 469 (71.9 %)

Living with partner 70 (10.7 %)

Married 113 (17.3 %)

Educational status Bachelors 123 (18.9 %)

Diploma 61 (9.4 %)

Masters 276 (42.3 %)

Doctorate 192 (29.4 %)

Subject of study Natural sciences 216 (33.1 %)

Social sciences 78 (12.0 %)

Humanities 72 (11.0 %)

Medicine 47 (7.2 %)

Business 151 (23.2 %)

Engineering 88 (13.5 %)

Continent of origin Asia 278 (42.6 %)

Africa 35 (5.4 %)

Latin America 114 (17.5 %)

Europe 225 (34.5 %)

Source of financial support Scholarship/Funding 286 (43.9 %)

Parents/Family 140 (21.5 %)

Personal earning 38 (5.8 %)

Loan 11 (1.7 %)

Savings 8 (1.2 %)

Others 169 (25.9 %)

Time spent in Germany (months) Range 1–59 months M=21.35 (16.53)

Prior travelling experience Yes 450 (69.05 %)

No 202 (31.0 %)

806 Curr Psychol (2015) 34:803–815

finances/shopping, bureaucracy, health care services, and clothing/lifestyle etc. Therefore, 16 new items were added to the scale by the present authors which resulted in 52-items modified version of ASSIS. Pre-testing was carried out on a sample of 77 university students (male = 39, female = 38) mainly from the University of Goettingen. The participants belonged to different cultural backgrounds such as from Asia (n=23), Africa (n=19), Latin America (n=20), and Europe excluding Germany (n=15). In terms of educational status, 50 % of the sample was pursuing doctorate studies, 35.7 % master studies, and 14.3 % was doing bachelor studies. The age of the participants ranged from 20 to 35 years with a mean of 25.21 (SD=3.42).

The data was collected through, both, an online survey and a paper-pencil version of the survey all being presented in English language. Item-total correlation analysis was carried out and all items with r≤.35 were deleted including 2 original items and 9 newly added items. Consequently the Cronbach’s alpha of the ASSIS (41 items) increased tentatively from 0.94 to 0.95 (see Appendix for the final form of ASSIS).

The Problem-Focused Styles of Coping questionnaire (PF- SOC) was used to assess the activities associated with prog- ress towards resolving problems. It is 18-item questionnaire that was developed by Heppner et al. (1995). Each item uses a 5-point Likert type scale ranging from almost never (1) to almost all of the time (5). The PF-SOC consists of three sub- scales (Reflective Style, Suppressive Style, Reactive Style) which were derived from factor analysis.

The Reflective Style Scale consists of 7-items that assess the tendency to examine causal relationships, planning, and to be systematic in coping (such as “I consider the short term and long term consequences of each possible solution to my prob- lems”). Raw score ranges from 7 to 35 on this subscale. The Suppressive Style Scale has 6-items (raw score ranges from 6 to 30) that measure the tendency to deny problems and avoid coping activities (e.g., I spend my time doing unrelated chores and activities instead of acting on my problems). The Reactive Style consists of 5-items that measure the tendency to have strong emotional responses, distortion, impulsivity, and cog- nitive confusion such as “I get preoccupied thinking about my problems and over emphasizes some parts of them”. The raw score on this subscale ranges from 5 to 25. Higher scores on each of the factors are indicative of more frequent endorse- ment. The PF-SOC has satisfying alpha reliability coefficients ranging from 0.73 (Reactive Style) to 0.77 (Reflective Style) and test-retest correlations ranging from 0.65 (Suppressive subscale) to 0.71 (Reactive subscale) over 3 weeks (Heppner et al. 1995). Evidence for construct validity of PF- SOC factors comes from the negative correlation of Reflective coping and positive association of Suppressive and Reactive coping with measures of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, frequency of problems and psychological maladjust- ment) (Heppner et al. 1995). The present study found an alpha

coefficient of 0.81 for Reflective subscale, 0.80 for Suppres- sive subscale, and 0.70 for Reactive subscalewhich are within acceptable range.

Socio-demographic data was collected by asking the par- ticipants to report information about their age in years and months, about their gender, marital status (living alone, living together with a partner, married), the current educational de- gree they were pursuing (bachelors, masters, diploma, or doc- torate), subject of study, home country, continent of origin, time they had spent in Germany in years and months, prior inter-cultural traveling experience (yes, no) and major source of financial support (scholarship, parents/family, personal earning, loan, savings, others). German language proficiency in daily life communication and within academic setting was assessed using 5 items. Participants were required to rate each item on 5-point scale (1=very uncomfortable/incompetent to 5 = very comfortable/competent). Items included questions such as “How comfortable/competent are you in speaking German language with Germans”, and “How comfortable/ competent are you in writing a paper in German”. The raw score ranged from 5 to 25 with a high score indicating high proficiency. The whole set of questions (all in English lan- guage) could be filled in about 15–20 min.

Statistical Analysis

The data has no missing values as it was controlled by restricting the participants to complete the current section/ page before moving to the next one in the online survey. Skewness and kurtosis were calculated to find out the normal- ity of distribution of the study variables. Multiple linear re- gression analysis was carried out to find out the significant predictive factors of acculturative stress. The current study used an alpha level of 0.05 for all of the analyses.

Results

Distribution of the Variable Scores of the Raw Data

All the subscales of ASSIS (see Table 2) have positively skewed distribution which means a greater number of smaller values implying that participants have responded the items with less stressful options. Three subscales, Homesickness, Change, and Non-specific concerns, have negative kurtosis value suggesting a flatter distribution. The remaining five sub- scales have peaked distribution where more of the values are located around the mean. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was found to be significant for all the subscales of ASSIS but not significant for the full scale (total score) suggesting that over- all acculturative stress scores are normally distributed. Reflec- tive coping style has a score distribution which is peaked with greater number of larger values suggesting a more frequent

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endorsement of this coping style. Suppressive coping and re- active coping, both, have positively skewed distribution which means a greater number of smaller values suggesting that participants have less frequently endorsed these coping styles. The negative kurtosis values suggest a more peaked distribution.

Sources of Acculturative Stress Among International Students

The major sources of acculturative stress among international students in Germany were determined by calculating and comparing the mean item scores on the subscales of ASSIS, since the scales had a different number of items. The data had no missing values (within the variables) as it was avoided by restricting the participant to complete the current section/page in the online survey before moving to the next. Results showed that Homesickness, Non-specific concerns, and Cul- ture shockwere the top most reported stressor among students while Guilt and Fear were the least reported stressor (see Table 3).

Multiple Linear Regression Analysis Predicting Acculturative Stress

Dummy coded variables were created for all categorical inde- pendent variables including gender, marital status, educational status, subject of study, source of financial support, prior inter- culture travelling experience, and continent of origin. The analysis was performed using ‘enter method’. Variables were entered in the form of three blocks (see Table 4). The first block was comprised of general socio-demographic variables

including age, gender, marital status, educational status, sub- ject of study, and source of financial support. Regression anal- ysis of these variables showed that age and source of financial support (including personal earning and other sources) were significant predictors of acculturative stress. Growing age, personally financing the stay in Germany, and using other unspecified sources of finances are associated with a higher level of acculturative stress. General demographic variables explained only a small amount of variance (2 %) in the stress scores (Table 4).

Block II variables like continent of origin, German lan- guage proficiency, time spent in Germany and prior inter- culture travelling experience added 13 % of the explained variance, the new model now accounting for 15 % of the variance (R2=.15, F (23, 628)=5.83, p<.001). From among the various regions of origin European students was the least stressed group. Students from Africa (M=104.84, Sd=27.09) and Asia (M=98.53, sd=25.96) have a significantly higher level of acculturative stress as compared to students from

Table 2 Summary of the variable means, standard deviations, and distribution for the Acculturative Stress Scale (ASSIS) and the Styles of coping scale (N=652)

Variables M SD Skewness Std.error Kurtosis Std.error K-S

ASSIS (total score) 95.05 26.69 0.38 0.09 0.20 0.19 .03

Discrimination 18.49 6.10 0.57 0.10 0.25 0.19 .09**

Homesickness 7.95 2.82 0.19 0.10 −0.50 0.19 .08** Perceived Rejection 11.17 4.18 0.57 0.10 0.08 0.19 .09**

Fear 7.44 3.11 0.99 0.10 0.78 0.19 .13**

Change 7.11 2.50 0.32 0.10 −0.34 0.19 .12** Guilt 4.02 1.73 0.74 0.10 0.17 0.19 .17**

Non specific 22.54 6.87 0.25 0.10 −0.22 0.19 .05** Initial Stressors 16.33 5.14 0.37 0.10 0.03 0.19 .07**

Styles of coping

Reflective coping 21.73 5.59 −0.02 0.09 −0.29 0.19 .05** Suppressive coping 13.61 4.65 0.47 0.09 −0.23 0.19 .09** Reactive coping 10.78 3.29 0.09 0.09 −0.47 0.19 .08**

Bold numbers belong to full scale ASSIS

K-S Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

**p<.01

Table 3 Ranking of sources of acculturative stress on the basis of mean of means on the subscales of ASSIS (N=652)

Ranks Stressors M SD

1 Homesickness 2.66 0.93

2 Non-specific concerns 2.53 0.76

3 Culture shock 2.37 0.82

4 New lifestyle 2.33 0.73

5 Perceived discrimination 2.32 0.76

6 Perceived rejection 2.26 0.81

7 Guilt 2.03 0.88

8 Fear 1.86 0.76

808 Curr Psychol (2015) 34:803–815

Latin America (M=92.82, Sd=26.41) and Europe (M=86.59, Sd=24.09) (b=.21, p<.001; b=.18, p<.001 respectively).

A high level of self reported German language proficiency and a prior inter-culture travelling experience (M=89.30, Sd= 25.16) predicted a lower level of acculturative stress (b=−.24, p<.001; b=−.09, p<.05 respectively). The longer the student resided in Germany, the higher the level of acculturative stress (b=.20, p<.001). With the addition of this set of variables in

the model, age and personal earning no longer maintained their predictive power (see Table 4).

Coping styles including Reflective coping, Suppressive coping, and Reactive coping were entered in the model as a third set of variables. The coping styles were responsible for 15 % of the total variance in the acculturative stress scores. Thus the final model explained 30 % of the total variance (R2=.30,F (26, 625)=11.67, p<.001). Suppressive coping being

Table 4 Multiple linear regression predicting acculturative stress among international students

Predictor variables Block I Block II Block III

ß ß ß

Block I Age 0.12* −0.06 −0.08 Gender 0.01 −0.02 0.01 Marital status

Living with a partner −0.01 0.01 0.02 Married 0.06 0.05 0.06

Subject of study

Social sciences −0.07 −0.01 0.02 Humanities −0.08 0.05 0.03 Medicine −0.04 0.01 0.02 Business −0.02 0.05 0.06 Engineering −0.06 −0.05 −0.05

Degree

Diploma 0.02 0.02 0.02

Masters 0.01 0.01 0.03

Doctorate 0.02 0.01 0.02

Financial support

Parents 0.07 0.01 0.01

Personal earning 0.09* 0.07 0.06

Loan −0.02 −0.04 −0.03 Saving 0.05 0.02 −0.02 Others 0.09* 0.10** 0.07*

Block II Continent of origin

Asia – 0.21*** 0.22***

Africa – 0.18*** 0.21***

Latin America – 0.09* 0.11**

German language proficiency – −0.24*** −0.16*** Time spent in Germany (months) – 0.20*** 0.18***

Prior travelling experience – −0.09* −0.08* Block III Reflective coping – – −0.08*

Suppressive coping – – 0.26***

Reactive coping – – 0.19**

R2 0.02 0.15 0.30

F 1.92* 5.83*** 11.67***

df 17, 634 23, 628 26, 625

Female was coded as 0 whereas male was coded as 1 and concerningmarital status living alonewas the reference group. For degree, bachelor studies served as a reference group, for subject of study natural science, for sources of financial support scholarship, and for continent of origin Europe served as a reference group

*p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

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the strongest predictor and also reactive coping style predicted a higher level of acculturative stress (b=0.26, p<.001; b= 0.19, p<.01 respectively) whereas Reflective coping was found to predict a lower level of acculturative stress, however, with significant but much smaller beta coefficient (b=−0.08, p<.05) (see Table 4).

Analysis of Sources of Acculturative Stress Depending on Duration of Stay in Germany

To find out the differences in different stress areas between students who spent 6-months or less and students who have been in Germany for more than 6-monthst-test was computed (Table 5). The level of Perceived Discrimination, Homesick- ness, Perceived rejection, Culture shock, and Non-specific concerns were significantly higher among students who stayed longer than 6 months. The effect sizes of these differ- ences varied between 0.20 (Homesickness) to 0.42 (Non-spe- cific concerns) indicating small to moderate level of effect. In- depth analysis of the data in the current study showed that the level of acculturative stress increased gradually through the initial months reaching at a high level (M=101.30, sd= 27.90) during a period of 18 to 24th month and then a gradual decrease till the end of 42th month (M=87.36, sd=23.20). Surprisingly, again there was a sudden increase in the level of reported stress (M=97.01, sd=28.86) during a the last few months of their stay.

Discussion

Major Sources of Acculturative Stress Among International Students

The current study showed that generally homesickness is the top most reported source of acculturative stress among inter- national students in Germany. Thus the source of most distress

is the loss of familiarity and support found in the home coun- try and not the stressors directly produced by the new country of stay. Leaving family, friends, and the home culture in the pursuit of studies abroad, students frequently find themselves grieving for the missed persons and living in an unfamiliar surroundings. Students frequently reported to feel sad because of living in unfamiliar surroundings in the host country. Build- ing new social networks and adjusting to new cultural de- mands does not easily compensate for the actual loss of a close relationship either to people or cultural aspects of life. Some past researches has also found homesickness to be a major concern to international students, analysed in different states of United States (e.g., Mori 2000; Poyrazli and Lopez 2007; Yi et al. 2003).

Non-specific concerns are quoted to also bother the stu- dents. Students especially from Africa reported to feel too intimidated to participate in social activities and have no sense of belongingness with the host community. Based on their responses to the questionnaires, many students reported that people seem to be reluctant to associate with them because of their ethnicity. They reveal to feel rejected when others seem- ingly do not appreciate their cultural values. Some students also reported to feel sometimes inferior because of their cul- tural background.

The inspection of single items showed that many students from Asian countries felt to be treated differently than mem- bers of the host nationality in various social situations and that they felt hurt when people did not seem to understand their cultural values. Some students reported to find it difficult to establish a home in the new set-up. Some even reported their empathy with their own countrymen having problems in the new country.

As expected, students from European countries do not face much difficulty in adjusting to the new lifestyle in Germany. They seem to meet only small difference in food, clothing, accommodation, and shopping. They also do not feel inferior because of their cultural background and they report to not

Table 5 Differences in different areas of acculturative stress between students having short and long period of stay (N=599)

Areas of acculturative stress 6 months or less (n=139) More than 6 months (n=460) t D

M SD M SD

Perceived discrimination 16.91 4.83 19.09 6.34 3.75*** 0.39

Homesickness 7.56 2.82 8.12 2.79 2.05* 0.20

Perceived rejection 10.32 3.48 11.61 4.20 3.30** 0.33

Fear 7.11 2.73 7.57 3.17 1.55 –

Culture shock 6.68 2.23 7.25 2.53 2.39* 0.24

Guilt 3.94 1.81 4.10 1.75 0.96 –

Non specific concerns 20.63 5.74 23.36 7.09 4.14*** 0.42

New lifestyle 16.90 4.93 16.15 5.18 1.53 –

df=597; *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

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have experienced feeling of hatred from other ethnic groups. Students from Latin American countries, similar to the Euro- pean students, reported that they do not perceive themselves as treated as an out-group because of their race or colour. This could be the case, because their families may have a European background (Spanish, Portuguese, or even German). These students are mostly troubled by their indecisiveness concerning whether to prolong their stay here or go back to their home countries.

Guilt and fear are the least reported stressor among inter- national students in Germany. Based on their responses to the questionnaire, most of them do not blame themselves for leav- ing their families and countries and living a different lifestyle here. Majority of the students reported not to be fearful for their personal safety because of their different cultural background.

Overall, international students in Germany experienced a similar level of acculturative stress as other international stu- dents in different parts of the USA as reported by comparable studies (Constantine et al. 2004; Poyrazli et al. 2004). A slight higher mean score on ASSIS in the current study (M=95.05, Sd=26.69) may be attributed to the modified version of ASSIS with 41-items instead of 36-items (see Method) which makes it difficult to interpret a true difference. The added items tapped important stressors related to the new lifestyle (including clothing, accommodation, health care system, fi- nances/shopping, and bureaucracy) which may be especially important during the initial months of stay.

Socio-Demographic Predictors of Acculturative Stress

The hypothesis, stating the stress level to be lowest in the European students is supported by the data. European students reported to have a greater cultural similarity with the host society which should result in faster and easier adaptation to their new life. On the contrary, students from home countries in Asia and Africa reported higher levels of acculturative stress as compared to their European and Latin American counterparts. Previous studies had also reported that interna- tional students from Asian countries experience more accul- turative stress than their counterparts from Europe in the Unit- ed States (Poyrazli et al. 2004; Yeh and Inose 2003). Yet another study by Constantine et al. (2004) came up with the findings that African students reported significantly more ac- culturative stress than either Asian or Latin American students in the USA. Based on their item responses, students from African and Asian countries in the current study reported to feel uncomfortable to adjust to new cultural values. This pat- tern of findings may be attributed to the assumption that Eu- ropean and Latin American society tend to be considered Western culture which typically encourage independence and individual expression. Students from European countries share this similarity of basic value in their host country which

is likely to result in lower level of acculturative stress among them. On the other hand, Asian and African groups are viewed as cultures in which greater importance is placed on interper- sonal dependence and conformity (Triandis et al. 1990). Due to strong differences in fundamental cultural values, students from Asia and Africa were expected to experience more ac- culturative stress than their European counterparts.

The hypothesis predicting a high level of self-reported Ger- man language proficiency to predict a low level of accultura- tive stress was supported by the data. It was found to be rela- tively a strong predictor of acculturative stress, a finding which was also seen in previous studies (Church 1982; Duru and Poyrazli 2007; Noels et al. 1996; Poyrazli et al. 2001; Smart and Smart 1995; Yeh and Inose 2003). As a conse- quence language proficiency should be stressed as an impor- tant goal, even before coming to the host country, as it offers more chances of social interaction with the members of their host society. This should definitely decrease stressful experi- ences in different domains of interaction and strengthen the chance to receive social support.

As hypothesized, prior inter-culture travelling experience was found to significantly predict the level of acculturative stress. These students already have a more precise idea of what to expect from others and to some extent what is expect- ed from them (Berry et al. 1987).

It was proposed that the longer the international student resided in Germany, the more likely he/she will experience a lower level of acculturative stress. This hypothesis was sur- prisingly not supported by our data, rather the contrary was found. This finding is not consistent with those of previous studies which observed an increase in adjustment (Wang and Mallinckrodt 2006; Ward and Kennedy 1994; Yang et al. 2006) and a decrease in acculturation stress levels with greater time in the host country (Msengi 2003). The average time the international students spent in Germany was about 21 months with a rather large variability (M=21.35, sd=16.53) in the current study. The classical description of positive adaptation in relation to time has been in terms of a U-curve where only a few problems are present early, followed by more serious problems later, and finally a positive long-term adaptation is achieved (Berry 1997). However, there is no evidence for fixed times (in terms of months or years) when such variations will occur. Students reported to be double-minded regarding their decision to either prolong their stay in Germany or go back to their homeland. This confusion and other issues concerning the final wind-up could be the possible reasons for higher level of stress during the last few months of their stay. Further analysis of our data showed that concerning var- ious areas of acculturative stress there are significant differ- ences between students who had stayed in Germany for 6 months or less and those who had spent more time there. The latter reported to be more troubled by discrimination and rejection issues. They have stated that they are not only treated

Curr Psychol (2015) 34:803–815 811

differently in social situations but others are biased towards them and they receive unequal treatment. According to their responses to the questionnaire, these students have a feeling that people from some ethnic groups show hatred towards them as could be told by their behaviour. One possible expla- nation for this finding could be Bois’s (1956) observations that majority of the foreign students suffer from the difficulties of strangeness and they may interpret this social distance as ra- cial discrimination and rejection.

A significant difference was also found in the level of non- specific concerns which may signify, on the basis of item response, that student who lived longer than 6 months feel that they have no community in the foreign country and they perceive that their status in this society is low because of their different cultural background. Some students stated the living in an unfamiliar surrounding often makes them sad. Home- sickness, which was reported by many students, means that students long for close and familiar relationships regarding people and environment and those they do not find them there where they are.

New lifestyle is the only area of acculturative stress where students having less than 6 months in Germany showed a higher score. Although the difference is not sig- nificant, it at least demonstrates a trend that students who have recently arrived in the foreign country are the most troubled with the new lifestyle. They have a difficulty in finding a suitable accommodation, getting the necessary documents to be able to study or work, as well as in their everyday affairs like buying the groceries, clothing, and other supplies at tolerable costs.

Gender identity did not qualify as a significant predictive factor for the observed differences in the level of acculturative stress. Although the previous findings about the relation be- tween gender and acculturative stress are mixed, evidence of absence of gender differences on the overall adjustment pro- cess is stronger (e.g., Galloway and Jenkins 2005; Misra et al. 2003; Poyrazli et al. 2004; Yeh and Inose 2003).

Personal earning as a major source of financial support is a significant explanatory factor for the observed differences in the level of acculturative stress. Although the predictive power is low, it still shows that those who have to live on personal earnings undergo additional pressures e.g., trying to find a suitable job, coping with the demands of their studies and challenges of everyday life including their social life.

Coping Styles Predicting Acculturative Stress

As expected suppressive and reactive coping styles were less productive strategies in dealing with acculturative stress. These dysfunctional coping styles had a stronger impact on stress than favourable coping styles. Suppressive coping style is characterized by escape and avoidance strategies, while reactive coping behaviour has unfavourable emotional and

impulsive components and also consequences. Existing liter- ature has consistently portrayed that emotion-focused coping and avoidance-oriented coping strategies are not functional in the successful resolution of one’s personal problems (Billings and Moos 1981; Felton and Revenson 1984; Holahan and Moos 1987; McCrae and Costa 1986), a relationship again supported by our data.

Our hypothesis stating that a habitual reflective coping style is predictive of a low level of acculturative stress is supported by the data, but only a small association was found (b=−0.08, p<.05). Thus trying to reflect on the deter- mining factors of perceived problems and to use this knowl- edge in their coping endeavours seems to reduce the effect of stressors. Results also show that reflective coping style is more frequently reported than other coping strategies. How- ever it is impossible to eliminate the possibility that this is an effect of social desirability. Reflective coping as assessed here has some overlap with concept of active or problem focused coping which repeatedly has been shown to be as- sociated with positive adaptation and successful resolution of problem situations (Compas et al. 2001; Cronkite and Moos 1984; Holahan and Moos 1987; Park and Adler 2003). Crockett et al. (2007) observed active coping to be effective in buffering the effects of acculturative stress in Mexican American college students. Among Korean immi- grants, active, problem-focused coping styles were more ef- fective in reducing the impacts of perceived discrimination on depression, while frequent use of passive, emotion- focused coping had debilitating mental health effects (Noh and Kaspar 2003).

Limitations of the Current Study and Suggestions for Future Research

The current study has some limitations; first, the cross- sectional nature of the study provides only a snapshot of the situation at a single point in time about the observed associations among variables. Future studies could benefit from longitudinal data to explore the course of events over time. Furthermore, the method of recruiting the sample for the study restricts the generalizability as selective recruiting cannot be excluded. Future studies with representative and randomly selected samples could build confidence in the patterns of findings seen in our study. Alternatively it may be useful to select universities in Germany with the highest number of international students and having strati- fication within each university on three levels, i.e., on the basis of continent of origin, current academic degree, and gender. Third, the survey was conducted in English lan- guage which probably leads to different challenges or prob- lems for different groups of students. Thus it cannot be totally excluded that the observed differences are to a con- siderable degree determined by linguistic and not the

812 Curr Psychol (2015) 34:803–815

psychosocial factors, so one should be careful in the inter- pretation and generalization of the results. However, within the context of present study English was the best choice as the sample had huge variability regarding the home lan- guage and English is the language most widely spoken and understood especially within the academic setting. Probably also future studies will not be able to use ques- tionnaires in the various native languages our participants spoke (like Spanish, French, Chinese, Malay, Hindi-Urdu etc.). Fourth, the current research did not distinguish be- tween the types of international students being studied. The experiences of short term (exchange) international stu- dents and students studying abroad for the duration of their degree may differ to some extent. Therefore it may be important to differentiate the type of international student being studied. Lastly, although the study provided meaning- ful quantitative data, the addition of interviews and focus group discussions would be very useful in deepening the insight regarding the underlying factors related to quantita- tive data.

Conclusions

Student service organizations or offices of student affairs at university campuses could benefit from the findings of the present study. Firstly, more investment should be addressed to increase the proficiency of international students in Ger- man language, let alone giving them an opportunity to prepare lingually for their stay in the host country. In this regard, it is important that the universities offer language courses for international students that are free of cost. Tan- dem language learning is another effective method that may promote the language skills of these students. It should be offered from the platform of universities. Also more oppor- tunities for social interaction with students of the host country and other international students should be orga- nized to increase the chances of self-managed and self- organized social activities with the longer stay. International students should also be made aware of different hobbies and interests that can be pursued in the new cultural set- up. Making contacts and friends through shared activities such as sports or other interests may help in reducing the feeling of homesickness. It is important to learn to maintain a good balance between keeping a contact with the people they left behind and making new social contacts. In addi- tion to that, university counselling centres should aim at helping international students to build up functional coping resources.

Acknowledgments The first author would like to thank Offices of Students Affairs of Universities for their support in data collection. She

would also like to thankDr. York Hagmayer and Dr. Peter Zezula for their assistance in data analysis.

Appendix

Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS)

As foreign students have tomake a number of personal, social, and environmental changes upon arrival in a strange land, this cultural shock experience might cause them acculturative stress. This scale is designed to assess such acculturative stress you personally might have experienced. There is no right or wrong answers. However, for the data to be meaningful, please answer each statement given below as honestly as possible.

Because of my different cultural background as a foreign student, I feel that:

1. Homesickness for my country bothers me. 2. I feel uncomfortable to adjust to new foods and/or to new

eating habits. 3. I am treated differently in social situations. 4. I feel rejected when people are sarcastic toward my cul-

tural values. 5. I have difficulties in selecting the groceries, clothing and

other supplies which suit me. 6. I feel sad living in unfamiliar surroundings here. 7. I fear for my personal safety because of my different

cultural background. 8. I feel intimidated to participate in social activities. 9. Others are biased toward me.

10. I feel guilty to leave my family and friends behind. 11. Many opportunities are denied to me. 12. I found necessary supplies costly and have no knowledge

of how to get them cheaply. 13. I feel angry that my people are considered inferior here. 14. I have difficulty in finding a suitable accommodation for

myself. 15. I feel overwhelmed that multiple pressures are placed

upon me after my migration to this society. 16. I feel that I receive unequal treatment. 17. People from some ethnic groups show hatred toward me

nonverbally. 18. It hurts when people don’t understand my cultural

values. 19. I have difficulty in adjusting my appearance to the new

life style. 20. I am denied what I deserve. 21. I have to frequently relocate for fear of others. 22. I have difficulties in obtaining necessary documents to

be able to work or study.

Curr Psychol (2015) 34:803–815 813

23. I feel low because of my cultural background. 24. I feel rejected when others don’t appreciate my cultural

values. 25. I feel uncomfortable to adjust to new cultural values. 26. I feel that my people are discriminated against. 27. People from some other ethnic groups show hatred to-

ward me through their actions. 28. I feel that my status in this society is low due to my

cultural background. 29. I am treated differently because of my race. 30. I feel insecure here. 31. I don’t feel a sense of belonging (community) here. 32. I am treated differently because of my color. 33. I feel sad to consider my people’s problems. 34. I generally keep a low profile due to fear from other

ethnic groups. 35. It is really hard for me to establish a home in this new

set-up. 36. I feel some people don’t associate with me because of

my ethnicity. 37. People from some other ethnic groups show hatred to-

ward me verbally. 38. I feel guilty that I am living a different lifestyle here. 39. I feel sad leaving my relatives behind. 40. I worry about my future for not being able to decide

whether to stay here or to go back. 41. I find it difficult to know what to do and where to go

when I am ill.

Note: Final version of ASSIS with newly added items shown in italics.

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